Couple wins lottery – twice in Arkansas

Couple wins lottery twice? Yes, an Arkansas couple won $1 million and $50,000 lottery with two tickets purchased on the same day.

An Arkansas couple who set out for a day of fishing came home with quite the fish story: Two winning lottery tickets, including a $1 million prize.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission says Stephen and Terri Weaver were on a fishing trip when they stopped to buy the first ticket at T-Ricks convenience store in Pangburn, about 60 miles northeast of Little Rock. They stopped at the same store on their way home and bought another ticket.

That first ticket turned out to be a $1 million winner. And the second one netted the couple another $50,000.

The lottery commission says the Weavers claimed their cash Monday and that they plan to pay bills and invest in their retirement.

Winning the lottery may not be all that it's perceived to be, as The Christian Science Monitor reported.

Past winners of mega-lottery drawings and financial planners have some more sound advice: Stick to a budget, invest wisely, learn to say no and be prepared to lose friends while riding an emotional roller-coaster of joy, anxiety, guilt and distrust.

"I had to adapt to this new life, "said Sandra Hayes, 52, a former child services social worker who split a $224 million Powerball jackpot with a dozen co-workers in 2006, collecting a lump sum she said was in excess of $6 million after taxes. "I had to endure the greed and the need that people have, trying to get you to release your money to them. That caused a lot of emotional pain. These are people who you've loved deep down, and they're turning into vampires trying to suck the life out of me."

The Arkansas Lottery Commission did not mention whether the couple caught any fish that day. Just lottery tickets. 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.