You hear wild lottery stories now and then, but this one? Next level lucky.
Meet Paul Corcoran, a 65-year-old from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who managed to win two separate $1 million prizes in the exact same Powerball draw. Yep—on the same day. And it all happened because of a tiny little mistake.
Paul had previously bought a multi-draw Powerball ticket, which lets you enter several draws in advance. But on July 9th, the day of the actual draw, he mistakenly thought his ticket had already expired. So—just to be safe—he went ahead and bought another one for that same draw.
Both tickets matched the exact same five white balls: 5, 9, 25, 28, and 69. He missed the red Powerball on both, but even without it, that’s a $1 million win—per ticket.
“At first I thought I was seeing things. Then once I realized it was real, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Paul said. “It’s like getting struck by lightning twice—but in the best possible way.”
And guess what? Both winning tickets were purchased at Applebriar Wine & Spirits in Leominster, which is now also celebrating—they get a $20,000 bonus payout from the lottery organization.
To put this in perspective: the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The odds of pulling off what Paul just did? Probably so low that mathematicians are still doing the math.
As for Paul, he’s staying humble. He says he’ll put some of the money toward retirement and share the rest with family. Class act.
Let’s be real—most of us would be thrilled to hit a major win once, let alone twice in a single day. While national lotteries are fun, the odds are… well, kind of brutal.
Luckily, you don’t have to rely on lightning strikes to score big. Online casinos in Canada offer:
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