Lessons from the world's luckiest woman

We can all learn a few lessons from this four-time lottery winner...

I think it’s safe to say that Joan Ginther is the world’s luckiest gambler. After all, this lady from Texas, USA won her fourth lottery jackpot this month!

Lady Luck’s best friend

Last week, Ginther won over $1 million (£659,000) in the Texas state lottery for the fourth time.

This favourite of Lady Luck won $10 million (£6.59 million) by scooping one of three top prizes from a $140,000,000 Extreme Payout scratchcard costing $50, beating odds of 1 in 1.2 million. Also, store manager Bob Solis must be pleased, as he receives a $10,000 bonus for selling this winning ticket.

This is the largest of Ginther’s four million-plus lottery wins. In total, she has won $20.4 million (£13.4 million) in 17 years, as follows:

1. 1993: Ginther wins $5.4 million of an $11 million jackpot in the Lotto Texas game (at odds of 15.8 million to one);

1. 2006: She nets $2 million from a Holiday Millionaire scratchcard (one in 1,028,338);

1. 2008: Ginther banks another $3 million from a Millions and Millions scratchcard (one in 909,000); and

1. 2010: She bags a whopping $10 million from a $140,000,000 Extreme Payout scratchcard, (one in 1.2 million).

It could be you!

Somewhat surprisingly, multiple jackpot winners are not unheard of.

Indeed, several gamblers have ‘bagged the big one’ more than once, including one American who won two jackpots in the same month. However, there is no known (legal) way to beat scratchcard odds, so Ginther’s four wins are purely down to dumb luck.

As a former mathematician, I don’t play the Lotto or buy scratchcards, because I know how awful the odds are. For the record, I consider all gambling to be a tax on the poor and people who are bad at maths.

Therefore, here are my five lessons inspired by Ginther’s luck:

1.     Avoid publicity

Ginther asked for minimal publicity from the Texas Lottery Commission, so very little is known about her -- other than she lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, but bought three of her four winning tickets in her home town of Bishop, Texas.

Personally, I’d tick the ‘no publicity’ box every time. Otherwise, you risk spending the rest of your life being bombarded with begging letters, death threats and even ransom notes. By keeping the source of your sudden wealth a secret, you may stay below criminals’ radar.

In fact, Dr Robert Uomini -- a professor of research mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley, who won $22 million in 1995 -- has this advice for lottery winners: “Change your phone number.”

2.     Quit while you’re ahead

Given Ginther’s string of wins, and the fact that she moved to Las Vegas, I suspect that she is an habitual gambler. In other words, her remarkable luck could be explained by the fact that she has bought a very large number of scratchcards over the decades.

Ginther has been extraordinarily lucky, but many gamblers find their habit becomes an addiction. (I speak from experience, as I spent five years of the Nineties throwing my money across the green baize before turning my back on casinos.)

In many cases, even a massive win doesn’t make some gamblers quit the habit. Often, big wins are ‘recycled’ by more frequent betting with larger stakes.

For example, UK-listed gaming company PartyGaming reported that one lucky punter had won its Mega Gold jackpot of $5 million in December 2009. Alas, within weeks, this VIP gambler had handed back $2 million to PartyCasino in subsequent losses. Oops!

3.     Beware the curse of lottery winners

Survey after survey has demonstrated that -- contrary to popular belief -- suddenly coming into a large sum of money isn’t a guarantee of happiness.

Although lottery winners do see an increase in the quality of their lives, their happiness levels aren’t measurably higher a couple of years following their win. In fact, a survey by Lotto organiser Camelot in 1999 found that four in nine winners (45%) were no happier or less happy than they were before their big win.

If you don’t believe that winning millions can leave you in ruins, then watch documentary Lucky, a newly released film about lottery winners laid low.

4.     Remember the losers

One of the biggest problems with lotteries (and gambling in general) is that they encourage ‘selective perception’. In other words, all the focus is on big winners while millions of small losers are ignored.

Of course, for Joan Ginther -- or anyone else -- to win a fortune, then millions of punters have to lose a great deal more.

For example, the UK Lotto returns only 45p of every pound staked. In other words, less than half (45%) of the sum spent on lottery tickets is returned in prizes. Thus, in 2009/10, we gave £5.4 billion to Camelot, but got back just £2.43 billion in prizes. The remaining £2.97 billion was shared by HM Treasury, good causes, Camelot’s shareholders and retailers.

5.     Watch out for deductions

Here in the UK, all winnings from legal gambling are free of personal taxes (although bookmakers and other gaming companies pay various duties to HM Treasury). What’s more, lottery and scratchcard wins are paid out as lump sums (except for some special games which offer a tax-free monthly income for life).

However, this tax-free, lump-sum deal is rarely the case elsewhere in the world. For example, in the US, you can elect to take your win as a one-off lump sum or as yearly payments over 20 years. Indeed, Joan Ginther took her 1993 win over 20 years, but chose lump sums for her next three lottery wins. Her latest prize of $10 million comes to $7.5 million after taxes.

In summary

My advice would be to ignore the hype surrounding lottery winners. Instead, remember that as a nation we lose almost £3 billion a year from playing the Lotto and scratchcards. If you want to make money from gambling, then buy a bookmaker!

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