April 1 drawing handsomely rewards couple's inadvertent purchase
By Kate Northrop
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland couple was surprised to find out that one of their favorite lottery retailers sold not one, but two $1 million winning Powerball tickets, and they were even more shocked to learn that they were in possession of both.
It was no April Fool's joke. The duplicate Powerball ticket a Maryland couple didn't even realize they had bought doubled their lottery prize total to $2 million.
On Monday, April 1, husband and wife "Power Couple," the nickname they gave themselves to hide their identities, were eying up the $1 billion Powerball jackpot for that night's drawing. The husband scooped up several tickets from previous drawings and headed to the 7-Eleven #33378 on Bestgate Road in Annapolis to get in on the fun.
"I only play when it's over a billion dollars," he told the Maryland Lottery.
He prefers to use the lottery terminal's "replay" feature, which allows players to scan older tickets and print new tickets using the same set of numbers.
He scanned all the older tickets in his pile to buy one new ticket for every old ticket. What he didn't realize, however, was that there were multiple duplicate tickets in his stack for various number combinations. He collected his new Powerball tickets for the April 1 drawing and went home.
The next day, he retrieved the tickets to check out his haul from the previous night's drawing. He had four winning tickets for $4 each, which all appeared to be duplicates of each other. Then he came across a ticket with the numbers 19, 24, 40, 42, and 56, with Powerball 13.
"I looked at it and I went to the Powerball site," he recounted. "I saw the numbers and I said, 'No!'"
While he had missed the jackpot by one number, he had matched all five white ball numbers in the drawing to win the game's $1 million second-tier prize.
He hurriedly called his wife, who was out at the time, and exclaimed over the phone, "We won $1 million!"
The happy tears started flowing immediately upon his wife's return home.
"We had our crying moment," the elated husband recalled. "Twenty minutes after that, when I put the ticket down, I went back to the other tickets."
The couple had also learned that their favorite lottery retailer had sold two $1 million winning Powerball tickets for the same drawing, but imagine their surprise when they learned they were the owners of both tickets.
"He joked about it," the wife said fondly. "He said, 'I still have tickets to go through. What if I have the second million-dollar ticket?'"
Picking up the next ticket, it dawned on him that he had inadvertently purchased two of the same tickets with those matching numbers. The celebration was just beginning.
"It was mind blowing," the father of two said. "I had no idea I doubled it."
"Power Couple" visited Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to collect their two duplicate prizes the very next day on April 3. With the winnings, they plan to make some investments.
"I never thought I'd be here," the husband said alongside his wife in the Lottery Winner's Circle room. "It's still surreal."
The 7-Eleven will receive a combined $5,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the two winning tickets.
The Powerball jackpot had gone on to reach $1.33 billion before it was won on April 6 by one lone ticket bought in Oregon. The Oregon Lottery announced on Monday, just two days after the drawing, that they were already working with a player who had come forward with a ticket to claim the prize. They are currently undergoing a vetting process and stepping through security measures before officially announcing a winner.
"This is an unprecedented jackpot win for Oregon Lottery," Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells said in a press release. "We're taking every precaution to verify the winner before awarding the prize money, which will take time."
The Oregon Lottery also revealed the location the winning ticket was bought at: Plaid Pantry at 6060 NE Columbia Boulevard in Portland.
"Plaid Pantry is thrilled to learn that one of our 104 Oregon stores sold the $1.3 billion dollar Powerball ticket," Plaid Pantry President and CEO Jonathan Polonsky remarked in a statement. "This store is one of our newest and most loved stores. Proceeds from the Oregon Lottery fund many programs that benefit everyone in the state, and we've been a proud partner with the Oregon Lottery since the very beginning. Congratulations to our lucky customer from our over 700 Plaid associates!"
The Powerball jackpot currently stands at $46 million for the next drawing on Sat., April 13 at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
Powerball is played in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
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Talk about getting lucky!
Congratulations to them.
So they replayed numbers they had picked before vs replaying computer picks?
I need to replay some old online picks.
Congrats to the lucky couple.
Talk about LUCK! WOW congrats! I actually just moved from Portland Or to Texas and have bought tickets at that Plaid Pantry! It's excruciating if I think too long about it but I'm happy for the winner. Im kinda hoping the Oregon one is a group of people that would be nice. Wish I had that REPLAY feature on these machines in Texas! 😩
Our self serve machines do not have replay feature either if that's what you're talking about. Our clerks can replay your tickets for you.
Naturally I wrote IGT (physical letter, no e-mail) suggestion that the machines be equipped with a replay feature...naturally this shareholder never got a reply. However years before that I wrote them in Las Vegas and said I had won several jackpots on their WOF slot machines. They sent me a very nice WOF with IGT on the back.
