Cally Krisell recently won $200,000 on a lottery ticket she didn’t even purchase. She received the ticket as a gift from her stepfather, who repeatedly promised he’d give her his winnings should he ever hit it big.
The generous gift started out as what Krisell thought was a daydream and a little bit of teasing from her stepfather, who has played Powerball in Arkansas for a long time.
“My stepdad plays the numbers of me and my daughter’s birthdates,” Krisell told lottery officials in an press release. “We always had a running joke that if he won big, he would give me the winning ticket.”
Mega Millions jackpot soars to record $1.55 billion
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.6 million.
On July 17, four of Krisell’s stepdad’s lucky numbers and his Powerball choice matched the winning numbers. The matching numbers won him a $50,000 prize. However, he also spent the extra $1 for the PowerPlay option, which multiplied his winnings to $200,000.
A little while later, Krisell got a visit from her stepdad, who told her he needed to talk to her about something important.
“He stated he had good and bad news,” Krisell said. “He gave me the bad news first – I must start paying my own phone bill. The good news – I have money to pay it with, and then he gave me the lottery ticket!”
Why are there so many massive Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots?
Recent Mega Millions and Powerball massive jackpots are not a coincidence.
It wasn’t a joke. Her stepdad meant what he said every time the pair joked about his winning dream.
Krisell told Arkansas lottery officials she plans to use the money to start paying her phone bill, make home improvements and take a family vacation.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a dad who has been generous with his lottery winnings.
Earlier this summer, a father of a newly minted high school graduate in Washington gifted his son a $20 scratch-off lottery ticket that turned out to be a $50,000 winner.
This story was originally published by Marie Rossiter at Simplemost.com.
