I love reading about interesting/heart-warming/incredible gambling-related stories, and this latest one came to my attention recently, even though it happened two years ago.

James McAllister celebrated a Valentine’s Day he’ll never forget after doing the practically impossible – winning the lottery twice… on the same day!  The odds of this happening are staggering, but McAllister is walking proof that it can really happen!

It all began when the 62 year old decided to take his wife out for a Valentine’s Day breakfast, and during a stop off along Highway 92 in Georgia, he purchased a Millionaire Jumbo Bucks scratch off ticket.  McAllister was over the moon when he found out that he had won $5,000 on this lottery ticket – certainly enough to pamper his wife with anything her heart desired on that Valentine’s Day.

But McAllister obviously felt that this was his lucky day and decided that he would purchase another lottery ticket, just for the fun of it. He went out shopping for a Valentine’s card for his wife, and bought another lottery ticket at the same time.  This time there was no denying it – Lady Luck was definitely on his side that day. McAllister found himself the winner of a staggering $250,000 !  A romantic until the very end, McAllister said: “It was because of Valentine’s Day. If it hadn’t been for my wife, I probably wouldn’t have won either time.”

So check out these odds:  McAllister  had a one in ten thousand chance of winning the first lottery, the $5,000 windfall that he had.  Then, look at the odds of winning the $250,000 prize – one in a million!  Now combine those odds and see what the chances are of winning these two lotteries in the same day!  They are truly staggering!

McAllister opted to receive his Georgia Lottery prize in one lump sum, even though it meant that Uncle Sam would get a good chunk of it for tax reasons.  However, the couple will definitely have enough money left in the bank to enjoy many more Valentines Day together!

Now and then, I like to bring you a heartwarming lottery tale that I pick up in news articles from around the world.  Sometimes they’re mega wins worth millions of dollars, and sometimes, like this one, they aren’t massive, but they certainly tickle in all the right places.

So here goes:  A man and a woman recently reconnected later in life, after not having seeing each other for years and years.  Kimberley and Larry, both from Maryland, used to know each other when their kids were very young, but then lost touch with each other.  Years later, Kimberley drove into a drive-thru to pick up a meal, and the teller serving her was Larry’s daughter.  The girl recognized Kimberley and got all excited that she was seeing a face from your childhood.  A little while later, Kimberley received a letter in the mail (yes, some people still use this form of communication!) from Larry, asking if she’d like to meet up for coffee.  After that first date, the two have been together ever since.

A great friendship soon turned into love, and the couple were married in a short but meaningful ceremony last year.  This year, they are planning to go all out with a big church wedding, and all the plans have been made. However, no money was left over for a honeymoon.  On that long-winded background, I’ll get to the lottery bit of my tale.  Larry decided to purchase five lottery tickets for his wife who had been a little ‘under the weather’.

However, the clerk accidentally ripped off six tickets and Larry saw it as a sign that he should be purchasing six instead of five.  Incredibly, the sixth ticket landed him a luxury cruise trip for him and his wife – something that they so passionately wanted in order to complete their fairy tale  wedding. The Cruise for Cash scratchoff tickets were offering these fantastic prizes to lucky winners, and nothing could have come at a better time for a better couple!