Man becomes double-lotto winner after buying ticket twice
A man has made one heck of a return on two lotto tickets with identical numbers, the second of which he purchased completely by accident.
Samir Mazahem scored a whopping A$2.8 million (USD$2 million) prize after playing birthdates of his family members twice in the same draw on June 9.
The 56-year-old, from the US state of Michigan, initially felt “a little bummed”, thinking that he had wasted the second A$2.50 (USD$2).
He didn’t think too much of it until he logged in to check on his account, which was when the shock of his two $1 million winning tickets hit him.
“I went online and bought a ticket using numbers that are family birthdays. I forgot to save the numbers as favourites in the app, so I went back in and set them up as favourites so I could easily play them in the future,” Mr Mazahem told Michigan Lottery
“I recently logged into the app to check on some tickets I had bought, and that is when I saw I had two $1 million prizes pending. Saying that I was stunned is an understatement.
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“I couldn’t believe it was real. It took several days for the reality to set in that my mistake had paid off to the tune of $2 million.”
Mr Mazahem said he would use his winnings to buy a home and save for when he retires.
“Winning is exciting and gives me some comfort knowing that when I retire, I will have money in the bank,” he said.
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