Stella! Ornery dog leads to $1M Idaho lottery win

[February 09, 2013]  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A group of blue collar University of Utah workers will split $1 million in lottery winnings thanks to an ornery little dog named Stella.

Twelve years after playing the same set of numbers every month in the Idaho lottery, the group of 33 workers who work on heating and cooling university buildings hit pay dirt when Steve Hughes left his truck running while he went inside a gas station.

When he returned, his miniature pincher had locked him out by putting her paw on the manual lock. Hughes had planned to buy the ticket elsewhere but instead his girlfriend bought it there while he tried to pick the lock.

Hughes says they will each get about $20,000 after taxes. They buy the tickets in Idaho because Utah has no lottery.

[Associated Press; By BRADY McCOMBS]

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