Biggest Ever Cash 5 Jackpot Won By Ronald Flickinger Is In The Record Books

Ronald Flickinger is in the record books. That's because he won the biggest Cash 5 jackpot ever. He won a grand total of $1,570,330!

Now, you might be thinking "Big Deal, it's only one and a half million. What's so significant about that when there's Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots that reach 100 times that amount." Yes, but Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries are virtually impossible to win. Just compare Powerball, for example, to Cash 5. The odds of winning Powerball are approximately 1-in-195-million, while the odds of winning Cash 5 are approximately 1-in-962,000. That means that Powerball is about 200 times harder to win. So, winning a Cash 5 jackpot is doable for the average person.

So, when someone sets a new record for the biggest Cash 5 jackpot win, it's quite significant. Let's face it, the $1,570,330 that Ronald Flickinger won is a life-changer. He'll be able to live a lot more comfortably now.

The Cash 5 jackpots start at $125,000 and they continue to grow if they are not won. The $1,570,330 that Ronald won took six consecutive draws with no winners for it to reach that high.

With the win, Ronald Flickinger said that he planned to take it easy for a few weeks and then return back to work at his tire shop that he owns in Somerset, Pennsylvania. Aside from that he plans to make a donation to St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, give some to his children, and maybe take a week-long vacation.

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Gagandeep Luddu-Sidhu Will Invest Some Of Her Lottery Money

Gagandeep Luddu - Sidhu won a million dollars playing Lotto Max from BCLC in March of 2011. She said that she wants to enjoy some of the money and invest the rest of it.

But before I talk about Gagandeep, I have a few things to say about BCLC. BCLC is the lottery provider in British Columbia, Canada. They've got lotto games just like any other province, state, or country. But what sets them apart is the cool props that they have for the winners' photo shoots, as is the case here in Gagandeep's picture. Being as I write a blog about lottery winners, this is what I like to see, as it adds some flavor to the photos. I mean, people want to see winners and what better way to do it than with cool props at the photo shoot.

But back to Gagandeep Luddu-Sidhu. Gagandeep actually waited 8 months after she found out about her big win to actually claim the money. I just finished writing an article about Jeff Pintiff, who waited just over 1 month to claim his big Powerball prize. And I thought that was long! I guess not, since there's people like Gagandeep out there that will actually wait 8 months. Gagandeep said that she wants to invests some of her winnings. Somebody should tell her about the interest that she could have earned in those 8 months!

Gagandeep Luddu-Sidhu said that she waited so long to claim the prize because she and her husband needed to shop for a new house first. One thing at a time, right Gagandeep? Perhaps somebody should learn how to multi-task :)

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Jeff Pintuff - $48.8 Million Powerball Winner Keeps Quiet For A Month

What would you do if you won a big Powerball jackpot? If you're like most people, you wouldd run off to the lottery office early the next morning, get your money and then go out and spend, spend, spend!

Jeff Pintuff, of Wilton, New York (Just north of Albany) isn't like most people. He won a $48.8 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas day, December 25, 2010. But he didn't run off to the lottery office to get his money. Nope. He kept quiet for more than a month. Then he finally went in to claim his prize on February 11, 2011.

Why did Jeff wait more than a month to claim his winnings? Well, he wanted to interview financial planners and make sure that he got sound financial advice before claiming his winnings. In the meantime, they didn't tell a single person about their lucky fortune, not even co-workers.

With all of the waiting for the owner of the winning $48.8 million ticket to come forward, it got to the point where people in Albany actually thought that whoever bought the ticket must have lost it. In fact, Jeff, who worked as an industrial tool supplier, remembers a radio show host mention that the big winner has yet to come forward while driving to work early one morning, weeks after he had already won. Everybody was wondering who the big winner was. Only Jeff and his wife, Christine knew.

Finally, on February 11, 2011, the cat was out of the bag and everybody knew that Jeff Pintuff won the Powerball jackpot. By that time, Jeff and his wife Christine had already quit their jobs.

So what do Jeff and Christine Pintuff plan to do with their $8.8 million? Well, Christine wants to take a vacation, since they haven't had one since 1996. And, Jeff will consider buying a new car, although he hasn't decided for sure yet.

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Ontario Poker Lotto Winner Bruce Aigner

In September of 2010, a new lottery game was launched in Ontario called Poker Lotto. It's a unique game, in that it is a kind of hybrid between the traditional lotto games with a drawing and an instant game.

