Man wins lottery prize twice in same drawing

Most lottery players hope to win a big jackpot once in their lives. One Massachusetts man, however, won it twice in the same drawing.

Kenneth J. Strokes of Norwood, Mass. won big two times over in the state's Lucky for Life drawing. Strokes had received a call from a Massachusetts State Lottery representative informing him that his ticket was a winner, earning him a prize of $25,000 a year for life.

Strokes realized shortly after the call that he had another lottery ticket lying around that his family had bought him. That ticket had the same numbers as his the winning one, which were based on several family members' birthdays. Strokes immediately called the lottery representative to inform them he had a second winning ticket.

Winning the lottery twice in one drawing is rare. "For a game like this, where there's so many possible winning combinations..people rarely buy the same ticket with the same numbers...they have to be really confident that those numbers will come in," lottery spokesperson Christian Teja told the Boston Globe.

Strokes opted out to take the lump sum on both of his winnings, $390,000 each or $780,000 total. According to the statement released by the Massachusetts State Lottery, Strokes plans to pay for his son's college tuition, take care of the remaining payments on his daughter's car, and take his family on a vacation.

Teja told the Globe that Stokes was "excited as most people are when they win a prize of this magnitude."