These lucky pets helped their owners score major lottery jackpots

Research indicates that up to 40% of Americans have arachnophobia, aka a fear of spiders. While it's understandable that people would feel creeped out by these eight-legged bug eaters, would they still be afraid of spiders if they thought they could help them land a million-dollar jackpot?

From rabbits' feet to horseshoes, many good luck charms have some kind of animal origin. However, what if it's the animals themselves that are lucky? Can a charmed chihuahua help you win a big prize?

While that may seem like a silly question, some lottery players were laughing all the way to the bank when their personal pets helped them cash in major jackpots.

Creepy crawlers

UK National Lottery player Doris Stanbridge had long enjoyed buying a Lotto ticket every Saturday. The seventy-year-old grandmother had never won a big prize, but her tradition never wavered until she had a fortunate encounter with an animal most people would rather avoid. She told the UK National Lottery:

I was out in the kitchen when I felt something tickle my arm. I looked down, and it was a money spider crawling off my hand. I flicked it off, went into the conservatory, and there was another one.

In some cultures, people believe that seeing a spider moving across their body is a sign of good financial luck, and these are referred to as 'money spiders'. In Britain alone, there are 280 known varieties of so-called money spiders.

Instead of waiting to buy her usual Saturday ticket, Stanbridge decided to trust the spider, and she immediately purchased a “Set for Life” ticket on her mobile app. However, because she was celebrating an upcoming birthday, she forgot to check the ticket and didn't think about it until she picked up her mail and saw a letter from the National Lottery telling her that she had won a prize.

At first, she assumed she'd won a minor ten-pound award, but when she checked her app, she was so astonished that she couldn't believe her eyes. She had won the game's top prize. She stated:

I rushed round to my son-in-law, who lives next door. I knocked on the door and practically shoved my phone in his face and asked him if it said what I thought it had said. He logged on to his National Lottery app and said, 'Yes, those are the numbers, there was one winner, and it's you!'

The Set for Life payout structure means that Stanbridge will receive payments of £10,000 every month for the next 30 years, totaling £3,600,000, or just over $4.7 million.

Stanbridge added that the years of payouts gave her an incentive to live to 100.

She told the National Lottery that the best part about her win is how she can use the money to help her family.

The win means we won't have to worry about our finances and we can help out my girls... Keith [her husband] wants to see Shania Twain, so that's on the bucket list.

So the next time you see a spider crawling around your house, don't squish it; go buy a lottery ticket.

Cat saves the day

Friday the 13th is an inauspicious day to purchase a lottery ticket. Still, one Connecticut bus driver managed to defy the odds of the unlucky day when he bought a Powerball ticket for a July 2025 drawing.

The ticket would prove to be a winner, but the buyer, Russell Ruff, wouldn't know that until several weeks after the drawing. In fact, he had no idea he had purchased a six-figure winning lottery ticket because he had lost it after returning home from his route. Ruff told reporters:

We lost the ticket at home. It went behind a headboard, and we didn't think too much of it. We didn't really check the numbers.

The ticket would have stayed lost had it not been for one piece of amazing luck; Ruff's cat also got lost. Somehow, the cat managed to get stuck behind Ruff's bed. When he and his sons moved the bed to free the cat, they discovered his missing lottery ticket.

Ruff decided to scan the ticket just to be sure and saw that he had correctly picked four white numbers and the Powerball number. Usually, this would mean his ticket was worth $50,000, but because he added a power play when he bought it, his prize money rocketed up to $150,000.

“It was a miracle,” Ruff added.

Hopefully, they bought their lucky kitty some catnip, or at least a new collar with a bell so he's easier to find.

Pregnant pooch

When Florida resident Leonard Linton took his traditional winner's photo after winning a massive lottery prize, he included an accessory we don't usually see in these pictures: his dog Ivy. Ivy was more than just a beloved pet sharing a big moment with her owner; she was the reason Linton won his prize.

