It is always a shock when lottery winners find a lost ticket that wins a fortune. The concern is there are so many more players who could be winners - if they kept their tickets in a safe place. But this Fayetteville, Georgia win also opened up a strange coincidence for her family.

Karen Wilkes (center) with husband Charlie and one of their three daughters. Photo: The Citizen

The winner of this Georgia Fantasy 5 Lottery found the ticket when she was cleaning off her bedroom dresser.

Georgia Governor Zell Miller was responsible for the creation for the HOPE Scholarship.“I went to the grocery store to get a birthday cake for my oldest daughter and checked the ticket,” said Wilkes, a Peachtree City school nutrition manager. “I almost had a heart attack.”

But the big coincidence was that their three daughters were all recipients of the Georgia Lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship.

This Lottery has paid off in more than one way for them.

“HOPE has really helped,” she said. “We are so lucky that Georgia decided to put lottery money toward scholarships.”

Source: The Citizen