Brenda Ripton Wins Lottery Four Years After Buying Hold Em' Poker Instant Scratch Ticket

Picture this scenario: You buy an instant scratch lottery ticket at the store. You scratch the ticket and it's a loser. But, there's a promotion going on: All losing tickets for this particular game get a second chance. All you have to do is fill out the info on the back and mail it in for a chance to win $1 million. So, you do that, hoping to win a million dollars. But you know the odds are against you, so you're not banking on it. Years later, you totally forget that you ever sent that ticket in. Four years after sending it in, you get a call saying that you won $1 million from a prize draw. What would you do? Would you even believe it?

This scenario happened to Brenda Ripton of Newport Maine. Four years ago she bought a Hold Em' Poker instant scratch lotto ticket from Maine State Lottery. The ticket was a loser but the game had the extra shot at winning a million dollars. Brenda completed her info, sent it in, then forgot all about it. In April of 2009, she got a call from Maine State Lottery that she won. She thought someone was playing a prank on her, so she hung up the phone and then called Maine State Lottery herself to verify. She did, in fact, win! And, now she's $1 million richer.

It took four years because that is how long it took to sell all of the Hold Em' Poker instant scratch tickets. They had to sell them all before they could do the draw.

Brenda Ripton said that the win could not have come at a better time because both her and her husband were out of work. Now they could relax and take it easy, stress-free!