Pa. widow wins $1 million scratch-off as dying husband feared she’d have money troubles

The lottery ticket was worth $1 million. AP

A Pennsylvania widow clinched a $1 million jackpot just weeks before the death of her husband, who worried she might have money struggles after he was gone.

Retiree Karen Coffman claims divine intervention led to the big winnings when she scratched off a state lotto ticket in April just two weeks before her husband Robert died of a brain tumor.

“I do think he had something in the works, because he was worried. I hope he’s looking down on this,” the 61-year-old said at an event with lotto officials Thursday.

Karen Coffman, 61, with her late husband Robert, who died from a brain tumor. KDKA

She bought the ticket for $20 at a local gas station in Freeport, which is near Pittsburgh.

When Coffman first realized she won $1 million, she was in disbelief as a worker verified the huge cash haul. Her husband was also in shock when she told him of her luck after she arrived home.

“When I told him about the prize, he thought I was lying to him,” she said.

“Throughout the years, I kept telling him, ‘You watch, one of these days, I am going to hit the million. You watch and see,'” recalled Coffman, who previously won $65,000 from the same BP gas station, according to CBS News Pittsburgh.

“And he would just laugh at me and say, ‘Yeah, right.’ And I was like, ‘Come on, with my luck, you know I am going to hit,'” Coffman went on to say. “And then whenever I hit, I said to him, I said, ‘Rob, you can go ahead and go. You don’t have to worry. I’ll be OK.’”

Coffman plans to take her family to Disney World. KDKA

Coffman, a former senior care industry worker, plans to use the lump sum she took to take her relatives to a deluxe Disney trip with an eye on moving to Florida.

“I don’t want winter no more,” she said. “I hate the cold.”

With Post wires