More on the game later. But first, let me introduce one of the most recent Poker Lotto Winners. His name is Bruce Aigner and he won $100,000 in the game in May of 2011. At the time of hi win, Bruce Aigner lived in Kitchener, Ontario, which is about an hour west of Toronto.

Poker Lotto is quite an exciting game. That's because you could win instantly and, if you don't win instantly, you have another shot at it in the nightly drawing. The way it works is, when you buy a ticket, you can watch your poker hand be instantly drawn on the lottery terminal digital screen. When that happens, you can instantly win money, from $2 for two pair to $5000 for a Royal Flush.

If you don't happen to win money on the instant portion of the game, you get another shot at it in the nightly drawing. In the nightly drawing, you can win between $5 for matching two of the cards drawn to $100,000 to matching all of the cards drawn.

So there you have it, the game is like two games in one. That's quite innovative.

Bruce Aigner won his $100,000 prize by matching all 5 cards in the nightly draw.

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Geoff Bennette - Lotto Winner To Buy Mini Cooper And Go On World Tour

When most people win the lotto, a new car is one of the first big purchases that they make. Most also travel. Geoff Bennette, of Blackburn, Lancashire, England, is no different. He won the lottery. He plans on buying a Mini Cooper and on doing some traveling.

In June of 2011, Geoff Bennette won £3.5 million ($5,587,783 USD) in UK's National Lottery. Geoff said that he planned to buy a brand new Mini Cooper with his lottery win. A lot of people would probably buy something fancy if they were in Geoff's shoes... Maybe a Mercedes, or and Audi, or a Corvette, or a Porsche. But not Geoff. He's going with a Mini Cooper, and good for him, that's a nice car.

Aside from the car, Geoff Bennette also plans to use his lotto win to do some traveling and go on a world tour. He plans to visit The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Good on him for wanting to travel, but I'd like to make a few suggestions: Don't just stop there; there's some other great countries worth visiting too, like Austria, France, Switzerland, Croatia, Japan, Thailand, Sweden; the list goes on-and-on!

At the time of his win, Geoff Bennette was 61-years-old and a retired school governor. He spent a lot of his time volunteering at sporting events across Britain. In fact he had to volunteer at a particular sporting event a mere hours after finding out that he was a big lotto winner. And, he kept his promise. "I had already promised to help out at a local sporting event on Sunday and I didn't want to let them down so we just told immediate family the news and I went along to the event as planned," he said. "I managed to keep the news to myself all day but Hilary (Geoff's wife) and I celebrated with a bottle of champagne when I got home that night before calling Camelot first thing on Monday morning."

Congratulations to Geoff on his big win, and I hope he enjoys his Mini Cooper and world travels!

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How Easy Is It To Win The Lottery? Just Ask Neal Stanley

How Easy is it to win the lottery? Seeing as you've probably never won, you're thinking it's damn hard to win. But try asking the same question to Neal Stanley; he might have a different answer. He might tell you that it really is easy, since he actually won the lottery TWICE!

In March of 2008, Neal Stanley walked into Massachusetts State Lottery office to claim a $1 million prize from an instant scratch ticket called Billion Dollar Blockbuster. Just over three years after that, in June of 2011, he did the exact same thing, walked into the Massachusetts State Lottery Office to claim another $1 million prize that he won playing the exact same game. That gives Neal a grand total of $2 million in wins. Amazing, isn't it?

So, you'd like to win the lottery just once, wouldn't you. Then you hear about someone like Neal that wins it twice. Life just isn't fair, right? Don't worry, you'll win one day, I promise!

At the time of his latest win, Neal Stanley was grandfather of three, retired, and living in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. When asked what he would do with the money that he won, Neal replied, "Spend it!" Awesome!

The Billion Dollar Blockbuster instant scratch game offers a top prize of $10 million. The $1 million prize that Neal won is the second prize. The odds of winning the top prize in the game are approximately 1-in-6.5-million and the odds of winning the second prize are approximately 1-in-504,000.

What do you think now? Is it easy to win the lottery?

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Broken Mirror Brings Good Luck On Lottery To Kelly Shegrud

Have you heard of the old wives tale about the broken mirror? It says that if you break a mirror, you will endure seven years of bad luck. Is this true? You could test this theory by breaking a mirror yourself. But who wants to deal with shattered glass? Luckily, a woman named Kelly Shegrud already tested the theory, albeit unintentionally.

In May of 2011, Kelly Shegrud won $100,000 playing an instant scratch lottery game from Minnesota Lottery called Caddy Cash. That big win came on the heels of a winning streak following an incident where she... wait for it... broke a mirror!

