Two $1 million tickets sold at same Indiana store

[December 17, 2008]  PLAINFIELD, Ind. (AP) -- Two winning Hoosier Lottery tickets worth $1 million each were sold within a couple days of each other at the same central Indiana convenience store. John Hensley and his fiancee, Vanessa Mitchell, claimed the Cash Blizzard scratch-off prize on Tuesday, but the winner in Saturday's Hoosier Lotto drawing has not come forward, lottery spokesman Andrew Reed said.

"In the 18 years I've been with the Hoosier Lottery, I can't remember another time that we've had two $1 million winners from the same (retailer) in the same weekend," Reed said.

Both tickets were bought at the Dairyland convenience store on Main Street in Plainfield, a western suburb of Indianapolis.

Lottery officials confirmed Tuesday that the $1 million Hoosier Lotto ticket, likely bought on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, matched the winning numbers drawn Saturday night -- 2, 14, 31, 32, 35 and 48. The $1 million winning Cash Blizzard scratch-off ticket was sold Saturday, Reed said.

Hensley, who works at a Plainfield distribution center, said he accepted an annual payout of $36,000 for 20 years, or about $720,000 after taxes, on the $1 million prize.

"It is a lot of money, but not so much that you can stop working," he told The Indianapolis Star.

More lottery tickets, however, are not in Hensley's future.

"I'll never play again unless somebody else is buying the tickets," he said. "The reason to play is that you might hit life-changing money. I don't really have that reason to play anymore. I won't push it."

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com/

[Associated Press]

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