Identical lottery tickets cause player to split $3.8M jackpot with himself
Published in Weird News
(UPI) An Alberta man's accidental purchase of two identical lottery tickets for the same drawing led to his splitting a $3.8 million jackpot with himself.
Andrew Burke of Calmar told Western Canada Lottery Corp. officials he accidentally bought two identical tickets for the Sept. 16 Lotto 6.49 drawing at the Fas Gas Calmar Service gas station.
Burke's tickets both bore the numbers that came up in the drawing: 6-12-23-29-44-46.
The $3.8 million jackpot was split evenly between the two winning tickets, earning Burke a pair of $1.9 million jackpots.
Burke said he was shocked when he handed one of the tickets over to a clerk at the store to check if he had won anything.
"The owner walked in and said 'what have you done Andy, have you broken my machine?'" he recalled. The clerk then told me 'you've won $2.5 million [U.S. $1.8 million] -- and I said she better check that other ticket, because it's the same numbers!
He said the win will come as good news to his father-in-law.
"On our wedding day, my father-in-law said 'I always wanted my daughter to marry a millionaire, but I got the next best thing -- someone who spends money like a millionaire,'" Burke recalled.
Burke said he is now on permanent "vacation" from his job.
"All I wanted out of the lottery was to be able to retire comfortably, keep up on the house, and have my Land Rover restored. I don't need anything else," he said.
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