Indiana lottery winners get help from fortune cookie

Apr 6, 2005, 12:57 pm (5 comments)

Powerball

"Who would think that a fortune cookie could bring you so much good fortune," asks Hoosier Lottery Director Esther Schneider.

Call it bizarre or downright unbelievable.

Alvin Barnes from Pittsboro says, "They don't taste good and the advice I get I can get from an old lady."

"Maybe they are lucky, I don't know," adds Deb Herndon of Indianapolis.

Somewhere between the realm of good fortune and plain dumb luck something strange happened.  Lottery officials say 110 people hit the jackpot in the March 30 Powerball drawing, ten of them in Indiana. Dozens say the numbers came from a fortune cookie.

Herndon finds that "amazing."

"First thing I thought was again, we can't sustain another scandal," Schneider says laughingly. She learned of the fortune cookie connection from the Tennessee lottery.

When Indiana winners came to collect their $100,000 or $500,000 cash prizes she started asking questions. "Five out of our seven winners who have come in to date, we still have three more out there who have not come in, did get their number from the fortune cookie. It's all turned out to be completely legitimate."

One local winner says he actually picked his winning cookie last July. He's been playing the number on and off. Last Wednesday it finally payed off.

Managers at an east side buffett where the simple dessert turned into a sweet fortune, purchased the cookies from a local distributor for Golden Bowl out of New York.

And it's good for business. Forget the message, customers are now looking for hidden fortune in the numbers.

Barnes says, "I might even read them from now on."

Eyewitness News

Tags for this story

Other popular tags

Comments

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

about the only thing won in indiana.....the indiana lottery can't cheat the players on powerball like they can in state games......

weshar75's avatarweshar75

Indiana sure has been lucky with powerball over the years.

Maverick's avatarMaverick

Golden Bowl out of New York huh? Hmmm.

TNPATL

I'm looking at fortune cookies a whole different way!!!

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

i'm gonna play a few fortune numbers tonight.

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story
Guest