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lottery winner

pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) ? Some call it luck, but Keith Selix knows better. The 81-year-old Waterloo man has won three big lottery prizes since last year ? a streak he believes would normally be impossible.

But since his wife died in February 2005, the man's fortune has mysteriously changed.

"I'm still thinking that I'm being led from up above," said Selix, a retired John Deere machinist who spends about $200 a week on lottery scratch-off tickets. "I'm firmly in belief of that."

Ironically, Selix's wife had often scolded him for wasting his money on the "those cotton-picking tickets."

But Selix kept scratching after his wife's departure, and he has since cashed in three winning tickets totaling $81,000.

Selix's latest win came late last month and included $30,000 from the "Wild Crossword" confetti instant-scratch game. He also won $30,000 in June playing the "Wild Crossword" lizard game and $21,000 in September playing the "Double Blackjack" instant-scratch game.

The odds of winning the grand prize in either "Wild Crossword" game is 1 in 89,775, according to the Iowa Lottery. The odds of winning the grand prize in "Double Blackjack" is 1 in 119,700.

Selix has used most of his winnings to remodel his home. He has a new kitchen, with new cupboards, appliances and ceramic tile. He's put vinyl siding and new windows on his house.

"And now I'm going to start on my bathroom and living room," he said.

Selix plans to continue playing, though the chances of getting struck by lightning are greater than his chance of winning a fourth time. According to the National Weather Service, there is 1 in 3,000 chance of lightning striking someone in an 80-year lifespan.

Selix has never been hit by lightning, and "that convinces me I'm getting help from upstairs."


well no fvcking sh!t he's winning a lot, he spends $200 a WEEK on lottery tickets. it has nothing to do with divine help.
 
Good grief. That's over $10,000 a year in tickets.

Figure he gets about half of his earnings after taxes and that's only 4 years worth of tickets that he made up for.
 
I bet he's still at a loss overall. Since he's 81 I'm guessing he's been losing for quite some. At $200 a week it'd only take 8 years of losses to be down more than he lost. I'm also assuming he lost most of the time since his wife complained all the time.
 
That's completely retarded. He's probably wasted more than he's won. He's burning through @ $10k+ year on lotto tickets.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Selix plans to continue playing, though the chances of getting struck by lightning are greater than his chance of winning a fourth time. According to the National Weather Service, there is 1 in 3,000 chance of lightning striking someone in an 80-year lifespan.
Click to expand...
This statement is false. The odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 3000 for 80 years of life. If he played the lotto once a month for 80 years the chance of him winning the top prize again is ~1 in 100. the chance of him winning it 4 more times in those 80 years is ~1 in 3,000,000,000. If he played every week those odds get reduced to ~1 in 25 and ~1 in 8,000,000

The article says he played $200 a week for 1 year and won 3 top prizes. The odds of that are only ~1 in 6000.

Edit: Roughly speaking. 😉
 
He's probably put in more than 81k over the years that he's played, so either way, I don't think it's a win 😉
 
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