This is how Kelly explains it, "It all started when I broke a mirror. I thought I'd test my luck. The first ticket I bought was a $77 winner. I just kept trading in winners. I'm on a lucky streak since I broke that mirror. I traded in a $10 winner for a 7s to Win and a Caddy Cash." That's when she won the $100,000. "I thought, 'It can’t be!' I kept looking at it. I tried to call my husband and first there was no reception, then it just rang. I was yelling 'Answer the phone! Answer the phone!' It was the most exciting thing!"

So there you have it, the broken mirror bad luck theory is just a myth; it really brings you good luck! And, if you want to win the lottery tonight, break some mirrors!

The scratch game that Kelly Shegrud won on is a $5 game from Minnesota Lottery called Caddy Cash. It offers a top prize of $100,000, which is what Kelly won. The odds of winning the top prize are approximately 1-in-480,000.

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Jeffrey Wagner Gives Lottery Surprise To Daughter

When Jeffrey Wagner won $500,000 playing the lottery, the first thing he wanted to do was to surprise his daughter by transferring some of the money into her bank account without even telling her that he won the lottery. What a great father, don't you think?

In June of 2011, Jeffrey Wagner won $500,000 playing an instant scratch lottery game from Hoosier Lottery in Indiana called $500,000 Money Match. $500,000 is the top prize in this scratch game, which is what Jeffrey won, and the odds of winning this top prize are 1-in-800,000.

The great guy that he is, Jeffrey said that he planned to use the winnings to help his family, including his daughter. His daughter is a recent graduate from New York University and has student loans that she needs to pay off. That's why he wanted to give her that surprise first!

When Jeffrey Wagner went into Hoosier Lottery headquarters to claim his prize, he said that he was in shock that he won. He said, "I couldn’t believe it!" Ya, that's a normal feeling, but it feels wonderful!

At the time of his win, Jeffrey Carrollton, Texas and working as a school administrator. He bought the winning ticket when he was in Shelbyville, Indiana visiting his parents. He bought the winning ticket at Village Pantry on East State Road 44 and scratched it while eating breakfast at a McDonald's parking lot.

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Diane Collins Smiles After National Lottery Rich For Life Scratchcard Win

See that big awesome smile on Diane Collins' face? She's happy because she is rich for life!

Diane Collins won £40,000 a year ($63,836 USD) for the rest of her life playing a scratchcard game from UK's National Lottery called "Rich For Life." That explains the big smile!

Diane says that she doesn't go out to drink, so playing lotto scratchcards are her little treat.

At the time of her win, Diane Collins was 45-years-old and had lived in Weston Super Mare, a seaside resort town in England, for the past 28 years. She had been working as a manager at the Weston Gold Exchange for the past year and a half.

About her big win, Diane said, "It was still sinking in yesterday. It doesn't feel real. To know that I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay the next bill and that I can treat my friends and family is wonderful." Diane also said that her first treat for family and friends will be a night at an all-you-can-eat-buffet restaurant.

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Freddie Young - Lottery Dummy Accused Of First Degree Premeditated Murder

Freddie Young was part of a 13-person lottery syndicate that won a $46.5 million Mega Millions jackpot in Michigan in February of 2011. His share of the winnings was approximately $3,576,000. This should have been the start of a wonderful life. But it wasn't. Soon after the win, Freddie was charged with First Degree Premeditated Murder.

Here's the scenario of what allegedly happened: Freddie Young's daughter, Ayana Young, lived in an apartment on Beniteau St. in Detroit. It was a decrepit apartment building. On the fateful day, Greg McNicol, who is the owner and landlord of the building, confronted Ayana about not paying the rent. That's when a heated argument ensued about Ayana not paying the rent, her loud parties, and damages to the building that she had caused. That's when Ayana called her father, Freddie. Freddie showed up on scene in a black car. He came out of the car, brandishing a gun, and shot Greg McNicol, who died of his injuries.

There's plenty of questions that you may have, the main one probably being "Why was the daughter of a lottery winner living in a decrepit apartment?" And, even if she was, "Why wouldn't the father just pay the rent?" As a millionaire, he could probably afford to spend a few hundred dollars on his daughter's shelter, as it is a necessity of life.

But there it is, Freddie Young, a millionaire lottery winner is before the courts on charges of First Degree Premeditated Murder.

An interesting side not to this story: Freddie Young was arrested five days after the murder of Greg McNicol. When police arrested him, they found $600,000 in cash in the glove box of his new Chevrolet Pickup Truck. Everything else aside, carrying around $600,000 in cash just makes you a big lottery dummy.

