Keeping Childhood Promise, Brothers Split Jackpot

"When I was a kid, I promised my brother that if I ever won the lottery, I would split it with him," Eric Hale tells KPTV. But instead of pleading amnesia when he found out he'd won a Powerball jackpot of $1 million last month, the Oregon man says his brother was the first person he called. "I never believed he would actually do it," says Quinn Hale. But he did: The oversized Oregon Lottery check was made out to Eric & Quinn Hale, and each brother walked away with about $335,000 after taxes.

Eric Hale, 45, played the same numbers he's played for two decades—7, 14, 21, 24, and 41—getting all five right, but missing the Powerball number, the Bend Bulletin reports. He bought the ticket en route to visit his mom. He and Quinn, 43, have been close since they were kids, Eric says, and they lived together in their 20s and 30s. Quinn now lives in Washington. He plans to use the money to pay off student loans and for a down payment on a home; his generous brother says he'll invest some money, use some for graduate school, and take a trip to China. (More Powerball stories.)