Nation & World News

Couple wins lottery after using same numbers for 26 years

Nov 18, 2020

A North Carolina couple who consistently played the same numbers for 26 years has won a whopping $366,000 lottery prize right in time for the holidays, according to reports.

Durham resident Terry Coggeshall said he and his wife bought the Cash 5 ticket at a grocery store in Chapel Hill last week and were astounded when they arrived home later and saw their winning numbers on TV.

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“I was in the La-Z-Boy as she was standing there watching and she started screaming,” Coggeshall said, according to CBS News. “She goes, ‘I won, I won!’ And I go, ‘What?!’”

Their chances of winning the drawing was nearly one in a million, reports said.

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After state and federal taxes are taken, the payout will total about $259,425, reports said.

The exhilarated couple said this was the first time they ever won big money in nearly three decades of playing the state lottery.

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“These are my wife’s numbers that we’ve been playing for 26 years,” Coggeshall told the North Carolina Education Lottery. “We started playing them in Florida when we lived there.”

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Coggeshall, who works as a delivery coordinator, hinted he might stash the money for the future.

“It takes a lot of stress off. It’ll be a good amount to put away to help with retirement,” he said.

About the Author

ArLuther Lee is a visual editor and occasionally covers national and world news for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from The University of Florida and has been a journalist for more than 25 years.

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