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Richmond Hill Lotto Max Winner Vivian Leung - $22.5 Million

You know you're gonna win the lottery one day, right? Now, imagine the exact moment when you realize that you just won a big jackpot... How do you think you're gonna feel? What emotions will run through your body? If you're like most people, you're gonna feel excitement and elation. But not everybody reacts like that, however.

Take Vivian Leung, of Richmond Hill, Ontario for example. She occasionally plays the lottery. This past Tuesday, she was working at he job as a retail manager, when she slipped out to check her Lotto Max ticket. She said that the lottery terminal screen said "Big Winner." So she asked the clerk "How Much?" The clerk told her how much she had won, $22.5 million. Actually, $22,646,018 to be exact. There was no excitement or elation for Vivian Leung. Rather, her face became red and she got a headache. She looked sick. She returned back to work and her co-workers noticed that something was wrong with her.

That's probably the exact opposite of what you would feel and do after learning that you won the lottery, wouldn't you say? But hey, everybody's different!

At the time of her win, Vivian Leung lived in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. She was born in Hong Kong and moved to Canada 27 years ago. Vivian doesn't want to live a lavish lifestyle with her new-found fortune. She would prefer to keep working and keep things normal. However, she realizes that that would be difficult to do as her co-workers now know that she's a big Lotto Max winner.

One thing that Vivian does want to do, now that she's rich, is move her 84-year-old father from Edmonton to Toronto and get him an apartment.

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Lottery Player Strikes It Rich On Hot Streak

Wouldn't it be nice to win the lottery? How about winning the lottery twice? Even better, how about winning three times?

This is a picture of Robert Marsh, a resident of Port Charlotte, Florida. He is a lottery player that struck it rich with a wicked hot streak. I wrote about Robert Marsh in September of 2009 when he won $1 million playing Florida Lottery's Billion Dollar Blockbuster instant scratch game. Since then, he won another $10 million playing the exact same game. To top it off, while he was waiting to claim his $10 million prize at Florida Lottery's headquarters, he bought another lottery scratch ticket and won an additional $500. Three wins... Now that's a hot streak!

Robert's grand total of lottery wins is now $11,000,500!

Wouldn't it be nice to strike it rich in the lottery just once? It's amazing that some people win multiple times. Do they have a secret? Hmmm?

The Billion Dollar blockbuster scratch-off game is a pretty big deal in Florida. That's because the game offers more than a billion dollars in instant-win prizes. That includes 10 prizes of $10 million and over 100 prizes of $1 million. A ticket costs $20 to play and the odds of winning the top prize of $10 million, which is what Robert won, are approximately 1-in-6.5-million.

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Lottery Fever Strikes David Rennie - Takes Helicopter To Claim Prize

Pictured here are David Rennie, his son Kyle, and his wife Sandra Morgan (And the family dog). They're celebrating their recent lottery win of $35,738,798, which David won in the May 24, 2011 Lotto Max draw. Everything seems fine in this picture, but when David first got the big news, he was struck by lottery fever!

What's lottery fever? It is something that strikes quickly and suddenly when you find out that you just won the jackpot. Imagine checking your tickets at the automatic scanner at the store. Now, imagine the the message on the scanner say that you won the big jackpot. How do you think you would feel? What emotions would run through you? That's lottery fever!

David Rennie describes what happened when he found out that he won: "All of a sudden I look at it (The ticket scanner). Says, 'Winner,' and shows this total here and I just lost it. I put my head down, lot of jumping up and down, lot of hooting and hollering. Pretty weird, yeah." The store clerk said that they had to take him to the back of the store to sit down because he was in shock.

At the time of David Rennie's win, he was working as a steelworker and living in a small British Columbia fishing community. In fact, he had to take a helicopter into Vancouver's lottery prize office to claim his money.

David has big plans for the money. He plans on buying horses for his wife, Sandra, a new BMW for his son, Kyle, and also plans to attend tons of sporting events, especially the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sounds like David is a guy who knows how to enjoy money!

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Ronnie Orender Beats Million-To-1 Odds To Win $51 Million

If you play the lottery, you probably should be aware of what the odds of winning your particular game are. That wasn't the case with Ronnie Orender. He plays the Mega Millions lotto. He thought the odds of winning are a million-to-1. Not so. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are actually 176-million-to-1. Nevertheless, Ronnie won!

