Lottery luck strikes twice for same family

Friday, August 04, 2006 posted 04:14 AM EDT

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. - Four years ago, Ernie Weiler Sr. of Ste. Genevieve was basking in the glory of winning $2.8 million in a Missouri Lotto drawing.

Like father, like daughter. On Thursday, Weiler's daughter, Sue Palmer, and her husband, Mike, also of Ste. Genevieve, were introduced as the winners of $5.5 million from the drawing of July 26.

The astonishingly good fortune was bittersweet. Ernie Weiler didn't live long enough to see his daughter's win. He was 67 when he died of a heart attack May 9.

Palmer brought along a picture of her late father.

"We brought my dad," said Sue Palmer, 45. "He's why we're here. He's looking down on us. He's watching us and he's grinning from ear to ear."

The Palmers' win came almost four years to the day after Weiler won on July 31, 2002.

Missouri Lottery spokeswoman Susan Goedde said the two winners from the same family were a first in the 20-year history of the state lottery, and she wasn't sure if it has ever happened anywhere in the U.S.

An individual's chance of winning the Missouri Lotto drawing is 1 in 3.5 million; Goedde said calculating the odds of relatives both winning jackpots is impossible because they are two separate events.

Still, it's extremely unusual if not unheard of. "I don't recall that ever happening, not in Missouri, not anyplace," Missouri Lottery communications director Gary Gonder said.

Mike Palmer, 47, first heard scuttlebutt about a local winner from colleagues at M&S Packing, a Ste. Genevieve butcher shop he owns.

"Our employee told me on Friday that someone at Casey's bought the winning jackpot ticket," Palmer said. "I said, 'Really? I might be a millionaire.'"

Moments later, he began to shake as he checked his ticket and realized that, in fact, he was. On Thursday, he was wearing a T-shirt that said, "For good luck, rub my belly."

The couple say they will buy property, pay off student loans for the two of their three children who are in college, and may buy a boat and take a couple of short vacations.

Mike Palmer bought the winning ticket the night before the July 26 drawing. He said he first stopped at Rhodes 101 Stop in Ste. Genevieve, where his father-in-law bought his winning ticket, but the Lottery terminal was down.

So Palmer went to Casey's and bought $5 worth of tickets. Like Weiler, Palmer allowed the Lottery's Quick Pick to select the numbers for him.

Three of the winning numbers were the same as those picked for Weiler. Palmer's winning numbers were 16, 24, 31, 34, 36 and 43; Weiler's winners were 13, 15, 24, 31, 36 and 41.

Casey's gets a bonus equal to 1 percent of the jackpot - $55,000.

Ste. Genevieve, a town of 4,500 residents 50 miles south of St. Louis, has produced a third Missouri Lottery winner, too. Paul Koller won $1 million in July 2004 with a free ticket he received at the Dew Drop Inn in Bloomfield.

The Missouri Lottery has awarded jackpots of $1 million or more to 216 winners since it began in 1986.

Sue Palmer said she tried to dissuade her husband from buying a lottery ticket. "I told him he was stupid to," she said. "What are the odds of someone in the family winning again?"

Mike Palmer said now that he's on a roll, he might not stop.

"I might go for Powerball," he said.

Saturday's Powerball jackpot is now $204 million.

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