Man lucks into double $1 million Powerball win... by accident

Paul Corcoran won $2 million after buying two tickets for the July 9 Powerball drawing - (Powerball)

A Massachusetts man scored big after buying not one, but two, winning Powerball tickets.

Paul Corcoran of Fitchburg, about 50 miles northwest of Boston, accidentally bought two tickets for the Powerball draw on July 9. As a result, he won two $1 million prizes on the same night, according to a Powerball news release.

He claimed his winnings on July 11. Corcoran told Powerball he’s feeling good but doesn’t have any plans for the cash yet.

Corcoran said he initially bought a ticket for seven Powerball drawings earlier this year, and mistakenly believed the final drawing on the ticket had already happened. As a result, he bought another multi-drawing ticket for July 9.

What Corcoran didn’t realize is that the original ticket was also included in the July 9 drawing. That night, both of Corcoran’s tickets matched all five white balls — 5, 9, 25, 28, 69 — and the red Powerball.

The next Powerball drawing is set for this Saturday, when another lucky person could win the $288 million jackpot, which has a cash value of $128.8 million. There was no reported jackpot winner for the last draw on July 16.

Powerball tickets are offered in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The lottery takes place three times a week, and the tickets are $2. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 292.2 million.

Corcoran wasn’t the only one winning big this month.

Connecticut’s Russell Ruff claimed $150,000 in winnings on July 7 after buying a Powerball ticket last month. He almost didn’t get the cash, though, after losing the ticket behind a bed in his home.

“We lost the ticket at home. It went behind a headboard, and we didn’t think too much of it… we didn’t really check the numbers,” Ruff told Powerball.

The ticket wasn’t discovered until Ruff’s cat got stuck behind the bed, prompting him and his sons to move it. They found both the cat and the lucky ticket.

Ruff scanned the ticket after they found it and discovered he had struck gold.

“It was a miracle,” he said.

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