Ronnie Orender won the $51 million Mega Millions jackpot in the May 3, 2011 draw. "I just can’t believe this, I beat a million to 1 odds," Orender exclaimed. Then he was told the actual odds of winning and he replied that he was the one!

Ronnie often gave money to his mother to buy lottery tickets for him. On this particular draw, he gave her $2 to buy two Mega Millions tickets. It was his mother that checked the tickets the next day. She described the feeling of realizing that it was a winning ticket and had matched all of the numbers, 1, 16, 29, 36, 50, and the Mega number 16: "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

At the time of his win, Ronnie Orender was a truck driver and living in Bakersfield, California. When asked what he planned to do with the money, he said, "It’s hard for us to believe, but we’re just going to do everything we can to enjoy it as much as possible." He also added that he planned to share the money with his family, including his parents, buy a new house, and donate some to good causes. The truck driver also plans to retire from driving trucks, now that he could afford to do so! How's that for a million-to-1-odds?

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Kenya Mobile Lottery Winner Haron Mwakesi

This is a picture of Haron Mwakesi, getting out of his limo at the gala lunch for lottery winners at the Nairobi hotel in Kenya. He won 30 million Kenyan Shillings ($330,578 USD) in June of 2011 in the mobile lottery, which is run by Amaya Gaming Group.

Amaya Gaming Group is a Montreal-based company that provides gaming services in various countries, worldwide. In early 2011, Amaya launched a mobile lottery in Kenya. Kenyans had the opportunity to buy lottery tickets by texting to a particular number on their mobile phones. There were daily winners of prizes, selected at random, and one grand prize winner of 30 million Kenyan Shillings. The grand prize winner was selected at random in June of 2011 and it was won by Haron Mwakesi.

At the time of his win, Haron Mwakesi was a health care worker, a father of two, and living in Kinango District, Kwale County. He said that he was surprised when he found out that he was the big winner of Kenya's new lottery. "I thought that somebody was lying when I received the call that I had won, because I had only sent a few text messages!"

Haron Mwakesi said that he was forced to drop out of school when he was growing up and that he now wants to use the money to pay for his son's schooling.

*** Check out the complete list of black lottery winners.

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Gemini Wins $100,000 Cashword 3 Lottery Game

Miguel Reyes is a Gemini that won $100,000 in a CT Lottery game called $100,000 Cashword 3

Do you think that the zodiac has anything to do with luck? Well, if you were born between May 22 and June 21, you'd be a Gemini, like Miguel is. He turned 61 on Monday June the 6th. Four days later he bought an instant scratch lottery game and won $100,000. Maybe the zodiac does have something to do with lotto wins?!?

"What a great belated birthday present! It was my birthday on Monday, and Thursday, I win $100,000. It's been a heck of a week!" Miguel Reyes said about his big win. "When I saw that I won $100,000, I didn't believe it. I just sat there, and looked at it, put it down, and looked at it again. Then I asked my wife to look at the ticket to make sure it was right—when she saw what we won, she started crying."

$100,000 Cashword 3 is a $10 scratch game, from CT Lottery, that offers a top prize of $100,000, which is what Miguel won. The odds of winning that top prize are approximately 1-in-250,000.

What does this Gemini plan to do with his winnings? Miguel said that he will use the money to pay some bills and, also, to do some home repairs.

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Former FDNY Firefighter Is A Big Winner In Powerball

Stephen Kirwan had some bad luck in 2010. His house was damaged by a fire. But that bad luck didn't bring him down. He continued to play the lottery regularly. Some people might think that it's useless to play the lottery when such bad luck befalls you. But not Stephen; he just kept chugging along with his lotto picks.

It's a good thing that Stephen Kirwan kept on playing, even after his bad luck. That's because he ended up being a big winner - He won $122.1 in Powerball in January, 2011! Bad luck? Not any more!

Stephen bought five sets of Powerball numbers for the January 22, 2011 draw. He bought the tickets at a laundromat, where he normally plays. He chose the numbers himself. Stephen says that the numbers that he chose were just random; they didn't have any special meaning, or anything.

At the time of his win, Stephen Kirwan was 68-years-old and retired. He spent 24 years as a firefighter with FDNY in South Bronx. He retired from FDNY in 1985 and then started a second career at a skin care product maker called Stiefel Laboratories. He retired from Stiefel Laboratories in 2010.

With two retirements under his belt and now a big winner in the lottery, Stephen says that he has no definitive plans for the $122.1 million that he won, other than taking his wife and children on a nice, relaxing cruise. With a long career that he worked, Stephen Kirwan probably deserves some relaxation time. Way to go, Stephen!

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