Chicago man wins lottery three times in three weeks

Apr 24, 2014, 7:56 am (20 comments)

Illinois Lottery

Three is a magic number, at least it might be for one Chicago resident.

Christopher Kaelin, an occasional lottery player, won the same lottery game three times in three weeks, officials announced Wednesday.

"I never expected to win," Kaelin told Illinois lottery officials earlier this month, "especially not three times."

Kaelin said his first win came during his lunch break when he bought a Crossword instant ticket at Gateway Newstand on Clark Street in Chicago and won $25,000.

Image: Christopher Kaelin, 31, an occasional lottery player, won the same lottery game three times in three weeks, officials announced Wednesday.

"My fiancé and I were so thrilled that I won $25,000, we went out for dinner to celebrate," he said.

After their celebratory dinner, the couple stopped at a gas station where Kaelin decided to buy another Crossword ticket and won $1,000.

The following week, he stopped at the same store where he purchased his $25,000 winning ticket and bought his third Crossword instant ticket. He said he was in his office when he used a key to scratch the ticket and realized he had won what he thought was $25,000.

"I was in the elevator when I took another look at my ticket and noticed I had the tenth word. The prize wasn't $25,000 — it was $250,000," he said. "I was shocked."

In total, Kaelin won $276,000.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Thanks to Epistrophy for the tip.

NBC News

Comments

Win$500Quick's avatarWin$500Quick

Congrats to the lucky winner. You can't win if you don't play.

Marilyn222's avatarMarilyn222

When luck crosses your path...luck really comes to you. Ha! I think I'd start buying instant ticket too, we never know...

duckman's avatarduckman

Crossword tickets seem to be hot ...

mrcraft's avatarmrcraft

Congrats!  That's cool winning like that.

Yeah, in my area the $5 and $10 Crosswords sell like crazy.

LottoBux's avatarLottoBux

As The Saying Goes,

    "GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES"

  Congrats To mr Kaelin

sully16's avatarsully16

Nice job, congrats to the lucky guy Cheers

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Congratulation Christopher.....Thumbs Up

Bergen

Wow. Some people are extremely blessed.

THRIFTY's avatarTHRIFTY

Quote: Originally posted by Bergen on Apr 24, 2014

Wow. Some people are extremely blessed.

The lottery is random. Buy more tickets.

THRIFTY's avatarTHRIFTY

Quote: Originally posted by Marilyn222 on Apr 24, 2014

When luck crosses your path...luck really comes to you. Ha! I think I'd start buying instant ticket too, we never know...

Instant scratch off games are money machines. I see many players winning these things.

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Very exciting month for thrice IL Lottery instant game winner Christopher Kaelin! Dupe Alert

faber98

not buying that he "only" bought 3 tickets independently. but can't prove it. seems to be a stretch though. probably bought dozens in between, but it worked out for him. people buy these by the bushel around here but rarely hit. lottery knows they sell and flood the market with them as they are their biggest revenue producer. people rant and rave when they are sold out. actually takes a few minutes to play them if you do it without peeking.

golfer1960's avatargolfer1960

Screw him. Occasional my arse!

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

i wish  my local store had all the  winners delivered to it.

<div_prefs id="div_prefs">

Subscribe to this news story