Category: Lottery

Lottery player wins $1 million — again

On By A.P.In LotteryLeave a comment

Constance Carpenito won $1 million by playing the Massachusetts Lottery at the same Stop & Shop in Stoneham, Mass., where she also won $1 million back in 1996.

“She plans on using her winnings to make this Christmas an especially good one for her family,” said the Massachusetts Lottery, which released a photo of Carpenito with her husband Ed toasting champagne in front of a stretch limousine.

That’s not all. According to the Massachusetts Lottery, she’s actually won three times at that Boston-area grocery store. In addition to her two million dollar jackpots, she once won $20,000 there.

For her most recent win, she was playing a $20 instant game called $10,000,000 Diamond Millionaire. She bet $20 every week.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/20/news/massachusetts-lottery-winner/index.html

Update: Mirlande Wilson States She Lost Winning Lottery Ticket

On By A.P.In Gambling, Lottery, Marlinda Wilson, McDonald's, Mirlande WilsonLeave a comment

Mirlande Wilson, who this week said she may have hit the record Mega Millions jackpot, told a Washington news station Thursday that she has lost the ticket.
WRC-TV is reporting that Wilson said, “I misplaced it. I cannot tell you where the ticket is for my safety and my kids’ safety, but I wish I could find it and get this thing over [with].”

She could not immediately be reached for comment.

That’s one valuable slip of paper. The record-breaking jackpot in the drawing March 30 reached $656 million, worth $105 million in a cash payout to whomever purchased the winning ticket at a Baltimore County 7-Eleven.

Wilson also told the TV station that a report that she hid the ticket at the McDonald’s in Milford Mills was bogus.

“I don’t know where they get the story from. How am I going to have the ticket and hide it behind the McFlurry machine?” Wilson said.

Thanks to ‘Da Brayn’ for updating this story for the It’s Interesting community.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-mega-millions-lottery-20120406,0,7808126.story

Marlinda Wilson Claims Her Winning Mega-Millions Lottery Ticket is Hidden Inside McDonald’s

On By A.P.In Gambling, Lottery, Marlinda Wilson, McDonald's, Mega MillionsLeave a comment

One of the three Mega Millions jackpot winners says her winning ticket remains stashed away inside the Baltimore McDonald’s where she works. But some of Marlinde Wilson’s co-workers think she is telling a Big Lie.

“I left my ticket there, and it’s somewhere safe that only I know about,” Wilson told the New York Post. “I’m waiting for things to calm down so I can go back to McDonald’s and get it. The people [at McDonald’s] are too excited. I want their heads to cool down before I go back.”

Wilson claims to have purchased one of the three winning Mega Millions lottery tickets. The three winners will each receive a share of the record-breaking $640 million jackpot. If Wilson’s story is true, that would mean a $105 million ticket (after taxes) is stashed away somewhere inside the fast food restaurant.

Wilson’s co-workers appear to be split in their opinion of her but all who have spoken to the media seem to share some animosity toward the Haiti native. Some of Wilson’s colleagues say she is attempting to cheat them out of what should be shared winnings from a pool of lotto tickets 14 of the McDonald’s employees purchased together.

And Wilson’s manager, identified only as “Layla” by the Post, says she thinks Wilson isn’t telling the truth about hiding the ticket inside the McDonald’s. “That’s impossible. She didn’t come back here” after she purchased the ticket, Layla said.

 

CBS News has also raised questions about whether or not Wilson actually purchased one of the three winning tickets. Mega Millions officials say they do not know who actually purchased the ticket. They have only been able to confirm that the winning ticket was in fact purchased at a Baltimore 7-Eleven just four hours before the winning numbers were announced.

The Post also raises some question’s about Wilson’s character, noting she has a Facebook page under the alias Sheila Paraison, on which she says she will donate her winnings to relief efforts in Haiti.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/mega-millions-winners-says-ticket-still-hidden-inside-160453864.html;_ylt=Av0bxgEA2k7kk7bfHcbI8_ASH9EA;_ylu=X3oDMTFobWc1czNjBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzcEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlUZW1wQXNzZW1ibHk-;_ylg=X3oDMTNlbzM5NnQwBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMTBjYTU3ZDktZmU0OS0zZDNiLTlkNTctMjI2ZTU5YTNkNTc2BHBzdGNhdANvcmlnaW5hbHN8dGhlc2lkZXNob3cEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

 

Kansas Man Struck By Lightning Hours After Buying Lottery Tickets

On By A.P.In Accidents, Gambling, Lottery, Struck by LightningLeave a comment

A Kansas man was struck by lightning hours after buying three Mega Millions lottery tickets, proving in real life the old saying that a gambler is more likely to be struck down from the sky than win the jackpot.

Bill Isles, 48, bought three tickets in the record $656 million lottery Thursday at a Wichita, Kan., grocery store.

On the way to his car, Isles said he commented to a friend: “I’ve got a better chance of getting struck by lightning” than winning the lottery.

Later at about 9:30 p.m., Isles was standing in the back yard of his Wichita duplex, when he saw a flash and heard a boom — lightning.

“It threw me to the ground quivering,” Isles said in a telephone interview on Saturday. “It kind of scrambled my brain and gave me an irregular heartbeat.”

Isles, a volunteer weather spotter for the National Weather Service, had his portable ham radio with him because he was checking the skies for storm activity. He crawled on the ground to get the radio, which had been thrown from his hand.

Isles had been talking to other spotters on the radio and called in about the lightning strike. One of the spotters, a local television station intern, called 911. Isles was taken by ambulance to a hospital and kept overnight for observation.

Isles said doctors wanted to make sure his heartbeat was back to normal. He suffered no burns or other physical effects from the strike, which he said could have been worse because his yard has a power line pole and wires overhead.

“But for the grace of God, I would have been dead,” Isles said. “It was not a direct strike.”

Isles said he had someone buy him 10 more tickets to the Mega Millions lottery on Friday night. While one of the three winning tickets was sold in Kansas, Isles was not a winner.

Officials of the Mega Millions lottery, which had the largest prize in U.S. history, said that the odds of winning lottery were about 176 million to one. Americans have a much higher chance of being struck by lightning, at 775,000 to one over the course of a year, depending on the part of the country and the season, according to the National Weather Service.

Isles, who is out of work after being laid off last June by a furniture store, said he did once win $2,000 in the lottery and will keep playing.

“The next time I will use the radio while sitting in the car,” he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46915119/ns/us_news-weird_news/