A couple from New Jersey, USA, has recently had a stroke of good luck. They first won a $1 million jackpot on April Fool’s Day, then about half a year later, they hit a $3 million jackpot. Perhaps they have encountered the God of Wealth not once, but twice.
According to The Record, a newspaper in Ocean County, New Jersey, this fortunate couple, who have two children and are expecting their third, struck gold in the newly launched “Jackpot Millions” game on November 13. They won the $3 million jackpot with odds of 1 in 2 million, having only spent $30 to purchase the scratch-off ticket.
On April 1, they also won a $1 million jackpot in the “Ultimate Spectacular” scratch-off game. This $30 ticket was bought in Ocean County as well. The odds of hitting this jackpot were one in a million.
The New Jersey Lottery estimates that the probability of winning both jackpots at the same time is approximately 2 trillion to one.
The couple currently has a 5-year-old child and an 11-month-old baby. The husband told the lottery company, “With kids, we can hardly go out at all. So, at the beginning of each month, we buy some scratch-off tickets. After the kids fall asleep, we scratch a few. We enjoy competing to see who wins the most. However, in the end, we always seem to break even.”
This time, after the husband scratched a ticket and believed he had won big, he handed it to his wife. She looked at it, held it to her chest, then screamed.
The husband said that his wife started smiling after 10 seconds. He told her, “Honey, we are so lucky.”
James Carey, the executive director of the New Jersey Lottery, remarked, “I always say, it only takes one ticket to hit the jackpot. Though, in this case, I guess there’s no harm in buying two tickets either! It’s just sheer luck.”