Man Wins Big Jackpot Twice In Three Years

Friday, January 12, 2007 posted 03:10 AM EST

You could say he has really, really good luck.

A Pueblo man recently won a Colorado Lottery jackpot of $3.4 million just three years after he won $1.3 million in the same lottery.

The $3.4 million prize was for the Dec. 20 drawing. The winning numbers were 1, 12, 19, 20, 29 and 31.

Since the game was introduced in 1989, the Colorado Lotto has seen two other duplicate jackpot winners, officials said.

"Winning the jackpot just once is a life-changing experience," said Peggy Gordon, director of the Colorado Lottery. "To win a second time just proves that lighting does strike twice."

The probability of winning the Lotto jackpot is 1 in 5,245,786, and the probability of winning the jackpot twice in a lifetime -- much less twice in three years -- is one in many, many trillion.

The winner, who wants to remain anonymous, credits his faith for his luck.

He told officials that the first time he won, during a drawing on Oct. 27, 2003, he was a week away from filing for bankruptcy.

He said he prayed for help to pay his bills and a voice encouraged him to buy one lottery ticket.

The man, a devout Christian, said he plans to continue to support various charities that help children and the homeless, such as Feed the Children and Wayside Cross Rescue Mission in Pueblo.

The other two double winners in the Colorado Lotto were Donald Wittman Jr., who won in 1989 and 1991, and Shelley Hedwall, who won in 1998 and 2003.

The winning Lotto ticket was sold at 7-Eleven, located at 5 Widefield Drive in Colorado Springs.

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