Lucky WorldThe Luckiest Lottery Player

Joan Ginther cashes in

Texas native hits fourth lotto jackpot

Joan Ginther, a resident of Las Vegas has been coined the ¨world’s luckiest lottery player¨ after winning her fourth seven-figure jackpot. The odds that one person could hit four Texas Lottery jackpots for a combined nearly $21 million are astronomical. Mathematicians say the chances are as slim as 1 in 18 septillion — that's 18 and 24 zeros.

Over the past 17 years Ginther has amassed millions through her lucky wins. On a $50 scratch-off ticket bought in this rural farming community, Ginther won $10 million last month in her biggest windfall yet. But it was the fourth winning ticket in Texas since 1993, when Ginther split an $11 million jackpot and became the most famous native in Bishop history. After a comparatively luckless period of 13 years, she then pocketed a relatively modest US$ 2.3 Million jackpot on another ticket. A further US$ 2.9 Million followed in 2008, and now this lady has won the US$ 10 Million top prize in the Texas lottery. But the 63 year old former college professor is keen to keep a low profile and has declined all interviews.

"That lady is pretty much scarce to everybody," said Lucas Ray Cruz, Ginther's former neighbour. "That's just the way she is."

At the Times Market where Ginther bought her last two winning tickets, the highway gas station is fast becoming a pilgrimage for unlucky lottery losers.
“This is a very lucky store,” said manager Bob Solis, quite simply.

The Texas Lottery Commission has seen repeat winners before, but none on the scale of Ginther. Spokesman Bobby Heith said the agency has never investigated Ginther's winnings — three scratch-off tickets and one lottery draw — for possible fraud but described the verification system as thorough.

Sun Bae, who owns the Time Market and sold Ginther her last two winning tickets, said Ginther drives around in a bland Nissan sedan but once bought a quality car for someone down on their luck. "She is a very generous woman. She's helped so many people," Bae said.

Calculating the actual odds of Ginther hitting four multimillion-dollar lottery jackpots is tricky. If Ginther's winning tickets were the only four she ever bought, the odds would be one in 18 septillion, according to Sandy Norman and Eduardo Duenez, math professors at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Exactly how often Ginther plays is unknown. But Norman and Duenez said that a habitual player winning four times over a 17-year span is much less far-fetched. After all, the only way to win is to keep playing.