Cobb man hits lottery jackpot twice on Valentine’s Day

Talk about getting lucky on Valentine’s Day. An Acworth man scratched off two Georgia Lottery Millionaire Jumbo Bucks tickets to win $255,000 last Saturday.

James McAllister, a 62-year-old hydraulic mechanic, bought the first ticket from a RaceTrac on Highway 92 in Acworth while taking his wife to breakfast, according to a lottery spokeswoman. That ticket was worth $5,000.

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Georgia Lottery

James McAllister won $250,000 after having won $5,000 earlier in the day.

• Photos of big winners

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Later in the day, he bought another Millionaire Jumbo Bucks ticket at Kellogg Creek Market in Acworth as he shopped for a Valentine’s Day card for his wife.

That ticket’s worth: $250,000.

The double win surprised McAllister, who told the Georgia Lottery he wouldn’t have won on any other day.

“It was because of Valentine’s Day,” McAllister said in a press release. “If it hadn’t been for my wife, I probably wouldn’t have won either time.”

The odds of winning a $250,000 jackpot are one in more than 1 million. Odds of getting a $5,000 winning ticket are slightly better, one in 10,000. The tickets cost $20 each.

The Georgia Lottery pays out a lump sum on its jackpots, less 31 percent withheld for taxes, on prizes of $5,000 and up.

McAllister declined media requests on Friday.