A US man's gamble to buy 25 identical lottery tickets paid off when his numbers came up.

Lottery Ticket

Lottery Ticket

Raymond Harrington purchased the $1 tickets at a store in Virginia and ended up winning the jackpot 25 times over, earning $125,000 (£95,000) in prize money.

Harrington admits he made a spur of the moment decision to buy the identical tickets.

He said: ''Something just told me to play 25 times.''

His gamble paid off when his number combination - 4-6-4-0 - came up.

Harrington's tickets all won the $5,000 top prize, earning him a total of $125,000.

He is planning to spend the winnings to help his two sons, both of whom are studying at college.