Man scores big in lottery twice in 24 hours

Mike Krumboltz
Cary Collings holds up his winnings (Photo via Facebook)
Cary Collings holds up his winnings (Photo via Facebook)

It's better to be lucky than good. Just ask Cary Collings: He recently found himself with a high-scoring scratch-off ticket, and then, when he bought another, he had one worth even more—all in the same 24-hour period.

According to the Facebook page for Washington's Lottery, Collings' day started off on the right note when he won the $55,555 prize on a scratch-off ticket. Not a bad day's work, but Collings wasn't finished. On his way to cash in his ticket, he stopped at a store to buy some more. One of them ended up being worth $200,000.

Q13Fox.com reported that Collings, who lives in Puyallup, Wash., plans to use some of his winnings to pay off debts. He said he is undecided on what to do with the rest of his windfall but has no plans to quit his job.

While Collings' feat is extremely rare, he isn't the first person to win big more than once. Earlier this year, Stephen and Terri Weaver of Arkansas won a $1 million jackpot. Then, later that same weekend, they won an additional $50,000, according to ABC News.

Stephen Weaver told ABC News that he nearly had two heart attacks. "I had to have an aspirin," he said.

And then there's the case of Diane and Kerry Carmichael of Tempe, Ariz. In 1995, they won $2.5 million. Then, this past March, they won an additional $1 million jackpot, according to MyFoxPhoenix.com.

Across the pond, George Traykov of the U.K. won money from the EuroMillions lottery twice in three years. After scoring big the second time, Traykov joked that he missed the big jackpot by just one digit.