Wisconsin man splits his winning $ 22 million Powerball ticket with his friend after the two agreed they would share the jackpot in a handshake nearly 30 years ago
- Thomas Cook, winner of the Wisconsin Powerball on June 10, lived up to a 1992 handshake deal to split the winnings with his friend Joseph Feeney.
- Cook, after realizing he won the $ 22 million jackpot from a gas station in Menomonie, contacted Feeney to honor his deal.
- Feeney, who could hardly believe the news, said he never forgot the handshake deal after years of buying lottery tickets.
A Wisconsin man submitted a handshake agreement made with a friend nearly thirty years ago and divided the proceeds from a $ 22 million Powerball jackpot.
Thomas Cook said he called his longtime friend Tom Feeney last month to let him know that he had won the Powerball on June 10 and that he would give him half of what they had agreed to in 1992 when the game started.
“I said,” are you shaking my cork? Feeney recalled in a video interview about the call when the earnings were announced Thursday.
Cook and Feeney went with their wives to the Wisconsin Lottery in Madison to collect their winnings.
Thomas Cook (left) delivered a handshake deal made with his longtime friend Tom Feeney (right) almost thirty years ago and split the winnings of a $ 22 million Powerball jackpot. Both appear in a video interview after their good fortune was announced on Thursday.
Cook (second from left) said he made a call to Feeney (second from right) last month to let him know that he had won the June 10 Powerball, winning a $ 22 million jackpot. Both are photographed with their wives arriving at the Wisconsin Lottery to accept their winnings.
Cook and Feeney pose with their wives and a $ 22 million check
After years of buying lottery tickets, Elk Mound’s Cook bought the Powerball winner at the Synergy Coop Exit 45 gas station and convenience store in Menomonie.
He said he later realized he had the winning ticket in his hands while having breakfast with his wife.
“It was quite an experience when I read those first two or three numbers,” Cook said.
“I froze and I gave them to her and she froze,” he said, pointing to his wife who was off camera.
Cook, who reported his work two weeks after winning the jackpot, insisted he was going to honor the deal with his friend.
After years of buying lottery tickets, Cook of Elk Mound bought the Powerball winner at the Synergy Coop Exit 45 gas station and convenience store in Menomonie
“A handshake is a handshake,” he said.
Feeney, who is from Menomonie, was already retired from working in an area fire department when he and Cook reached their good fortune.
They also have no elaborate plans for the money, but they want to spend more time with their families.
“We can go on with what we feel comfortable with,” Cook said. “I can’t think of a better way to retire.”
.
