Most people who buy multiple tickets do so to diversify risk. They want to ensure that they have more combinations going on for them, and as such, increase their theoretical odds of winning.
Man Confuses Date of Lottery Draw to Win Two Rewards
However, one player in Massachusetts went the other way. The man, Paul Corcoran of Fitchburg, tried something different – buying two separate tickets for the July 9 Powerball drawing, only to end up winning both!
The news was confirmed by the Massachusetts Lottery, with each of the tickets fetching the man a $1,000,000 payout. Both tickets ran the same numbers – 5, 9, 25, 28, and 69, but did not match the Powerball, which is why he fell short of actually winning.
The winner presented his winning tickets last week on July 11, when he visited the lottery headquarters, as is customary when claiming any lottery-related prizes.
Interestingly, though, the man did not purchase his winning tickets in the same place at the same time. The first ticket was bought in a store in Fitchburg, while the other was purchased at a gas station five miles away in Leominster.
Even more bizarrely, the man had made a mistake with the first ticket – he misunderstood when the date of the drawing would be and ended up with two winning tickets in the end, realizing his fortunate mistake after the fact and, luckily for him, holding onto both tickets.
He wasn’t buying to diversify his risk or boost his odds, but rather because he confused the dates. Well, mistakes such as these do happen! Another lucky lottery winner recently had a dream of winning the lottery and acted on it – buying $1,000,000 winning ticket as well!