Includes video report
An Arkansas couple struck gold twice after winning $1 million and $50,000 jackpots, both of them during this past weekend, and both with tickets sold from the same store.
Stephen, 54, and Terri Weaver, 55, of Stuttgart, Ark., left on Friday for a weekend trip to a cabin near Greers Ferry Lake, over 100 miles away. On Saturday evening, they stopped at T-Ricks convenience store in the nearby city of Pangburn. Stephen bought five $1 Million Riches instant scratch-off tickets while his wife bought four.
"We pick up a couple tickets on the weekend when we go to our cabin on the river," said Terri, an office manager with a water company. "It's a weekly thing. We just pick up a few here and a few there."
Once they brought the tickets to the cabin, they realized one of Stephen's $20 tickets won the $1 million jackpot.
"I almost had a heart attack," said Stephen, who owns a plumbing company. "I had to have an aspirin."
While Stephen wanted to return home after learning of the win, Terri hoped to stay for the weekend.
"He thought he should sleep with it under his pillow," Terri said. "He ended up locking it in the truck."
On Sunday, they stopped at the convenience store again and bought six tickets "just for the heck of it, because it was fun," Terri explained.
This time, Terri's Taxes Paid instant ticket for which she paid $10 was a $50,000 winner.
"When she handed it to me, I fell back in my chair and almost went into cardiac arrest again," Stephen said of the second ticket. "We jumped around, hollered, and screamed. It's just not possible that it happened twice. The odds must be astronomical."
After possible taxes withheld, the couple won $714,000 in total.
The couple, who have been married for 35 years and have a son in Tulsa, Okla., said they will continue to work in their respective jobs and pay off some bills.
"We're going to put it in a little, or big, nest egg," Stephen said.
The owner of the convenience store gets 1 percent of the winnings. "He's pretty happy too," Stephen said.
Prior to this weekend, the biggest lottery prizes the Weavers say they won were $2,500 a few months prior and $1,000 a few years ago.
"We were just ecstatic to get that," Stephen said. "Now we're just blown away."
The couple said they plan to continue buying lottery tickets occasionally.
In fact, they bought a couple more lottery tickets at a gas station on Monday, when the couple claimed the cash prize from the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery claim center in Little Rock.
"I got my money back," Terri said, when asked how much she won. "I didn't win anything big."
Julie Baldridge, spokeswoman for Arkansas lottery, said there have been people who have won thousands of dollars twice, but none were jackpot winners.
One man bought several tickets at the same time and won $20,000 twice. Another woman purchased a lottery ticket at a store and won $20,000. She later purchased a lottery ticket at another store and won $20,000 again.
"Random can be a very odd thing," Baldridge said.
Arkansas is the newest state to have a government-sponsored lottery. A little over three years old, the Arkansas lottery is one of 43 government-run lottery systems in the country.
VIDEO: Watch the media report
Heck nothing like having a second winning ticket to help cover the taxes on the first!
What a trip, way to go Stephen & Terri..congrats to both of you.
Congratulations to Mr & Mrs. Weaver....
That is so cool, Congrats to the lucky couple, enjoy!
I'm sure they're Week-ends, on the Lake,
will be a little more often Now.
It's really Nice around Greers Ferry.
twice is nice
Congrats
>>>>>>That is cool>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
they must been "DRANK'n WHITE ah LIGHT'nnnnn"$$$$
they got ^struk^>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ah TWICE $$$$$$$$
Lucky I'm a buy some/ trash digg for discarded losers ??
Congratulations to the Weavers!
Terri indicated: "We pick up a couple tickets on the weekend when we go to our cabin on the river," said Terri, an office manager with a water company. "It's a weekly thing. We just pick up a few here and a few there."
I'm amused at her thinking of "a couple" meaning BOTH her husband and her each buying 4 or 5 $10-$20 tickets every week!!! The only "couple" here was two hundred dollars, combined, spent weekly. If they had been doing this for years, they must have been WAY into the red before they were brought far into the black by their 2 biggest wins this past weekend. Perhaps any future gambling they do should be no more than $100/month each.
Congratulations! If I were them I'd quit playing the scratch off tickets.. Maybe its because I think they will not win big again. I shouldn't think that because what happens twice happens thrice.
Glad to see Arkansas is willing to give up some money because they surely won't give up those triples. I run the pic3 Ark thread and I am now convienced they are waiting for Christ to return to drop those triples, and we all know he's not coming anytime soon! Congrats to the winners though and enjoy the funyuns...
How lovely! only thing better would be a pb followed by mm win.
Why aren't they playing mega millions? They could probably win 5 or 6 drawings in a years time.
3x the Charm ??