Veteran played same lottery numbers for 20 years — and finally won six times at once

A Massachusetts man who played the same lottery numbers for decades finally won big — six separate times, state lottery officials said.

For over 20 years, Raymond Roberts Sr., a Vietnam era veteran, used a combination of birthdays and anniversary dates when playing multiple draw games, according to a Dec. 16 news release from the Massachusetts State Lottery.

Recently, “intuition” led him to purchase several Lucky for Life tickets with the same numbers at a liquor store, he told lottery officials.

In a drawing on Dec. 14, Roberts, a resident of Fall River, a coastal city near Providence, Rhode Island, won six $25,000 a year for life prizes, lottery officials said.

The odds of winning a single $25,000 for life game are extremely slim: one in 1.8 million, according to the Lucky for Life website.

Roberts claimed his winnings on Dec. 15, choosing the cash option for five of the prizes, totaling $1,950,000, officials said. He elected to receive annual payments of $25,000 for the sixth prize.

He intends to use part of the winnings to buy a motorcycle, he told lottery officials.

This story was originally published December 19, 2022 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Veteran played same lottery numbers for 20 years — and finally won six times at once."