Are These the Luckiest Lottery Winners Ever?

A New York man walked into a liquor store to get change to buy some perfume and walked out $5 million richer. William Williams, 24, and Michelle Concepcion, 25, said they bought the $5 Million Fortune Lottery ticket for $20 so they could make change for a $100 bill. When he scratched away at the ticket and saw the amount, he was dumbstruck. 

Bryan Cureington, of Louisiana, said one of his family members threw away a Make My Year lottery ticket, assuming the $10 ticket hadn't yielded any winnings. But when 35-year-old went through the garbage just to double check, he discovered the ticket was a $200,000 top prize winner. After state and federal tax withholdings, Cureington took home $142,000 in lottery winnings.

A California man took luck to an entirely new level with an unbelievable lucky streak, winning more than $6 million in lottery prizes in just a few months. Antulio Mazariegos purchased four tickets in the last six months. His first big win happened last November when he won a $1 million Scratchers ticket. He decided to try his hand again and won two more prizes, worth $1,000 and $600 each.When he turned those tickets in, Mazariegos bought four California Black Premium Scratchers, and won his biggest prize of $5 million.

A Virginia man is nearly half a million dollars richer after winning the lottery with numbers he said came to him as he slept. Victor Amole bought four tickets, choosing the numbers 3, 10, 17, 26 and 31 for each, saying he saw the sequence in a dream. "I’ve never had a dream like that before," Amole said. His vision proved to be a reality, as the numbers won him the game’s $100,000 top prize four times over.

A Connecticut woman says her husband’s sweet tooth landed her a lottery jackpot worth $400,000. Lisa Nagy, of Easton, told Connecticut Lottery officials she and her husband were on their way home on "date night" when he suggested they stop at a store for ice cream. She asked him to get her Win For Life tickets too. When she scratched it off she was shocked to spot the “WIN FOR LIFE” symbol. After confirming her win, Nagy decided to opt for the $400,000 lump sum.

A Canadian man got his luck back after being down on it. His home burned down in a 2016 wildfire and he hadn't been able to rebuild it. He bought the ticket on the way to see his sick father. Thankfully, he ended up winning $1 million and has a new reason to smile.

A Missouri woman scored a cash windfall twice in one day with two lottery wins. On Nov. 29, Veronica Buchanan reportedly won $1,000 from a $10 Monopoly scratch-off ticket she bought at a gas station. She tested her luck again later in the day and bought another $10 scratch-off ticket. That ticket was worth $100,000.

A Maryland couple got lucky twice in just a few years. The husband and wife won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket less than four years after winning $100,000 on another scratch-off. In April 2014, they won the $100,000 from a Bonus Match 5 ticket. The second win came from a 100X The Cash scratch-off ticket.

A New Jersey man found a $24 million lottery ticket in his pocket two days before it was set to expire. The 64-year-old, Jimmie Smith, had the ticket in an old T-shirt hanging in his closet since he bought it in May 2016. When Smith, a retired security officer, saw an evening news episode that alerted him to the Lottery’s efforts to find the mystery Lotto player that he was inspired to seek out the multiple unchecked tickets in his shirt pocket. It'd been nearly a year since he bought the tickets, and one of them was a big winner.

John Lewis, of New York, ran into a local market to buy mushrooms and walked out with a heck of a lot more. On a whim, the New York man bought a $10 Set for Life scratch-off lottery ticket, winning $5 million. “What possessed me to be in that store, at that time, with just enough money in my hand for that machine, I will never know," he said of the win.

A Michigan woman may have sealed her own fate after she gave a speech about paying off her student debt only to win a lottery jackpot just hours later. Amanda Dietz, of Vicksburg, said she bought the Multi-Prize Bingo ticket the same day she gave a speech about the effects of student loan debt and wanting to be able to pay it off. Her wish was granted when her ticket was a $300,000 winner. "It's incredible," she said. 

A canceled flight at Chicago's O'Hare Airport forced Paul Kuharevicz to find another way home. He rented a car to drive home and purchased a lottery ticket on his way. The ticket was a $1 million winner. Talk about an upgrade!

Michael Engfors, 61, purchased one of the Colorado Lottery's $10 "Eternal Splendor" ticket Friday afternoon at an Aspen gas station. He'd been homeless for six years after losing his business and spent some time sleeping in a church. His luck took a turn for the better when it was a $500,000 winner.

Lightning struck twice for Bruce Magistro, 48, of Long Island, who couldn’t believe his eyes when he revealed a third matching symbol on a Win for Life scratch-off game, guaranteeing the father of three the $1 million top prize. It marked the second time Magistro hit it big on a scratch-off game, scoring the top prize for the first time in 2012 when he played the now-retired Extreme Cash game.

Talk about setting yourself up for the future. Shane Missler, 20, won the Mega Millions jackpot and decided to take the  $282 million lump sum. Missler told his brother of his winnings first, and the next day he told his father over coffee. "I'm only 20, but I hope to use it to pursue a variety of passions, help my family and do some good for humanity," he said in a statement.