Not sure if your comment was directed to me and I don't know what some of your acronyms mean (WOF, IGT etc)
I'm currently in Texas, a huge lotto state and it's shocking how out of shape these machines are and how unreliable they are. I've lost money by the machines double printing tickets either from me pressing the push buttons or using my app QR code. This happens over and over again at multiple machines and I've contacted the lottery and they are very non chalant, we appreciate your feedback and will pass it on....
I lived in Portland Oregon which had newer machines than Texas and Washington state is only a few minutes from downtown Portland and I would get tickets whenever I had errands in WA. The WA machines are even better than all the ones I've seen. They are NEW, Modern and Reliable. It's one giant touch screen, it takes debit cards, if you have a winning ticket, it will give you the credits on that machine and any free replays your ticket one will print! If you want the money instead you just go to the customer service counter.
Wow that's luck! $2mil is $2mil whether by accident or not. Congratulations to the winners.
I don't know if the lottery vending machines here can replay existing tickets. They can accept playslips, but I don't know if they replay. I've had clerks replay tickets a few times, but never tried it with a machine.
I wish them both well and hope they enjoy their winnings.
Yes, the message was meant for you. IGT=International Gaming Technology; WOF=Wheel of Fortune.
Our machines also have a total touch screen but no replay feature per se. If you win I think under $50 it asks if you want credit or delete. One game, Cashball 225 you may win a free ticket here and there and it'll print a new ticket with different #'s.
Here when you call the KY help desk it really goes to RI IGT service center and I think it got cut down to 7 states. They are very good and have had a problem or two and if with credit card they'll say check your card activity in 2-3 days and refund should be there and it always has. Not sure if IGT or Scientific Games manages the machine part in Texas.
Curious why the move from beautiful OR to TX?
You work in lottery?
thanks for the explanation!
it's a long story. I love the PNW, OR/WA but it's very expensive and the crime is rising while the issues are just being coddled. It was frustrating to live there. But it is indeed beautiful and I miss the landscape but not the people.
No lottery employee (retired US Army & 20 years PICU Respiratory Therapist. If any soft spot in my heart for TX it is San Antonio where the Army gave me my trade.
Earlier after my response went on line and played repeat Mega Millions.
Haven't been to the PNW for 18.5 years now. First time to Seattle/Olympia area in '77 told my Brother I want to buy some property here. He said don't nothing is going to happen here. Well he was wrong.
Thank you for your service!
Your brother was definitely off the mark. Lol but Seattle is like Portland, a lot of craziness.
my friend just moved there a couple of months ago and her FIRST DAY arrived, had her car stolen.
Zombie like homeless people approaching all the time. Anyways.
good luck with Mega Millions!!! 🍀🍀🍀
Maryland resident here! Once you scan an old ticket, the machine will ask if you'd like to replay your numbers or not. If the ticket is too old, you would manually enter your numbers. Another function I love about Maryland machines is that you can actually see the QP numbers on the screen and choose to throw those back or purchase that ticket. I noticed in VA and NC that those machines don't allow you to see the numbers first.
Hey,
Do you know if that is an IGT machine or Scientific Games lotto machine? We can't do that in KY, QP pop out of the machine and that's when you find out your #'s. Ours in KY are IGT, kind of look like a big rounded edge refrigerator. Been a while since we went to Ohio and think they have SG machines; not 100% sure.
Yes it is nice to see the QP, BUT its a PAIN with the replay feature. When you scan a losing ticket you now have to hit NO I do not want to replay. And if you hit for like $4 it will first ask Yes/NO if you want to cash the winner? If you say yes it then asks if you want to REPLAY - Yes,No? Should just change the yes button to a REPLAY button, not YES/NO easier to understand, less mistakes.
Congrats to the couples double win! awesome to hear!
And of course it happened to me after posting this. Had a $4 winner on Cash for Life. Machine asked me if I wanted to cash it in Y/N? I said yes and missed that the next question was do I want to REPLAY the C4L ticket? I thought the prior question 'didnt take' and was asking me again if I wanted to cash it in so hit yes and ended up getting a replay of the ticket.
Lets hope its a 'happy' replay
The lottery vending machines in CA don't let you see QP numbers beforehand either. I never thought about it before, but that would be a nice feature to have.
First time there, I met some lovely senoritas and partied all night in San Antonio.
Had a lovely, romantic night on the River Walk.
And by the way, congratulations to the winners!
If I ever win the lottery, I will revisit San Antone.
They're SciGames machines