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Woman's Unbelievable String of Luck!

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Mouche12

Lifetime Streaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,035
A Lottery Winning Streak...But Who Really Wins?
SOURCE

Maybe the odds of winning the lottery would be a lot better if Joan Ginther would stop buying all the good tickets.

By now you may have heard of the Las Vegas resident, who you probably want sitting next to you when an asteroid, slungshot by aliens, is aimed at your plane. She recently cashed in a winning $10 million scratch-off ticket, making the lucky woman a four-time lottery winner.

That's right, four times. And while she now lives in Sin City thereabouts, the multi-millionaire prefers her to buy her tickets in her home state of Texas. The state, like many others, is on track to having one of its best lottery years ever during tough economic times...and that might be a bad thing. But, more on that later. First, a look at Ginther's lottery loot so far, and the odds:

2008: $3 million (lump-sum payoff). Odds: 1 in 909,000.
2010: $10 million (lump-sum payoff). Odds: 1 in 1,200,000.
1993: $5.4 million (paid in yearly installments). Odds: 1 in 15.8 million
2006: $2 million (lump-sum payoff). Odds: 1 in 1,028,338.

What are the odds?
Amazingly, she's not the only winner who has defied long odds: A Canadian man has scored five jackpots in five years, although he had to sue to get the last—and biggest—prize of $17 million in 2009.

What are the total odds for four multi-million-dollar payoffs? Michael Starbird, a University of Texas at Austin math professor who has written a book on coincidence and other mathematical quirks, calculates the odds of a four-time winner to come up with this answer: "It's pretty astronomical...She should quit, incidentally."

However, he did say the odds of a four-time win was less likely than being hit by lightning, but that a would-be lottery player standing in line for tickets next to her shouldn't feel tempted to nudge her out of the way. "Probabilities don't have any memory. She's no more likely to win the lottery (again) than anybody else. She has exactly the same likelihood as you or I have."

Sharing the wealth?
The Las Vegas woman has spread her luck: Two winning tickets, including the latest whopper, came from Times Market in Bishop, Texas — and retailers get a $10,000 bonus for some big wins (like the last one). Store owner Sun Bae sold her two winning scratch-offs, which makes Sun the person you want next to you when you're holding a metal umbrella during a lightning storm while standing atop the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull.

The store's not the only beneficiary of a winning ticket: According to Texas Lottery spokesperson Bobby Heith, the Lone Star State gets a 25% upfront cut for federal taxes, and lottery proceeds overall go towards education. That news might cheer up Texas, which faces an $18 billion deficit—or, it might just add fuel to the controversial proposal to expand gambling as a budget fix.

Lottery: Do states win?
As the fiscal year ends for many states, Texas isn't the only one to announce lottery proceeds rising in tough times. Across the United States, the recession is actually fuelling lottery sales. Searches on Yahoo! spike with alarming regularity every week, and especially before a big payoff. Consider:

* Illinois: $2.2 billion in gross sales, about 5 percent higher than last year.
* Kentucky: $213.5 million from 2009-2010 sales, and the Bluegrass State expects a little more for the next fiscal year.
* Missouri: The goal to raise $250 million for education was surpassed by another $5 million. Proceeds were down, but partly because Arkansas started its own scholarship lottery.
* North Carolina: Transferred a total of $419.5 million to the State Education Lottery Fund — during a time of record high unemployment, the North Carolina Family Policy Council reported.
* Texas: According to lottery media relations director Heith, sales are up 2.2% from last year, with an expected $3.7 billion coming in when the state's fiscal year closes in August.

Another tax you can't afford?
So, is a lottery payoff a win win for everyone? Here's the downside: The odds are still way against you.

"The unfortunate increase in hard economic times is indicative of desperation," Starbird observes. "The sad thing about the lottery is that the people who do spend money on the lottery are people who can't afford it well." If a lottery buy's purely for entertainment — for instance, getting a scratcher rather than a full-price movie ticket, that's another story.

But, as for investing in a chance to win? Says Starbird, "The lottery is a tax on the mathematically impaired." Just don't tell the lady from Las Vegas.
 

eishagirl

Lifetime Streaker
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
945
i've never been able to figure out how people always seem to be winners. I mean not just this but people around my area, i used to go to bingo from time to time and it seemed it was always the same people winnings, and there would be a couple people who would definitely win everytime i was there, and then there was a thing around here in bingo halls called a "Treasure Chest" which was like a progressive jackpot 1st, the person would have to win in a raffle after a certain # popped up they would draw a ticket, then if you had the ticket, towards the endof the night, they would pick from 20 keys, with only one fitting a lock on a box that held the cash. One chance, if no one got the lock open, it would progress to the next week. The money for the JP came from the raffle tickets to have the chance for this. And one less key would be in the bag to draw from.

I personally seen a woman open up 3 of these in 2 weeks, with one of them sitting at the capped off $10,000 one for about $8,000 and another for $5,000. Not only did she win those, but she was winning bingo at least once a night sometimes twice, and in those wins she would hit the Coverall jackpots or the winner take all specials.


Its just amazing that some people seem to win all the time like that. I mean more power to them and congrats, but it would be nice to hit a few streaks like that myself lol
 

judyb57

Super Moderator
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
0
Yes, I have always been amazed at the stories of people winning big, not just once but many times over :think
 

Mouche12

Lifetime Streaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,035
Karma? Yeah, that would explain it, but it seems not fair at first sight... let others have some cake too.

To whom am I talking now? lol

:laugh
 

CareyG

Owner
Staff member
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
66,263
Wow! How the heck do you have that kind of luck to win 4 times??:ahhhhh5645
 

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