Californian man wins $10m from ticket bought with lottery winnings

Winning $1000 on scratchies would usually be considered lucky enough, but one US man has pushed his luck and the odds to spend his winnings on more lottery tickets, only to win the top prize of $10 million.

Californian man Rodney Meadows spent $30 on three scratchies last week, a ritual he said he does four or five times a week, only to win an impressive prize of $1000.

Not content with his windfall, Mr Meadows used the money to immediately buy three more lottery tickets from the same Fast Mart outlet.

While many of us would have been horrified that someone would throw good money after (not that) bad, Mr Meadows got the last laugh and won $10 million - California Lottery's top prize.

"First off, I could not believe it," Mr Meadows told lottery officials.

"I had to ask the clerk at the store and he said, 'You better check it again on the machine'."

The winning ticket was no mistake, and Mr Meadows has the giant novelty cheque to prove it.

For its efforts, the Fast Mart store will receive a $50,000 bonus for selling the $10 million ticket.