Paul Caudill, a fortunate man, has won the lottery with the same set of numbers he faithfully played for seven years.
Paul’s steadfastness finally bore fruit as he matched all five white balls in the ‘Lucky for Life’ lottery game, a habit he had maintained since its inception in 2016.
Given the opportunity to choose between a lump sum of $390,000 (£306,865) or an annual payment of $25,000 (£19,670) for the remainder of his life, Paul, from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US, opted for the larger sum.
After deductions for state and federal taxes, he took home a net amount of $277,879 (£218,645).
Paul recounted his disbelief at witnessing his winning numbers emerge during the North Carolina Education Lottery draw. He shared, “I thought there might be a mistake. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night.”
He further revealed, “I’ve been using the same numbers every day since the game started. These numbers represent different family birthdays.”
When questioned about his plans for the winnings, Caudill expressed, “I can finally pay off my house.”
The winning $2 (£1.50) ticket was purchased by Caudill at the One Stop convenience store on West Mountain Street in Kernersville Town.
In a similar stroke of luck last month, a 65-year-old lorry driver hit the lottery just three days after retiring from his profession.
Paul Bashaw, hailing from West Boylston, Massachusetts, secured the winning ticket only days after revealing his retirement plans to his employer of over two decades. He purchased a $5,000,000 100X Cashword scratch card on 20 July and was astounded to win $1 million (£786,940).
On his final day at work, which coincided with his claiming of the winnings at the Massachusetts Lottery headquarters in Dorchester on 28 July, Bashaw exclaimed, “There were three things in life I never thought I’d see happen: The Patriots winning the Super Bowl, getting a hole in one – that happened five years ago – and hitting the lottery. And now I’ve hit all three!”
He chose to receive a one-time payment of $650,000 (£511,511) before taxes.
