Lady Luck Hits Jackpot Twice

They say lightning doesn't strike twice but don't tell that to Donna Goeppert of Bethlehem, Pa.

She won $1 million on a scratch-off ticket from the Pennsylvania lottery in January, and then on Thursday, June 9, she hit it again.

Only five grand-prize million-dollar tickets exist in the lottery's $1 Million Blockbuster game, and Goeppert has won two of them.

"Just unbelievable," Goeppert tells The Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler, pointing out she plays just occasionally.

After her first reaction of screaming and jumping up and down, she says, she called her husband to give him the news.

"He couldn't believe it," Goeppert says. "The first time I called him, he was like, 'Stop messing around.' But he was up here in the store within, probably, 45 seconds."

It was like déjà vu for friend Dave Sanders, who owns Lump's Deli and verified her tickets; only this time, she had purchased the winning ticket at his store.

"It was strange," Sanders says. "The first time she won, we weren't in the deli. My wife and I were out. We come back and they come running out and said, 'Donna won $1 million.' Then, they won it up at a friend's store. This time, same story: I was walking out, come up the ramp of the store and her husband comes running out and said, 'We won $1 million.' I said, 'You better have won it in my store.' So that makes it quite exciting."

After doing the math, Sanders says the store will be getting $5,000 for selling the ticket. Tongue in cheek, Sanders says Goeppert is a better friend now.

He should have married Goeppert, Syler says.

"If I would have known, maybe I would have tried a little harder," Sanders says laughing.

Goeppert's win in January allowed her to pay off her mortgage and her children's mortgages, buy a new Cadillac and save money for her grandchildren's education. She purchased her most recent winning ticket for $20.

With her recent win, the 55-year-old says, "My husband and I are going to get, like, a small condo, and then, I'm just going to just enjoy it. I love going to Atlantic City. We're just going to travel around and have fun."

The odds of winning just once are 1.44 million-to-1, according to state lottery officials. The odds of winning twice vary, depending on how many tickets are scratched. Lehigh University professor Bob Storer placed the odds of winning twice at 419 million-to-1, if 100 tickets are played.

Lottery officials confirmed Goeppert has filed a claim for the jackpot, which will take four to six weeks to verify.