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10 things you might not know about the lotteryNews Story
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn decided this month not to take any more chances with Northstar Lottery Group, the company that runs the Illinois Lottery, after it fell far short of promised revenue. Northstar's firing was one of several recent lottery-related news developments. In California, officials unveiled a program to let drivers buy lottery tickets at the gas pump. And the Los Angeles Ethics Commission backed the idea of awarding cash prizes to randomly selected voters in order to boost turnou
Aug 25, 2014, 7:20 am - Lottery News

Bronx woman hits $2M Powerball prize with fortune cookie numbersNews Story
So you thought the lucky numbers inside those Chinese fortune cookies were a joke? Don't tell that to Emma Duvoll, 75, of the Bronx, New York. Duvoll played the lucky numbers from inside a fortune cookie on a Powerball ticket for the Feb. 1 drawing with a $193 million jackpot. When she matched five numbers, Duvoll won $2 million, the New York Lottery said Thursday. I was surprised, but pleased, Duvoll told lottery officials. She purchased the winning ticket at the Hannaford marke
Mar 6, 2014, 4:43 pm - Lottery News

Oregon radio station behind mystery cash prizes in grocery storesNews Story
People thought it was a local lotto winner The mystery surrounding a series of $100 bills recently tucked into items at grocery stores in Oregon has been solved. Turns out, the good deeds were the work of a Portland radio station trying to drum up publicity and spread some good fortune. Despite speculation that the mystery donor was an unidentified local lottery winner, on Wednesday, The New 98.7 The Bull (KUPL) announced that it was responsible for mysterious windfalls occurring around Or
Sep 27, 2013, 11:54 am - Lottery News

Man credits fortune cookie for $1M lottery winNews Story
William Johnson from Southwick, Mass. wasn't expecting much when he cracked open a fortune cookie last week after finishing dinner with his wife. You will soon come into a lot of gold, the slip of paper read. While most of us would be inclined to dismiss the prediction, Johnson decided to do just the opposite. The following day, feeling lucky, Johnson bought a $10 Massachusetts Millionaire Mania scratch-off ticket and promptly forgot about it. A few days later he encountered the scratch-of
Jul 26, 2013, 11:57 am - Lottery News

Man finds $4.85 million Lotto ticket in cookie jarNews Story
Includes video report Maybe you've heard this story before. Or dreamed it. A man cleans out old lottery tickets from a cookie jar, and instead of throwing them away takes them to the 7-Eleven to check them out. And finds one of them is worth millions. It gets better for Ricardo Cerezo of Geneva, Illinois. He says his family was facing eviction, and he'll use part of the winnings $4.85 million to pay off the home. It couldn't have happened at a better time, said Cerezo, a management
May 17, 2013, 8:25 am - Lottery News

Three friends honor long-time pact to split lottery winningsNews Story
All for one, and $1 million for all. Three long-time chums who made a pact to split the pot if one of them ever won the lottery got their payday last week, Georgia Lottery officials announced on Thursday. And to top it all, the threesome's windfall was foretold by an after-dinner treat. James Scoles, 56, was cracking a fortune cookie in his town of North Pole, Alaska, on March 15, the same day his buddy Kenneth Wilson bought a lottery ticket at a grocery in Twiggs County, Ga. His for
Mar 23, 2013, 9:02 am - Lottery News

11/11/11 was the lottery's lucky dayNews Story
By Todd Northrop Thanks to Friday's lucky date, Nov. 11, 2011, or 11/11/11, lottery ticket sales are booming. All those ones in a row are very attractive for lottery players, since that set of numbers won't roll around again for another 100 years. But many players found that tickets were sold out on combinations with all 1's when they went to purchase a ticket. To ensure every winner gets paid, lotteries with fixed payouts cap sales of certain number combinations. In New York, for examp
Nov 12, 2011, 10:00 pm - Lottery News

Iowa man claims $7.5M Hot Lotto jackpotNews Story
Checks numbers, calmly says, I won Waterloo, Iowa, retiree Wally Markham said he wasn't able to keep it secret for long in Smitty's bar on Sunday that he was the jackpot winner in Saturday's Hot Lotto drawing. Markham, 65, who retired in 2001 after 36 years working at the Deere plant in Waterloo, said he confided to the bartender that he was in line to claim the $7.54 million grand prize. From then on in, it cost me a fortune. On Wednesday, Markham collected a fortune at Iowa Lottery
Nov 9, 2011, 7:41 pm - Lottery News

Man wins lottery with numbers from fortune cookieNews Story
A National City, California, man who has played the same Fantasy 5 numbers for a decade finally hit the jackpot, California Lottery officials announced Tuesday. Miguel Bernal is one of two winners holding a ticket worth $153,681. The other ticket was bought in Belmont, in Northern California. The winning numbers in Monday night's draw were 5, 7, 21, 32, and 33. Bernal told lottery officials that he got the numbers out of a fortune cookie 10 years ago and started playing them. The winnin
Jun 29, 2011, 7:41 am - Lottery News

Simon Cowell still buys lottery ticketsNews Story
Simon Cowell says that he still plays the National Lottery in spite of his reported 200 million (US$330 million) fortune. The X Factor' and Syco boss made the claims after he entered the Sunday Times' annual music millionaires' top ten list for the first time this year. I still buy lottery tickets. I still play, said the music mogul, but then added slightly dubiously, but I tick the box that says no publicity so no one would know. Generally, there is no box to be ticked unless the amo
May 5, 2011, 8:09 am - Lottery News