California Twin Sisters Split $6 Million Lottery Win
The sisters say they will split their winnings 60/40.
— -- 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 told ABC News, 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 told ABC News 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.
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