10 Unbelievable Lottery Stories

1. Do the right thing, lose $590 million

Mary Crandall was polite enough to let 84-year-old Gloria Mackenzie go ahead of her in line at a Florida grocery store in 2013 and the gesture cost her $590 million! Both Gloria and Mary bought Powerball tickets using the Quick Pick feature, but because Mary let Gloria in line ahead of her, Gloria got the winning numbers that Mary would have got had she not been so kind! Always be kind, but save yourself from having it cost you big time, and skip the lines while you're at it, by playing Powerball online.

2. Save room for dessert

110 tickets matched the second-place Powerball prize in a 2003 Powerball drawing. Typically, Powerball expects from zero to four tickets to match the second prize, so they immediately suspected fraud. However, what they found was much more interesting; a lucky fortune cookie had been making the rounds in Chinese restaurants across the country and people played the cookie's lucky numbers. 89 ticket holders won $100,000 and 21 won $500,000 because they chose the Power Play, which multiplied their winnings. The lesson learned: dessert is good for you!

3. It takes money to make win money

In 1992, a syndicate from Australia with a head for numbers calculated all the possible outcomes of a 6/44 lottery in Virginia, USA. They purchased 5 million out of 7 million possible combinations at $1 each. They ended up winning the $27 million jackpot, making their investment well worth the effort. Virginia Lottery considered banning the syndicate's strategy, but the motion didn't pass and it remains a legal strategy.

4. Lotteries are a whole lot older than you think

No one knows exactly when lotteries began, but they have certainly been around for a long time. Lotteries were played in 100 BCE in ancient Rome and in Han Dynasty China! This means that people have been playing the lottery for at least 2100 years!

5. Lottery funds created the British Museum and still benefit it today

One of the world's most prestigious institutions, the British Museum, was made possible by the lottery! England formed a lottery in 1753 with the museum's creation in mind. More than 250 years later, the British Museum still receives funding from the lottery via Heritage Lottery Fund grants. The Heritage Lottery Fund grants proceeds from the National Lottery to many British institutions.

6. Make America Great: Play to Win!

The founding fathers of the US were huge fans of lotteries! Benjamin Franklin established a lottery in Philadelphia to pay for a cannon for the city's defense. John Hancock established a lottery to rebuild Faneuil Hall. In 1776, the Continental Congress established lotteries in to fund the Colonial Army. No wonder Mega Millions and Powerball are so popular today; playing the lottery is as American as baseball and apple pie!

7. Lightning can strike twice, or thrice

James Bozeman Jr. of Florida won the Florida Lotto twice with tickets purchased at the same 7-Eleven convenience store; he won $13 million in total. A couple in Virginia won the lottery three times in one month; first, they won $1 million playing Powerball on 12 March 2014, then they won another $50,000 on 26 March with a Virginia Lottery Pick 4 ticket, and yet another $1 million with a Virginia Lottery Scratcher ticket the next day! In Norway, three members of the Oksnes family won the lottery three times in six years. Some people have all the luck!

8. It never hurts to check

The largest unclaimed lottery prize to date is a EuroMillions UK prize of £63,837,543.60. The winning ticket was for the 8 June 2012 draw, meaning. that if someone were to find the ticket today it would be worthless. However, all unclaimed National Lottery prizes go to the Good Causes fund so it's not as if that money is going to waste.

9. Art imitating life

It Could Happen to You, the 1994 romantic comedy starring Nicholas Cage was based on a true story. In 1984 a police detective, Robert Cunningham, was paying his check at his favourite restaurant. Instead of leaving the usual 15% as a tip, Cunningham offered to split the results of the lottery ticket he had purchased with his waitress, Phyllis Penzo, who had been working at the restaurant for 24 years. Lo and behold, the ticket was a winner and the two split the $6 million prize.

10. You couldn't make this one up

In 1999 Australian Bill Morgan was working as a truck driver when he had an allergic reaction to a medication and his heart stopped; he was clinically dead for 14 minutes and fell into a coma for 12 days. Despite doctor's predictions, Morgan suffered no brain damage or ill effects. Feeling grateful for the new lease on life, Morgan quit his job, married his longtime girlfriend, bought a lottery ticket and won a car. Given Morgan's already incredible story, the local news decided to interview him and persuaded him to buy another lottery ticket on live TV. The result; Morgan won AUD$250,000 while the cameras were rolling!