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A lucky North Carolina man plans to share the wealth with family after scoring two massive lottery prizes after a printing mistake gave him two of the same ticket.
Timothy Emerick, of Garner, recently purchased a Powerball ticket at the BJ's Membership Club on Shenstone Boulevard, but a mistake in printing gave him two identical tickets for the December 13 drawing, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.
"The gentleman at the store accidentally printed two tickets with the same numbers so I just decided to buy them both," he said.
And it's a good thing, too, because those numbers ended up matching the numbers of four white balls plus the red Powerball to land him two $50,000 prizes that then doubled to $100,000 each thanks to the 2X multiplier. Rather than keep it all to himself, he told lottery officials that he plans to give one of the prizes to his twin brother. Emerick recently moved to North Carolina to be closer to his brother.
"I always said if I won I would share it with him," he said, adding, "Over the years whenever I've need him he's been there. I think he'd do the same thing if the situation was reversed."
Emerick claimed his share of the prize at lottery headquarters on Thursday (December 21), taking home a total of $71,251 after all required state and federal taxes. According to lottery officials, he plans to use his winnings to pay bills.