As Linton explained the story to the Florida Lottery, he was at work when a friend called to tell him that Ivy wasn't feeling well. The dachshund was pregnant, and Linton was closely monitoring her health to ensure a healthy litter.

To get home as quickly as possible, he took a different route than he usually would and made a quick visit to the Stop 'n Shop in Live Oak. Once inside the convenience store, he purchased a $10 “100X the Cash” instant win game. He scratched the ticket and almost cried when he saw that he had won the game's top prize of $2 million.

He chose to receive his money as a lump-sum payout and collected a check for $1,645,000 before paying taxes.

When asked how he planned to spend his winnings, Linton did not forget about his lucky pooch. "I still can't believe it. This is life-changing, but I'm definitely getting Ivy a new kennel!"

Dog lovers & big winners

“I love dogs,” is all one South Carolina woman had to say when explaining her lottery win.

An anonymous South Carolina Lottery player won big due to her love for four-legged friends. The woman was shopping at a Circle K in East Marion in October 2021 when she noticed a dog-themed instant win lottery ticket for sale behind the counter.

As a long-time dog lover, the holiday-themed $2 ‘Happy Pawlidays' scratch-off cards adorned with pictures of adorable pooches were just too hard to resist, and she decided she had to purchase one. She uncovered the ticket and revealed that she had won the game's top prize of $30,000.

The photos of the dogs on the tickets received the most votes in a dog photography contest, and by complete coincidence, Belle, the Springer Spaniel featured on the winner's ticket, was also from her hometown of Marion. Spokesperson Holli Armstrong told journalists:

The lottery asked South Carolina dog owners to submit a photo of their furry friend for a chance to appear on the scratch-off back in the spring. The Lottery received thousands of photos.

Of the nine dogs that received the most votes in the contest, a Springer Spaniel named Belle is from the same town where the winning $30,000 ticket was sold.

Million-dollar meal

Cats are known to be finicky, skittish, and impulsive, like when they spontaneously decide to knock a glass of wine off your kitchen counter or take a nap on your keyboard while you're working. However, for the UK couple Andrew and Paula Hancock, a pet cat was also their ticket to a major lottery win.

Their adventure started in August 2019, when Andrew drove to the local convenience store to pick up dinner for their ginger tom cat, Shortcake. While there, Andrew decided to purchase an instant-win lottery ticket as well. He scratched it at the counter and was shocked to discover he had just won £1 million.

Ironically, he was so excited by the win that he forgot to buy Shortcake his dinner. However, there was no word on whether the cat decided to spill some chardonnay in retaliation.

Speaking with lottery officials, Andrew recalled, "If it wasn't for Shortcake, we wouldn't be millionaires." When officials asked if the cat had ever been lucky for them before, Andrew responded, "Not particularly. He's just a normal cat. He does like to fight and keeps everybody up at night.”

However, the Hancocks did promise that they would use some of their winnings to upgrade Shortcake's cat food.

The couple also planned to use their prize to travel around the world, but sadly, the Coronavirus pandemic had other ideas. Shortly after winning, they booked several trips with their 12-year-old son, including a visit to Tokyo for the summer Olympics and luxury beach vacations to Bali, Australia, Cyprus, and Barcelona.

Unfortunately, the onset of the pandemic made all of these trips impossible, and the Hancock's had to adjust their expectations. Paula explained to the reporters:

We were feeling a little bit down, so we just thought, let's go and make the most of it - there's lots of lovely places here to go and see, and we can do day trips.

The pair, who own a catering company together, decided they could also do something nice for their neighbors during a time of isolation and purchased a pizza oven to make fresh pizzas for them:

We just wanted to do something nice, so we sent out leaflets saying 'we're going to come and bring you a pizza,' and it was lovely.

As for Shortcake, the Hancocks report that, between his fancier-dinner food and the pizza scraps he gets into, the cat has gained weight since quarantine began.

Scientists have found that owning a pet offers many benefits, including lower stress and greater satisfaction. While no studies show that they can increase your chance of winning the lottery, the stories above show that they certainly don't hurt.