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Couple hits lottery twice in one weekend, wins over $1 million

A scratch-off lottery ticket bought from a local convenience store Saturday won $1 million for an Arkansas couple. Less than 24 hours later, they scratched another big winner.On Sunday, giddy from their $1 million jackpot, Stephen and Terri Weaver of Stuttgart, Ark., stopped by the same convenience store and bought six more lottery tickets, just for fun.One of those hit for $50,000. “Neither

A scratch-off lottery ticket bought from a local convenience store Saturday won $1 million for an Arkansas couple. 

Less than 24 hours later, they scratched another big winner.

On Sunday, giddy from their $1 million jackpot, Stephen and Terri Weaver of Stuttgart, Ark., stopped by the same convenience store and bought six more lottery tickets, just for fun.

One of those hit for $50,000. 

“Neither of us screamed,’’ Stephen told Matt Lauer on TODAY Wednesday. “We were in such shock that it was kind of hard to even function for about 10 minutes.”

A spokesperson from the Arkansas Lottery told NBC News there is no way to calculate the odds of winning two different jackpots on the same weekend on tickets from the same store. The odds of winning the “$1 million Riches’’ jackpot are one in 744,000, and the odds of winning the “Taxes Paid’’ prize that netted the Weavers $50,000 are one in 200,000. The T-Ricks convenience store that produced both winning tickets is in tiny Pangburn, Ark., which has a population of only 750.

“We went back there to tell them we had won and get the ticket verified, and when we got back there and they verified and we did all of our congratulations and all that stuff, we decided we’d buy a few more because we were going to stay at the cabin for the rest of the day,’’ Stephen said. “We picked up a few more and went back home, and I forgot about the tickets when we got there.’’

Stephen, 54, had wanted to return home after the couple scratched off the million-dollar winner on Saturday, but Terri, 55, wanted to stay through Sunday for a relaxing weekend at the cabin with their daughter and son-in-law. When Terri turned a $10 ticket into a $50,000 winner, she thought she had given her husband a heart attack. The clerk who verified the ticket was similarly surprised. 

“The lady was pretty much floored,’’ Stephen said. “She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that we had won twice, couldn’t believe we had won as much as we did.’’

After taxes, the couple, who have been married for 35 years, netted $714,000. Terri, an office manager with a water company and Stephen, who owns a plumbing company, will use the money to pay off bills and invest in their retirement. Both intend to keep working.

When Lauer asked the lucky couple to pick up a ticket for him, Stephen demurred.

“I’m getting that a lot from a lot of different people that want me to bring cards back to them,’’ he said. 

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