Some people really do have all the luck.
One such Chicago man beat the odds at winning the lottery not once or even twice, but three times -- and all in less than a month.
Christopher Kaelin, a 31-year-old "occasional lottery player," won a total of $276,000 from the same lotto game over a three-week span, according to the Illinois Lottery.
"At first we were just 'oh my God.' It was a feel-good moment, we just couldn't believe it," Kaelin told HuffPost describing the reaction to his lotto score earlier in April when he instantly won $25,000 on a scratch-off ticket.
"My fiancé and I were so thrilled that I won $25,000, we went out for dinner to celebrate. When we stopped at a gas station afterward, I decided to buy another crossword instant ticket and won $1,000," Kaelin previously told the Illinois Lottery.
Kaelin returned a week later to the same newsstand in downtown Chicago where he had purchased the first winning ticket, bought another, and went back to his office. That ticket revealed another $25,000 win.
On his way to claim his prize, however, Kaelin realized he read his latest winning ticket incorrectly.
“I was in the elevator looking at my ticket and noticed I had missed the tenth word," Kaelin said. As it turns out, Kaelin's price wasn't worth $25,000 -- it was worth $250,000.
"It just worked out — just a hunch," Kaelin said of his decision to buy a third lotto ticket from the place he purchased the first winner. "The reason people obviously play the lottery is because they hope they win."
"To win three prizes of this magnitude in three weeks is pretty uncommon," Mike Lang, spokesman for the Illinois Lottery, told HuffPost. "I can't say as a certainty that it's the first time [this has] happened, but personally, I've been with the lottery since 1990 and I don't recall anyone winning three times in such a short duration."
Though repeat wins are rare, Lady Luck has paid multiple visits to lotto winners before. In March, a Virginia couple became unexpected millionaires when they won the lottery three times in a month.
While Kaelin's winnings are a more modest sum, he told HuffPost he was glad to have won the amount he did rather than a much larger sum due to the tax burden involved.
"And, i don't have to worry about stories like people winning $50 million dollars and being hounded by people you know and don't know," Kaelin said, who admits his phone has already been "ringing off the hook" since news of his lotto-winning three-peat. "[The prize] is big enough to where it's obviously life-changing, but not so big that it'll be a problem."
Kaelin, who doesn't consider himself superstitious or a fatalist said he plans to pay off student loans, buy a home, pay for his wedding with the prize money and save for his daughter's college fund.
"It's life-changing and a little surreal," Kaelin told HuffPost, adding, "Life-changing in the sense that you don't have to go into debt for a wedding or to buy a house."
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One such Chicago man beat the odds at winning the lottery not once or even twice, but three times -- and all in less than a month.
Christopher Kaelin, a 31-year-old "occasional lottery player," won a total of $276,000 from the same lotto game over a three-week span, according to the Illinois Lottery.
"At first we were just 'oh my God.' It was a feel-good moment, we just couldn't believe it," Kaelin told HuffPost describing the reaction to his lotto score earlier in April when he instantly won $25,000 on a scratch-off ticket.
"My fiancé and I were so thrilled that I won $25,000, we went out for dinner to celebrate. When we stopped at a gas station afterward, I decided to buy another crossword instant ticket and won $1,000," Kaelin previously told the Illinois Lottery.
Kaelin returned a week later to the same newsstand in downtown Chicago where he had purchased the first winning ticket, bought another, and went back to his office. That ticket revealed another $25,000 win.
On his way to claim his prize, however, Kaelin realized he read his latest winning ticket incorrectly.
“I was in the elevator looking at my ticket and noticed I had missed the tenth word," Kaelin said. As it turns out, Kaelin's price wasn't worth $25,000 -- it was worth $250,000.
"It just worked out — just a hunch," Kaelin said of his decision to buy a third lotto ticket from the place he purchased the first winner. "The reason people obviously play the lottery is because they hope they win."
"To win three prizes of this magnitude in three weeks is pretty uncommon," Mike Lang, spokesman for the Illinois Lottery, told HuffPost. "I can't say as a certainty that it's the first time [this has] happened, but personally, I've been with the lottery since 1990 and I don't recall anyone winning three times in such a short duration."
Though repeat wins are rare, Lady Luck has paid multiple visits to lotto winners before. In March, a Virginia couple became unexpected millionaires when they won the lottery three times in a month.
While Kaelin's winnings are a more modest sum, he told HuffPost he was glad to have won the amount he did rather than a much larger sum due to the tax burden involved.
"And, i don't have to worry about stories like people winning $50 million dollars and being hounded by people you know and don't know," Kaelin said, who admits his phone has already been "ringing off the hook" since news of his lotto-winning three-peat. "[The prize] is big enough to where it's obviously life-changing, but not so big that it'll be a problem."
Kaelin, who doesn't consider himself superstitious or a fatalist said he plans to pay off student loans, buy a home, pay for his wedding with the prize money and save for his daughter's college fund.
"It's life-changing and a little surreal," Kaelin told HuffPost, adding, "Life-changing in the sense that you don't have to go into debt for a wedding or to buy a house."
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