Some people have all the luck, like the lottery player in Massachusetts who just won $1 million — for the second time.
Constance Carpenito won $1 million by playing the Massachusetts Lottery at the same Stop & Shop in Stoneham, Mass., where she also won $1 million back in 1996.
“She plans on using her winnings to make this Christmas an especially good one for her family,” said the Massachusetts Lottery, which released a photo of Carpenito with her husband Ed toasting champagne in front of a stretch limousine.
That’s not all. According to the Massachusetts Lottery, she’s actually won three times at that Boston-area grocery store. In addition to her two million dollar jackpots, she once won $20,000 there.
For her most recent win, she was playing a $20 instant game called $10,000,000 Diamond Millionaire. She bet $20 every week.
“There’s no reason to believe that this is anything other than a coincidence,” said Massachusetts Lottery spokesman Christian Teja. He said that the instant tickets are randomly sent to 7,500 retailers across the state.
“The Lottery does not know where the grand prize tickets are sent to,” he said. “There are numerous policies and procedures in place with all of our games to ensure that the security and integrity of these games are not compromised at any level.”
He said that Carpentino faced long odds: 1 in 693,000 to win her recent prize, and 1 in 3,780,000 for the prize she won in the 1990s.
According to CNNMoney math, her odds for winning both were 1 in 2.6 trillion.
Carpenito selected a one-time cash payment of $650,000, which will be $455,000 after taxes, said Teja.
He said that 90% of lottery winners decide to cash in their winnings all at once. He said the other option is to spread $1 million over 20 annual payments of $50,000 each, which would be $35,000 after taxes, for a total of $700,000.
The Carpenitos did not immediate return a phone message from CNNMoney.