Luck has visited one Scotty Thomas from Fayetteville twice on the same day as the man cashed in his two tickets for the Lucky for Life” draw and begged a lump sum, beating 1 in 1,183,028 odds.
Getting Rich on a Casual Saturday
A 49-year-old North Carolina man ended up winning two lucky draws in a single day, having accidentally purchased lottery tickets with the same numbers. The fortuitous fellow, one Scotty Thomas of Fayetteville, works as a dump truck operator, and sometimes, he snaffles up lottery tickets. It turns out that his latest catch produced two tickets of the exact same numbers for the “Lucky for Life” draw organized by the North Carolina Education Lottery. He actually had no idea that the two tickets were duplicates until the draw.
It was on Saturday last week when he realized that 2-6-7-11-19 were just the right numbers he needed, fetching him a lump sum of $390,000 each. However, each ticket has the option of earning a nice $25,000 a year as this is Lucky for Life’s ultimate goal. Thomas had this to say in a matter-of-fact statement:
“I was just lying in bed watching a basketball game on television, and I couldn’t remember if I filled it out or not.”
Lottery winner Scotty Thomas
Thomas opted for the former option and decided to cash out a lump sum instead. His proceeds, after applicable state and federal taxes, amounted to $551,851, a bountiful catch for the unwitting gambler who had no intention of actually winning.
Long Odds and a Smart Call to Cash Out
Not only is Thomas incredibly lucky to get two of the same tickets and win twice, but he has also defied some pretty long odds. To match all five numbers in Lucky for Life, you would need to beat the probability of 1 in 1,813,028.
His decision to snap up a lump sum isn’t so rash. The money can serve as the basis of a nice investment. Thomas would have to live through the 2030s in the very least to claim $500,000 from the lottery, not accounting for tax which usually goes one way – up.
Meanwhile, North Carolina has been generating a fair penny from lottery games, with the state-controlled company clocking in $385 million in revenue in 2020. The funds that the lottery collects are processed back and poured into various educational initiatives, including scholarships and grants for higher education as well as teacher and staff salaries.
Thomas’ jackpot win will stand out in the history of the lottery as one of the most impressive ones to date.