Lottery winner buys same tickets for one draw and splits jackpot with herself

A lucky lottery winner who accidentally bought two identical tickets for the same draw has had to share the jackpot – with herself.

Susan Gray, from Statesville in US state North Carolina, is thought to be the world's first joint jackpot winner with only herself after scooping two halves of the $305,046 (£221,000) top prize of the Carolina Cash 5 draw.

Having used the same numbers "for years", she had meant to buy the tickets for two separate draws.

But Susan mistakenly paid twice for the same night's draw, which luckily turned out to be the jackpot-winning numbers.

"I thought it was a different draw," she said. "It was really an accident that I played both. I was really shocked. I couldn't believe it."

Susan was the only winner of the draw on the night – meaning she collected both shares of the top prize.

She said she entered the set of numbers she has always used for Cash 5 tickets.

"Those are numbers I've been using for years," she said. "My birthday."

Despite reportedly becoming the only person to share the jackpot with herself, she is not the first to win big with two tickets for the same draw.

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Earlier this week, Sandor Piroth, 59, pocketed £60,000 playing with two tickets on the People's Postcode Lottery.

He collected two top prizes worth a whopping £30,000 each after seven neighbours in Corby, North Northamptonshire, shared the £240,000 jackpot.

"Oh wow. That’s a great amount, its worth doing isn’t it," he said.

“It’s always going to help as we’ve all been going through a hard time right now and it’s the perfect time to win this kind of money, it's brilliant!”

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Sandor hopes to treat himself to a new kitchen and cooker with the winnings and he already has his first meal planned out.

“The starter would be a Hungarian goulash because my parents are Hungarian, but no dessert cause I’m on a diet,” he said.

He also plans to treat his girlfriend Lorraine to a luxury trip abroad later this year.

“We’ll definitely be looking at a holiday to the Maldives, hopefully in November," he added.

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