Just imagine that you buy a lottery ticket out of fun and end up winning a bucket load of money. Dreamy right? Well, a man from the small town of Luck, Wisconsin, got lucky enough to win $15.1 million. Over the last eight years, no one in the town of 1,191 people won the Megabucks lottery jackpot, but this year was different.

The Story Behind $15.1 million and 2 Bucks

One fine day, Mark Cunningham of the town Luck visited Wayne’s Food Plus on 151 Butternut Avenue and bought a few lottery tickets. Who would have known that he was taking home not one but two winning tickets? That’s right! Cunningham headed to the Wisconsin Lottery office to claim his money and find out one of his tickets made him win $15.2 million, and another one was two bucks. Well, the lottery people themselves were surprised to know that they sold such a huge ticket, but it turns out it indeed was a lucky day in the town of Luck.

History of the Town

Around 2.5 square miles in size, Luck was established by Danish immigrants on the banks of Big Butternut Lake in the late 1800s. The same folks established West Denmark, another community, on the banks of Little Butternut Lake, to the northwest. Although both parties were aware that this was a bad decision to not merge the two towns, they anyway decided not to.

The humor is reminiscent of a recent GNN piece on the Scottish town of Dull, which made the decision to merge with Boring, Oregon, in 2012 with the aim of making both more entertaining. The mayor of a town called Bland in New South Wales, Australia, decided to join in on the fun in 2017 and proposed that the towns work together to market the Trinity of Tedium as a tourist route.

We all know doing business involves a lot of risks, regardless of the industry. You not only have to be a smart decision-maker but a risk-taker too. Three guys in Pennsylvania bought an abandoned school and transformed it into a beautiful block of apartments, a smart decision indeed.

The Investors

Jesse Wig is a 34-year-old real estate salesperson; Adam Colucci, a 35-year-old investor; and Dan Spanovich, a 41-year-old developer and multifamily property manager, are the masterminds behind converting the abandoned school into apartments. Initially, it was Wig’s idea to purchase the property after viewing the listing for the school, and then Adam got involved and thought of converting the school building into a wedding venue. But after getting in touch with Spanovich, they came to the conclusion of transforming it into an apartment complex. Even though the building from the outside still looks like a school, it is actually a luxurious, modernized apartment block with a gym and communal living area inside.

The Transformation

Wig mentioned being doubtful about the investment, given that everyone advised the trio against it. Even though he was not sure of what to do with the building, he was 100% sure about acquiring it given its low cost and hoped they would come up with a plan soon. Adding to Wig’s statement, Colucci said they brainstormed for the perfect plan for two years, and everyone kept suggesting residential. The trio was well aware of the risk and the hard work required to redo an old building, but they were all in. They believed that no matter what they did with the building, they would be able to recoup their investment. And looks like they were right because six months after the debut of the apartment block, they not only got the invested amount back but managed to earn a profit as well. A well-thought-out plan and a definitely smart decision.