1 Intuition Pays Off Sixfold
Roberts said intuition told him not to buy one “Lucky For Life” ticket, but six. It also told him to use the exact same numbers on each ticket. That paid off in a significant way. Each winning ticket was worth $390,000. Roberts chose to take his winnings in a lump sum for five of the tickets, bringing home nearly $2 million before taxes. He chose to take the final $390,000 as an annuity, meaning he’ll also get 20 annual payments of $25,000. ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
2 How He Chose the Numbers
The Lucky For Life game awards a set prize for correctly guessing five numbers in a drawing. As Roberts discovered, it’s possible to win multiple times. But not likely: the odds of winning just one $25,000-per-year-for-life prize are one in 1,813,028.
Roberts chose his winning numbers from an assortment of birthdays and anniversaries. He said he had used the numbers on other tickets on other days but had drawn a blank and decided to use them again on the day he won big.
3 How He Plans to Spend Winnings
Roberts, who’s from Fall River, about 50 miles south of Boston, said he plans to buy a motorcycle with his winnings. And the store where he bought the winning tickets lucked out too. Royal Liquor gets a $5,000 bonus for each winning ticket sold, a total of $30,000.
4 Another Big Massachusetts Winner
Roberts wasn’t the only big winner in the Massachusetts lottery in the weeks before Christmas. Helen Cicoria of Buzzards Bay won $10 million in the “10,000,000 Cash King” scratch-off game. She chose a $6.5 million lump sum and claimed her prize on Dec. 21.
Circoria said she planned to use her winnings on home improvements and travel, the lottery said. She bought the winning ticket at a Speedy Mart convenience store in West Wareham, which will receive a $50,000 bonus.
5 More Big Winners Worldwide
And lottery winners are celebrating around the world this week. The world’s biggest lottery, Spain’s “El Gordo” (“the fat one”), its annual Christmas drawing, disbursed more than $2.5 billion in prize money across the country. Like the Massachusetts “Lucky for Life” drawing, multiple tickets were sold with the same winning numbers but to different individuals.
Reuters reported that one big winner was an unemployed mother of two. She said she would spend her winnings—about $426,000 before taxes—on a new house, her children’s education, and donating to her church.
