People Who Won the Lottery Twice (and the Math Behind It)

People who won the lottery twice are real, verifiable, and more common than most of us assume. In the past few years alone, state lottery agencies in Massachusetts and North Carolina have announced second major prizes for the same players within months of the first. Their names, ticket types, prize amounts, and after-tax payouts are all part of the public record.

The short answer to the question everyone asks: no proven system explains it. What explains it is a combination of very large numbers of tickets sold, players who buy often, and a statistical effect that mathematicians have written about for decades. When hundreds of millions of tickets change hands every week, somebody hitting twice stops being shocking and starts being expected.

Below are the documented cases — what happened, what the odds actually were according to the lotteries themselves, and what the winners did afterward. No invented quotes, no guessing at anyone’s private life. Just what the official announcements and news reports actually say.

The people who won the lottery twice, according to official lottery records

The strongest cases come straight from state lottery press offices, which verify tickets before paying claims. That verification is why these stories hold up better than viral posts with no names attached.

Two recent US examples stand out, both involving scratch tickets rather than jackpot drawings. Scratch games matter here: their top-prize odds are far shorter than Powerball’s, and frequent players buy many tickets per year.

For scale, Powerball’s official prize chart lists jackpot odds of 1 in 292,201,338 and overall odds of winning any prize at 1 in 24.9. Scratch-off odds are typically published per game and are dramatically better.

Christine Wilson won the lottery twice in 10 weeks in Massachusetts

Christine Wilson of Attleboro, Massachusetts, claimed a $1 million prize on Feb. 23, 2024, from the $50 “Lifetime Millions” instant game, according to the Massachusetts State Lottery. Roughly 10 weeks later, in May 2024, she claimed a second $1 million prize on the $10 “100X Cash” game.

The Massachusetts State Lottery published the odds for both games: 1 in 8,400,000 for the $1 million prize in Lifetime Millions, and 1 in 1,612,800 in 100X Cash. Both tickets were bought in Mansfield, at Dubs’s Discount Liquors and Family Food Mart, as reported by CBS Boston and other Massachusetts outlets.

Wilson took each prize as a one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes rather than the annuity. Lottery officials said she used part of the first prize to buy an SUV and planned to put the second into savings. Each selling store received a $10,000 bonus under Massachusetts rules.

Jennifer Kleinendorst won the lottery twice in one summer

The North Carolina Education Lottery announced in June 2025 that Jennifer Kleinendorst of Willow Spring won the $250,000 grand prize in a 2025 Multiply The Cash second-chance drawing. The lottery said the drawing drew more than 23 million total entries. After required state and federal withholding, she received $179,375.

Two months later, the same lottery announced that Kleinendorst had won the $2 million top prize on a $20 “100X The Cash” scratch-off bought at Hill Top on North Main Street in Fuquay-Varina. It was her second major win in a single summer.

She was offered $100,000 a year for 20 years or a $1.2 million lump sum. According to the North Carolina Education Lottery, she chose the lump sum and took home $861,006 after required withholdings. That gap between headline number and deposited number is the part most people never see coming.

The math behind why someone won the lottery twice this year

Here is where the odds get misunderstood. The 1-in-trillions figures you see in headlines answer a very narrow question: what are the chances that one specific named person, buying two specific tickets, wins both times? That question almost never matches what actually happened.

The better question is broader. Out of everyone in the country buying tickets, week after week, what are the chances that somebody hits twice? Harvard statisticians Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller took up exactly this problem in their 1989 paper “Methods for Studying Coincidences,” published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association.

Analyzing a New Jersey double win that the press had described as a 1-in-17-trillion event, they concluded the probability of some US player winning twice in a four-month window was closer to 1 in 30 — and that over a seven-year span it was, in their framing, practically certain. That reframing is the whole story.

Two other factors compound it. Volume: a player who buys hundreds of tickets a year has hundreds of chances, not one. And game choice: scratch tickets with published odds in the millions, not hundreds of millions, are where nearly every documented repeat winner hit.

Joan Ginther and the most-studied case of all

No discussion of people who won the lottery twice gets far without Joan R. Ginther, who won four times in Texas over 17 years for about $20.4 million total. Her wins included a 1993 lotto drawing and scratch-off prizes in 2006, 2008, and 2010, with the last a $10 million top prize on a $50 ticket.

