Woman Wins Lottery for the Fourth Time

Joan Ginther of Bishop, Texas has won multi-million dollar lottery payouts four times. Most recently, she won $10 million:

Each of Ginther's triumphs has netted her a seven-figure sum of money and her winnings now top $20 million.

Her first success was in 1993, when she won half of an $11 million Texas Lottery jackpot. She then had something of a dry stretch, going a whole 13 years without another win. Then, in 2006, she won $2 million with a scratch–off ticket.

In 2008 it was $3 million prize from a scratch card. On Monday, she claimed her biggest win yet in the Extreme Payout competition.


Link via Stuff | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user Robert S. Donovan used under Creative Commons license

As long as you are rich, there are winning lottery strategies. For example: if there are 8 million dollars bet on the lottery each time it is played, then buying 8 million dollars of tickets gives one a 50/50 chance of winning. If the prize is well over 16 million dollars, then it is a good investment.
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It's crazy to think someone can make a career out of playing the lottery, yet this may prove craziness ain't all that far-fetched.

@Edward: How might one purchase 8 million lottery tickets in a few days?
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Who would bet 8 million dollars on a 50/50 chance of winning? I wouldn't call it an investment.
And Johnny Cat is right, in order to make your odds 50/50, you would have to fill out the forms for 8 million different number combinations. At 5 seconds per form, it would take you 462 days, without sleeping, to fill them out. And how long do think it would take the guy at 7-11 to process them?
Hey, did you know, here in Canada, we don't have to pay taxes on lottery winnings? So if it's a big jackpot (not that it ever gets to hundreds of millions)we get to keep it all!
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Well, you don't get one guy filling out forms and one guy processing them. There are actually firms that handle this. They're called lottery syndicates. They're basically investment groups in which a large number of people put up their money and all split the possible winnings. They're like big boys' versions of the office pool.
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Do you know who would bet 8 million on a 50-50 lotto?

The philosopher Voltaire is said to have made his fortune by buying out a lottery that was less than ideally run.
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@Edward "As long as you are rich, there are winning lottery strategies. For example: if there are 8 million dollars bet on the lottery each time it is played, then buying 8 million dollars of tickets gives one a 50/50 chance of winning. If the prize is well over 16 million dollars, then it is a good investment."

First, the odds of you winning the lottery don't change with the number of dollars bet. It doesn't matter how many dollars are bet.

The main factors to consider are how many possible combinations of numbers there are, and what the payoff is for hitting the one **winning** combination. If the total payoff for a win exceeds the cost of covering all possible bets, you have a potential winning strategy...

Until you consider that others are also playing, and there is a strong possibility that you'll split the pot with at least one other player.

On top of that, you have to remember that not every dollar of ticket sales goes into the prize pool. About half goes to support whatever cause the lottery was set up to benefit and administration fees. Also, not all of the prize pool goes to the one(s) who match all the lottery numbers. You have to deduct out the lesser prizes, too. So of every dollar bet on the lottery, perhaps 40% or less goes to the jackpot, and 60% does not. It takes $20 million or more in bets to make your hypothetical $8 million jackpot prize.

Be glad you're not rich, Edward. I suspect it wouldn't last long.
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I think that nobody is that lucky. Im not into conspiracy theory`s but the fact remains that this lady does not want to be seen. the odds of winning 1 lottery is astonomical but 4 is impossible. I think there are other people involved in this lottery scheme. As far as i hear she does not live in texas anymore she lives in in las vegas. I think this should be investigated.
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Have you read the article on this lady. The funny thing is that she use to be a mathematician. Either a mathematics professor. Or a statician. Statistics. Something very helpful when picking numbers. Strange winning the lottery four times.

Though, i don't blame her for wanting not to be known. How many strangers would have their hands out expecting something. However, i hear she does alot of good to those people who don't know her. I think she ran into a woman whos car broke down on her and bought her a brand new car. She's retired and probably just wants to be left alone. Our society has far more than they need already. I love the fact that she doesn't even own a cell phone. At least thats what i read somewhere. Maybe she won because she deserved to win. Ever think it may be fate?
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