News and opinion writer
Almost every regular lottery player has a strategy for winning the big prize. Some like using certain lucky numbers, while others always buy tickets from the same store.
However, sometimes, if you want to get lucky, you've got to get a little crazy and try something different to land the jackpot.
These are the stories of players who won big by thinking differently.
Cookie leads to a fortune - $200,000
Fortune cookies are the little extra treat everyone enjoys after a satisfying Chinese dinner. And while we may have a laugh, no one ever got rich until one man won a six-figure prize after feeling inspired by the small, simple treat.
John Carter of Trinity, North Carolina, was enjoying takeout from his favorite Chinese restaurant in August 2024 when a brief message led to him winning a small fortune.
“We had Chinese food last night, and we got a fortune cookie that said, 'Don't miss out on your chance to win big,'” he told state lottery officials.
Carter decided to follow the cookie's advice, and the next day, he purchased a $5 Pot of Gold scratch-off ticket from the Hillsville County Mart in Hillsville.
“I was thinking the fortune cookie was a sign,” Carter said. “It had to be fate.”
Carter said he thought he was dreaming when he scratched the ticket and revealed one winning number after another until he saw that he had won $200,000, a much sweeter prize than a cookie.
After cashing in his ticket and paying taxes on his prize, he walked away with a total of $143,001. He told lottery officials that he planned to use the money to pay off his bills and buy a fishing boat.
Dream big - $1 million
We've all had the experience of being deep in a beautiful dream only to wake up and realize that our real life wasn't quite as good as our sleeping one. Howard Kendall Jr. of Plymouth, Massachusetts, had a similar experience in July 2024, except he decided he was ready to turn his dream into a reality.
The Plymouth, Massachusetts, man said that he had a dream that he had purchased a Diamonds lottery ticket. When he woke up the next day, he decided his dream was a premonition he should follow. He went to his local 7-11 and purchased a $4,000,000 Diamonds scratcher for $10.
He scratched away the cover and saw that his diamond dream had led him to a million-dollar prize.
After taking the lump sum payout, Kendall's bank account was $650,000 richer, and he said that he plans to use the money to help out his children and grandchildren.
Stick it out - $300,000
From Zodiac signs to favorite stores, lottery players have hundreds of different techniques for picking a winner; however, one South Carolina man employed a much simpler strategy for capturing a big prize.
The man, who chose to remain anonymous, trusted his gut in June 2023 and chose the ticket sticking out the furthest in the store's display case. In this case, it was a Stacks of Cash instant win ticket, and while the odds of winning a top prize were 1 in 900,000, the man's methods beat the odds, and he scratched off a top prize of $300,000.
The man was so shocked to win that he took the day off of work so he could stay home and process what he would do with the money. Ultimately, he made the responsible choice and bypassed the sports car to pay off all of his debts.
Persistence pays off - $7.9 million & $1 million
Despite playing for years, one Michigan man had never won a significant lottery prize. Then, one day, his father offered him advice that would change his life forever.
The man told Michigan lottery officials:
I have been playing Lotto 47 for a long time and would always switch up my numbers. One day, my dad told me I should pick a set of numbers and stick with them, so that's what I did. I purchased an online subscription and have been playing the same set of numbers for a few years.
The man took his dad's wisdom and purchased an annual lottery subscription that would automatically play the same numbers for every drawing. While initially, it seemed like the new strategy was delivering the same non-winning results, he received a message on May 23, 2024, that changed his life.
I saw an email from the [Michigan] Lottery saying I'd won a prize, so I logged into my lottery account, and that's when I saw $7.19 million pending. I was in total shock and instantly thought how my dad had been right.
His prize was the largest ever awarded by Michigan's Lotto 47, so in this case, it turned out that Father really did know best.
The winner said he plans to invest his winnings and set some aside for his children's college fund.
"Winning feels surreal. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm a millionaire," he added.
And while three years may seem like a long time to play, it pales compared to the patience shown by Thomas Ensko of Blackstone, Massachusetts.
Ensko was a frequent Mega Millions player who had used the same numbers for over twenty years. The numbers correlated to his birthday, and he kept using them despite their consistent failure to win.
However, his luck finally changed after he paid $2 for a Mega Millions ticket at Anderson's Variety store in his hometown of Blackstone. He watched the June 2024 drawing and saw all of his numbers pop out of the machine one by one; however, he missed the Mega Ball number.
Still, he wasn't complaining about his million-dollar win and said he plans to use the money to help his children and grandchildren.
Shockingly enough, Ensko wasn't even the first lottery winner in his own house. His wife had won $1 million on a scratch-off ticket twenty years before.
TV time - $50,000
Did your parents or teachers ever tell you that you wouldn't get anywhere in life if you watched TV all day? Well, one lucky player discarded that advice and is now $50,000 richer because of it.
The player, who chose to remain anonymous, was enjoying a football game at his home in Edgewood, Maryland when inspiration struck.
He told Maryland Lottery officials:
You ever have one of those days when everything is going right? I was having one of those days, and then I saw a lottery commercial and thought to myself, 'I'm going to play.'
The man drove to Geresbeck's Bi-Rite in Baltimore to buy a Pick 5 ticket for one dollar, but he was such an inexperienced player that he had to ask another customer for help picking his numbers.
Whether it was beginner's luck or help from a stranger, the man couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his numbers pulled for the August 25, 2024 drawing.
The Pick 5 winner said:
When I saw my numbers looking back at me, I thought it was fake. So, I went back to the store to scan the ticket to see that I actually did win.
The man's ticket was worth $50,000, and he said he planned to add the prize to his savings account.
Drive to win - $50,000
Winning numbers can come from anywhere, including your birthday, phone number, and even an old crush's house address. One Maryland man turned to his cars for inspiration.
While picking numbers for the state's Pick 5 Lottery, he used numbers from his Tesla license plate, one of three cars he owned. He spent $1 for a straight bet ticket from the Liquor Barn in Taneytown for the May 22 evening drawing and watched in astonishment as his numbers, 5-6-8-4-3, rose to the top of the number machine for a $50,000 payout.
The winner and frequent lotto player says that the money is the ultimate retirement gift since he plans to quit his job next month. He'll use his extra money to pay bills and improve his garden and home.
The price of fame - $13 million
Jose Salmon knew that he was destined for fame. The only problem was that he couldn't act, sing, dance, or play sports. That meant he would have to take an alternate path to the top.
In a 2007 interview with WESH 2 News, Salmon revealed: "I said to myself if I want to be famous, I have to win the lottery."
Salmon sold medical supplies and wasn't the kind of math genius we've seen have sometimes been able to hack the lottery and generate a win. Since he couldn't rely on his number-crunching skills, he decided to use brute force instead.
Starting in 1996, he claimed that he purchased $600 worth of lottery tickets every day for ten years, which adds up to approximately $2.2 million if his claims are valid.
Fortunately for him, his persistence paid off, and in 2007, he became one of four people who split a $54 million jackpot from the Florida Lotto. His share of the jackpot was $13 million before taxes, and the first bill he paid with his winnings was the $600,000 debt he accumulated during his decade-long ticket-buying spree.
While he claims that he plans to continue working despite his millions, he states that there is one habit he is willing to break. He said that after winning once, he's finally ready to stop buying so many lottery tickets every day.
Strange days
There's no real way to change your odds when it comes to winning a big lottery jackpot, but you can add some fun to your games by coming up with unusual strategies for picking your numbers or instant win tickets.
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