Ginther holds a doctorate in statistics from Stanford, which fueled years of speculation that she had cracked something. Writer Nathaniel Rich investigated the case for Harper’s Magazine, reporting that residents of Bishop, Texas, estimated she bought thousands of tickets a year.

Statisticians quoted in that reporting pointed to volume and game selection rather than any exploit. Importantly, no evidence has ever been made public that Ginther manipulated any game, and the Texas Lottery paid all four prizes. We should be careful to state that plainly rather than imply otherwise.

What happened after they won the lottery twice

The aftermath varies enormously, and that is the part readers actually come for.

Evelyn Adams became the first person to win two New Jersey Lottery million-dollar prizes, taking $3.9 million in October 1985 and $1.4 million in February 1986, both paid as annuities. In interviews years later, widely reported in US news outlets, she described losing the money through casino gambling in Atlantic City and unsuccessful business ventures.

Outside the US, Australian truck driver Bill Morgan won a scratch ticket prize in 1999, then won a A$250,000 prize while a Nine News crew filmed him re-enacting the first win. The footage of that second scratch has been broadcast and reported for more than two decades.

Taxes shape every US outcome. The IRS requires payers to withhold at a flat 24% on reportable gambling winnings above $5,000, reported on Form W-2G, and winnings are taxable income regardless. Withholding is not the final bill — the actual tax owed is settled on the return.

What winners can learn from people who won the lottery twice

A few patterns show up consistently in the documented cases, stated as observation rather than advice.

• The advertised prize and the money received differ sharply. Kleinendorst’s $2 million became a $1.2 million lump sum and $861,006 after withholding, per the North Carolina Education Lottery.
• Lump sum versus annuity is a real fork. Wilson took $650,000 up front on each $1 million prize; Adams received annuities in the 1980s.
• Repeat wins cluster in scratch games with published odds in the low millions, not in nine-figure jackpot drawings.
• Outcomes afterward diverged widely, and the public record shows both preserved and depleted fortunes.

If a windfall could affect benefits such as SSI, SNAP, Medicaid, or Section 8, reporting requirements generally apply, and how a prize is treated depends on the specific program and the person’s circumstances. The Social Security Administration, your state benefits agency, and the program’s official pages are the places to confirm any individual case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Has anyone really won the lottery twice?

Yes. State lottery agencies have verified and paid multiple repeat winners, including Christine Wilson in Massachusetts in 2024 and Jennifer Kleinendorst in North Carolina in 2025. Both agencies published the wins.

What are the odds of winning the lottery twice?

It depends on which games and how many tickets. For one named person and two specific tickets the odds are astronomical, but Diaconis and Mosteller found the odds of someone in the US doing it in a four-month period were roughly 1 in 30.

Do people who won the lottery twice use a system?

No system has been publicly demonstrated. Documented repeat winners bought large numbers of tickets, often in scratch games with much shorter published odds than jackpot drawings.

How are two lottery wins taxed?

The IRS treats lottery prizes as taxable income and requires payers to withhold a flat 24% on reportable winnings over $5,000, reported on Form W-2G. Withholding is not the final amount owed; that is determined on the tax return, and state rules vary.

Know the Rules Where You Live

Sweepstakes and prize rules change from state to state — what a sponsor can offer, how prizes are handled, and what protections you have. Pick your state to see the exact rules that apply where you live.

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Sources & How to Verify

The facts on this page are drawn from official government and primary sources. Rules and figures change, so always confirm the current details with the official agency or the promotion’s own published rules.

• FTC Consumer Advice: consumer.ftc.gov — prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scam guidance
• IRS: irs.gov — how prizes and winnings are treated as income
• Social Security Administration: ssa.gov — what SSI recipients must report
• The promotion’s official rules: every legitimate sweepstakes publishes them — the rules page is always the final word

Content last reviewed August 2026. If you notice outdated information, please contact us.

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Informational only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Win Big Daily is an independent educational resource. Prize rules, tax treatment, and benefit-program requirements vary by state and program and change over time, so always verify the current details with the official agency, the promotion’s published rules, or a qualified professional before acting. If a topic involves government benefits, contact the program office about your specific situation.