Twin sisters split $6 million California Lottery prize

Feb 23, 2016, 4:59 pm (21 comments)

California Lottery

Twin sisters from California are now millionaires after winning $6 million in a scratch-off lotto ticket.

The fraternal twin sisters, who are in their early 40s, will not be splitting the money exactly in half, however.

"We had a longstanding rule — and Laura established it because she's so unlucky — that whoever buys the ticket gets 60 percent and the other gets 40 percent," Lisa Toton said, referring to her twin, Laura Poorman.

Toton, who, like her sister lives in San Ramon, California, purchased the winning ticket on Feb. 5, after seeing a yellow ladybug in her car on her way to pick up her son from school.

"I thought in the back of my head, there's a yellow ladybug [so] I should probably buy a lottery ticket," Toton, a married mother-of-two, recalled. "If there's any sign, that's it."

Toton said she and her sister — who have two other siblings — became fairly regular lottery players at age 18 after their mom won $12,000.

Toton purchased $20 worth of scratch-off tickets on the day she won. She said she started screaming in the car and called her husband and texted her sister, who was in a meeting at work.

"I texted her, 'Jackpot. Scratcher. Come home,'" Toton said. "She said she stood up and said, 'I've got to go.'"

Toton, who sells items on Etsy and Poorman and works for a consulting firm, then rushed to the lottery headquarters and got there five minutes before the office closed. The family then went out for burgers to celebrate.

"We decided to do annuity so we'll take it over 25 years," Toton said. "It's not like we're quitting our jobs."

"It's life altering without being life altering," she added.

The California Lottery confirmed the sister's prize in a Feb. 18 press release. The annuity option means the sisters will receive monthly payments of $20,000 over 25 years.

Toton said she hopes to purchase a vacation home, while her sister wants to purchase a new home and help her daughter, who is near college-age.

In the short term, Toton said the first big splurge was new socks for everyone.

"We both went out and completely replaced all of our socks so everyone's socks were thrown away and we'll never have to find matching pairs again," she said.

ABC, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Aww.... Congratulations to Lisa & Laura Hurray!enjoy your new socks Smile

Thegreenpirate

Future did say Twin Sisters was gonna Turn-Up and they did!!!!!! Mine Next Arizona will win this Powerball Jackpot tomorrow Mines!!!!!!!!

Teddi's avatarTeddi

What a quirky story. And after the negative lottery stories of late, this one is a breath of fresh air. Still think the lucky twin should go ahead and make it an even split though. I'd never have thought of splurging on socks and burgers, but it's probably an indication that the money will stretch far. What will she get after taxes? I'd forgo the vacation home and quit my job. Either take the time to find a job I'd love or finally go get my Master's degree. Good for them. They sound like fun people.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Laura Poorman. No wonder she thought she had bad luck, her last name.

 The monster in the dryer will enjoy eating one sock of each pair.

Congratulations to both of the twin sisters!

noise-gate

Congratulations to the Sisters . All about being at the right place & time, it's that simple. 

Banana

Nodda4me's avatarNodda4me

$20,000 a month is some nice extra cash. I think they are wise to do the annuity.

 

60% = $12,000

40% = $8,000

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Feb 23, 2016

Laura Poorman. No wonder she thought she had bad luck, her last name.

 The monster in the dryer will enjoy eating one sock of each pair.

Congratulations to both of the twin sisters!

I agree. Lol Poorman

lotteryrush

Good that people are hitting big on these, cause you sure as hell not gonna get any good returns on these. One of the worst odds out there and have had terrible luck playing these over the past month, or maybe its just me . 

 

They even have instagram account by name twin.cognito were they have been posting some interesting stuff

mikeintexas's avatarmikeintexas

Good to see twin sisters not fighting over something.

Not like these two:

zephbe's avatarzephbe

Congrats to the twins 

Smile

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by mikeintexas on Feb 23, 2016

Good to see twin sisters not fighting over something.

Not like these two:

Lol lol

ArizonaDream's avatarArizonaDream

Poorman!? She'll hve to change her name now. LOL!

Great story, happy to hear of their good fortune.

sookie's avatarsookie

Good for them!

Groppo's avatarGroppo

Quote: Originally posted by sookie on Feb 23, 2016

Good for them!


Imagine: "Poorman". I mean, come on. Nobody should be named "Poorman" for any reason.


All your life, you'd have to be filling out your name somewhere - any place that needs your name and address.

"Laura Poorman, 123 Anywhere Street . . . . . .  . "

And then, some time down the road:

"Thank you, Ms., uh,  Poorman, we'll be contacting you. . . "    (Ms. Poorman?)

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