PRINCETON, Ind. — A Princeton, Indiana, woman is the latest to claim the Hoosier Lottery's Lucky Millionaire prize — her second major lottery win.
Connie Cottingham claimed her $1 million prize Aug. 9 after buying the winning scratch-off ticket at Chuckles Food Mart in Princeton. It was her second trip to Hoosier Lottery Headquarters: In 2008 she won $500,000 from a Dazzling Diamonds scratch-off she bought from Evansville Moto Mart in Evansville, Ind., WRTV-TV reported.
"I was shocked. I had to get my glasses out and take a second look, make sure I was seeing the right thing!" said Cottingham. "I sat there for a little bit thanking the good Lord above for doing an awesome thing again for me."
Cottingham, who works as bartender and part-time karaoke DJ, told lottery officials she bought her ticket on her way to work. Before cashing it in, though, she went in and finished her shift.
Cottingham said even after her second win she has no plans to quit working, though she does have some ideas for her winnings.
"I'm going to help my daughter first thing and some close family members and close friends and take a trip," said Cottingham.
Cottingham is the tenth player to win $1 million playing Lucky Millionaire. She is the eighth player to claim an instant $1 million top prize on the game.
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
Way to go girl. Drink up, but don't drink it all up. Congrats.
Nice story and good for her!
Even after her first big win, she kept on playing.
Congratulation Connie
Way to go,Connie!
It's Party time!
Wow Connie- what a way to celebrate. Don't spend it all in one place girl.
Congratulations lady! I am still waiting for one that will make me do a double-take.
Yes ! It can happen more than once !
So after I win big I will continue to play.
Is that helpmewin?
From Indiana...
Awfully quiet...
Hmmm...
Yea and she kept - WINNING!!
Hmmmm... your right haven't read/seen any post from her today
Ha if your not close fam/friend your out of luck ????
If there's a big win In south Jersey I better maintain my 3.5 average posts per day lest I be suspect.
Lucky lady i cant even win on 2nd chance replay I been entering since 09 & I enter a lot I guess I am a 2x loser until 1 day I win
Congrats to the lucky winner. You gotta stay in it, to win it twice. Good Job.
Congrats! Not too shabby... two wins in less than 5yrs... there is hope for the rest of us
Anybody see my ship? It was supposed to come in
Naw, to busy lookin fer mine,
hope I'm not at the airport, bus, or train station when It comes In.
Congratulations, Connie Cottingham, on your pre-taxed $1.5M scratch-off tickets lottery wins -- I hope that this is a lump-sum total; rather than the value of annuities paid annually over a three decades.
Does it look like a Dinghy. I think i saw it.
Congrats Connie Cottingham spend wisely
Oh well, at least the suspense is over...
I wonder how many tickets she bought between her two winnings.
Shoot I will continue to play to till the day I die I am a lotto freak
You know you can disable the adds without being golden lol
Here in box is full I guess ppl been hitting here up since they know its her that won
just so you will know i don't buy many scratch offs i have in the past and i won $100.00 and $5.00 + a free ticket.
i haven't had much Luck with them
I never buy them. They just don't seem that exciting to me. Instant disappointment.
Instant disappointment is what make them exciting to some players, they don't like waiting for a drawing to find out they've wasted their money.
Good one.
To each their own but I like the time to dream between buying tickets and the draw. I'm the patient type
Some people buy scratchers and carry them around for a couple weeks before scratching them. You could try that.
maybe we can use some to start the fireplace with
"There's a sucker born every minute"
Winners visualize whirled peas.
Sucker bet
The name originates in that sucker bets are often created to lure inexperienced players into betting against large odds, blinded by the offer of "fast money".
Ronnie316 how many scratch off you win on
That's only 525,600 new ones every year and it takes over 75,000,000 to win PB or MM. No wonder it takes several drawings for them to be won.
They sell $300. packages here. A package of $20. scratchers has 15 tickets in it.
Overall, thats a lot of "suckers"
hope to see you picture on here soon like her picture
Is that you helpmewin?
Is that you helpmewin?
I been waiting for Thrifty to cross the line and buy one in NJ so he can win a lottery jackpot someday.
you will know IF i have a BIG WIN i will ASK Todd to announce it BIG LETTERS
so i can get some attention like Gloria MacKenzie
don't know if Thrifty has a car he may not like to buy gas
Thrifty could cross D line on his bicycle.
maybe he has electric car
Its a bicycle wit a tiny motor be D back wheel.
like a moped
No, home made.
