Double-lottery Winner Counting His Millions

Third time lucky? You have to like his chances.

A Missouri man has won a million dollars in the lottery twice — three times, actually, since his second win was $2 million.

Ernest Pullen, a 57-year-old retired telecom employee and military man from Bonne Terre, Mo., won big in two different lottery events in his home state. In June, he won just a $1 million prize as part of a "100 Million Dollar Blockbuster" promotion run on the Scratchers lottery system. In September, he won another Scratchers event, "Mega MONOPOLY," to the tune of $2 million. (Now that's a lot of hotels on Boardwalk!)

It's not surprising that Missouri Lottery officials can conclusively state that this occurrence is the first of its kind. A lottery official put the odds at winning merely $1 million at 1 in 2.28 million. Winning $2 million after winning $1 million? Infinity is not enough.

But what about the money? Surely the state government gets part of that $3 million in tax. Well, yes. In fact, the payout was reduced further because Pullen chose to receive his winnings as lump sums, rather than as annuities. The $1 million payment was chopped to $700,00 right away, and the $2 million prize was a mere $1.3 million. And that's taxed income, remember.

Still, a man's house is his castle, and Pullen plans to spend some of his winnings on fixing up his castle. He probably has enough to install a top-notch security system.