Three friends honour pact to split jackpot after fortune cookie predicts lottery win

James Scoles, Kenneth Wilson and Sandford Watson have a long-standing pact that should one of them win the lottery, they will split the jackpot three ways.

On March 16, they honoured that vow when Wilson won $1 million.

Wilson bought a lottery ticket in Twiggs County, Georgia, on March 15, the same day Scoles cracked upon a fortune cookie in North Pole, Alaska, that read, "You're going to win the lottery."

The fortune cookie was right. Wilson's Quik Pik ticket matched the first five numbers in the Powerball lottery.

Wilson, who lives in Macon, Georgia, is splitting the million three ways with his cousin, Watson, who also lives in Macon, and Alaska-based Scoles.

"I was just as tickled for them as I was for myself," Wilson told NBC News. "We just had a verbal agreement and I felt like that had to be honoured."

Wilson waited about a week, until Scoles flew in from Alaska, before collecting his winnings.

"It was a lot of sleepless nights," said his wife Dorothy Wilson. "I never would have thought winning money would have been that stressful."

At a press conference at the Georgia Lottery headquarters last Tuesday, Scoles told reporters that he plans to spend some of his third on a "Georgia baked hame, and a smoked turkey, and some good barbecue sauce."

Wilson, who is retired, has no plans as of yet for his windfall except to pay off some bills.