Wit $6 million (after houses and cars) I tink I can generate a $15k per month check for myself.
OMG! i remember her Name now i think she follows the PERSON WHO DISTRIBUTES LOTTERY TICKETS TO STORES around
Are you serious?
How does she know when he's going around?
example:(do you have any new lottery tickets in, if not when do you get them) she will say they will be here on Thursday.
this lady must know someone the lottery field
by the way that's not all she has won i didn't pull every year up.
coincidence i think NOT
She's HOT!!!! I mean two wins in five years....
Get your minds out of the gutter!
Anyway, Connie CALL ME!!!
OMG! you funny
is there a shortage of woman in NJ or do you just like Cougars with alittle money
There was a case in Indiana I believe a while back where somebody at the lottery or the printer told his friends where to buy the big winning ticket.
They got busted though.
I'm not saying that's what's going on in this case.
Maybe she just discovered a good way to better her odds by buying from new packs that still have all the winners in them.
And I congratulate her on that if that's the case.
there was a guy on that LOTTERY show from i think Massachusetts no matter what he did he kept winning, did you see that show.
RALEIGH – Dan Royal, a carpenter from the small town of Forest City, is one of the biggest winners in state lottery history. After scratching off $750,000 playing “Jumbo Bucks” in February of 2012, this week Royal won the top prize on a “$5,000 a Week for Life!” ticket. The guaranteed value of the prize is $5.2 million.
Royal bought both of his lucky tickets at the same store. It was there on Friday morning that Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery, presented Royal with a check to celebrate his second windfall.
“We are here today at the Little Cubbard in Rutherfordton because this is the store where a really lucky player has had really good luck – twice,” she said. “We appreciate all our players and retailers across the state who make amazing things like this possible.”
Royal, who just turned 60 in June, decided that this prize meant he could call it a career.
“I’m going to quit punching the clock and do what I want to do,” he said. “I feel great. This is what people dream about.”
Royal had the option to claim his prize as an annuity in $260,000 payments each year for the rest of his life. The prize is guaranteed to a winner or his estate for a minimum of 20 years. Royal chose instead to collect a one-time cash payment. After required state and federal withholdings on the $3.5 million lump sum, Royal’s prize was worth $2.4 million.
With the prize money he won last year, Royal bought two trucks and land. This time he is considering the purchase of an RV so he can travel across the country.
“I’m going to build a house in Rutherford County,” he added. “I may open a deer hunt camp in South Carolina.”
Not only did Royal share plans for his lottery winnings, he offered advice for other players who hear about his good luck.
“Play within your means,” Royal said. “If you don’t have it, don’t spend it.”
Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Rutherford County education programs received more than $16.3 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, college scholarships and financial aid based on need, and digital learning. The N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.9 billion for these initiatives statewide.
Here is a man who won twice to, here in NC... what luck!
She must be one of those people that buy packs of scratch tickets.
Well, for this year's remaining income taxes (paid early next year) Connie can finally write off 100% of her carry-over from the past 5 years AND current year gambling losses then!
yeah maybe but i find it odd that she hits all the different stores, the money we see is what she had to go get at the office hard to say the little prizes 500.00 and under fishy i say but then again look at Keith price in Ky i guess Lottery offices don't care.
but then on the other hand why did they investigate the guy in Colorado Tadeusz Krupa and his family have won $1,000 or more in Colorado's Cash 5 Jackpot on 21 different occasions, raking in a total of about $158,000 before taxes.
Connie, if you're reading this PM me some numbers for the EuroMillions this Tuesday.
Dear helpmewin, I like cougars with money and there is a shortage of women in NJ who will date me.
I'm now going on blind dates with actual blind people.
Indiana Lottery office why don't you consider making Quick draw 2 times a day please
What a clever way to hit on the "cougar with a little money". If you can't hit the lottery, you might as well hit on the one who hit the lottery.
I wouldn't be surprise if she will win again in the third time. It's nice that she values her work even though she has enough money to start other things and quit her job. I wonder what her strategies are? Well for a start she continue playing even though she already won. I consistently play, I guess I need to work on the numbers that I am betting.