Woman accidentally buys identical lottery tickets, wins twice

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A British grandmother had her lottery jackpot doubled to more than $1 million when she accidentally bought two identical tickets for the same drawing.

Gayle Say, 65, of Coventry, England, said she bought some tickets for the Thunderball drawing and she called for her husband, Philip, when she discovered that one of her tickets matched all five numbers and the bonus ball in the Oct. 22 drawing.

Say said her excitement doubled when she realized she had accidentally bought a second ticket with the exact same numbers.

"With the tickets in my hand, I rushed inside to tell Phil we had won and at the same time I realized another of the tickets had the same number line," Say told Birmingham Live. "I kept shouting 'we've won and we've won again.'"

Say said the buying error was "the best mistake I ever made."

The two tickets each won a top prize of $646,930.50 for a total jackpot of $1,293,861.

The couple's other tickets yielded prizes of $6,469.30 and $12.94.

The Says said they plan to use the money to help out their children and grandchildren. Philip said he might use some of his share to buy his first-ever car.