This man is as good as his word.
In 1992, friends Tom Cook and Joseph Feeney promised each other that they would split their winnings if they ever won the Powerball jackpot. Because the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million, less likely than being struck by lightning or finding a pearl in an oyster shell, the men of western Wisconsin barely expected a chance to keep their word.
So when Cook recently called Feeney to tell him he’d bought the $ 22 million jackpot-winning ticket and was honoring his handshake pledge nearly three decades earlier, Feeney could hardly believe it.
“He called me and I said, ‘Are you shaking my cork?’ Feeney, an avid fisherman, responded when Cook gave him the good news, the Associated Press reported.
Cook bought his winning ticket at a Synergy Coop in Menomonie, and plans to retire with the money. Feeney was already retired.
The men chose to take their earnings as a cash payment of approximately $ 16.7 million, nearly $ 5.7 million each after tax. Neither of them has big plans for the money, and plans to use it to travel and spend more time with their families.
“We can pursue what we are comfortable with. I can’t think of a better way to retire, ”Cook said.
Other recent Powerball winners include a group of six friends who call themselves Dale’s Pub Lottery Group. The Holly Ridge, North Carolina, team has pitched $ 6 a week to play for the past 14 years, and in March it won a prize of $ 150,000.
“We’ve been doing it ever since the lottery started in North Carolina!” Brenda White, a member of the group, told Powerball. “And let’s continue playing!”
Now that they have won in the six digits, they have their eyes on the seven and do not plan to stop playing the lottery “until I see that second comma,” said another member of the group.
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