SALT LAKE CITY – A group of University of Utah workers will split $1 million in lottery winnings thanks to a little dog named “Stella.”

Twelve years after playing the same set of numbers every month in the Idaho lottery, the group of 33 workers who work on heating and cooling university buildings hit pay dirt when Steve Hughes left his truck running while he went inside a gas station.

When he returned, his miniature pincher had locked him out. Hughes had planned to buy the ticket elsewhere but instead his girlfriend bought it there while he picked the lock.