Powerball came to Wisconsin in 1992. That same year, two friends from the Menomonie area shook hands on a deal: If either one ever hit the jackpot, they’d split it down the middle—no matter whose name was on the ticket.
Then they bought tickets every week for the next 28 years.
“We said whenever the big winner comes, we’re gonna split it, so we buy every week,” Joseph Feeney said, according to People, “not really thinking it would happen.”
According to the lottery, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are about 1 in 292 million.
On the morning after the June 10, 2020, drawing, Thomas Cook was eating breakfast at his home in Elk Mound when he checked the numbers on the ticket he’d bought at a Synergy Coop in Menomonie.
“It was quite an experience when I read the first two or three numbers,” he said. “I kind of froze.”
He handed the ticket across the table to his wife. She froze too. He had won $22 million.
Cook called Feeney, an avid fisherman, who didn’t believe a word of it. “He called me and I said, ‘Are you jerking my bobber?’”
Neither man treated the split as a decision. Feeney couldn’t even pin down when the agreement had been made, guessing it dated back about 20 years. It took the lottery to trace it to 1992. Cook’s explanation for making the call came in just five words: “A handshake’s a handshake, man.”
They took the cash option of about $16.7 million, leaving each with roughly $5.7 million after federal and state taxes. Cook gave his two weeks’ notice. Feeney had already retired from the local fire department.
Neither had grand plans. Cook, who has grandchildren and great-grandchildren, said he wanted time with them without doing math about it. “We can pursue what we feel comfortable with,” he said, according to NBC News. “I can’t think of a better way to retire.”
The two couples had traveled together in a small convertible before and figured they’d keep traveling, just with more room.
As People noted, Wisconsin Lottery Director Cindy Polzin summed it up in a press release: “The power of friendship and a handshake has paid off.”
For his part, Cook bought two more Powerball tickets after collecting his winnings. “What can I lose?” he said.
