Multiple Lottery Winners: What Are The Chances?

Lotteries are the most widely played games of chance in the world. More than 100 countries throughout the world have national lotteries. As more individuals play and jackpot sizes increase, the odds of winning a significant sum of money decrease to roughly one in 14 million. With lotteries growing in popularity, consumers do not appear to be discouraged by these odds. The good news is that a small number of winners have been extraordinarily fortunate. In this post, we’ll examine a few case studies of people who didn’t necessarily win huge amounts of money but beat the odds and won the lottery multiple times.

The Couple From England

Over the span of two years, one lucky couple from the United Kingdom won one million pounds twice in the EuroMillions lottery.  David and Kathleen Long from Scunthorpe won their first million Euros in 2013 and then again in 2015, beating the odds of 1 to 283 billion according to the UK national lottery. In 2013, Mr. Long came dangerously close to losing everything when his first winning ticket was thrown out by the couple who believed they had only won £2.70. Although Mr. Long was initially shocked by the double win, he believes that their win was inevitable, saying “I always knew I’d win, even the first time. I just had a feeling it was going to be me.”

The Man From New York

By winning the lottery twice, one New Yorker beat the odds not once, but twice. Playing the $10 million deluxe scratch-off game from the New York Lottery, Juan Hernandez won the top prize of $10 million. Hernandez allegedly won $10 million on the $350 million Cash Spectacular scratch-off game in 2019.

The Man From North Carolina

Unintentionally purchasing two lottery tickets with the same numbers, a man from North Carolina found himself in a very lucky situation. Scotty Thomas had already bought a “Lucky for Life” lottery ticket for that week. However, while he was in bed watching a basketball game, his mind went blank and he could not recall if he had already purchased a ticket. He proceeded to purchase another one online. The two $2 lottery tickets that he had bought, ended up winning him $25,000 every year for life, twice. Thanks to the two identical tickets he had doubled his winnings.

The Woman From Delaware 

Within the space of one week, this 70-year-old woman from Delaware won two huge jackpots totaling $400,000. The woman, whose identity was not released, first won $100,000 by scratching a $100K Ultimate Cash instant lottery ticket. She paid $20 for the ticket at Speedy Gas in Newark, Delaware. The chances of winning were one in 120,000. She then proceeded to buy three $30 Serious Money tickets from a Dover, Delaware Tiger Mart after collecting the grand prize at the lottery’s Delaware headquarters. She defied the odds of winning again, this time 1 in 150,000 when one of her tickets won a $300,000 lottery. This earned her $400,000 in just one week.

The Man From Nebraska

Even though the odds of winning the lottery are usually stacked against you, this Nebraskan man seemed totally unfazed. In the 2020 lottery, Michael Christiansen of Norfolk, Nebraska, doubled his winnings.  After purchasing a 20X The Money Scratch ticket, this lucky man won $100,000. On October 15, he went to the Nebraska Lottery office in Lincoln to claim his prize. This was his second visit to the office the same year after winning $50,000 from Money Clip Scratch in March 2020.”I couldn’t believe it,” Michael exclaimed, “What were the chances? I didn’t believe it was true.” Both of Michael Christiansen’s tickets were purchased from Louie’s Liquor in Norfolk.

Final Thoughts

We have been told that there are more chances of being struck by lightning than there are of winning the lottery. However, the examples in this article simply contradict this, and some people are incredibly blessed. Against all odds, they are fortunate enough to win large jackpots not only once, but twice. Multiple lottery wins may seem improbable, but you might be surprised to learn that it actually happens more frequently than you might imagine.