New York Lottery: Second $1M lottery win for deli worker defies all odds

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What we're going to talk about today was a one-in-a-million shot.

OK, technically the chances were 1 in 3,669,120,000,000 that the New York deli worker who won $1 million from a state lottery game four years ago would win another $1 million in the lottery a month ago. The number of zeros stuck at the end of that figure makes her repeat victory just slightly more difficult than a singer winning Simon's approval on "American Idol."

"The first time I couldn't believe it," Valerie Wilson reportedly told Newsday. "This time I said, 'God's on my side.' "

Now, I don't know if God pays off our faith with lottery winnings. That's a theological question that is as difficult to answer as the one that wonders, "Does God support one NFL team more than the other on any given Sunday, just because one team's pass receivers kneel down in the end zone and point to the sky after touchdowns?"

But, regardless of those religious issues, the actions of this particular double-lottery winner do shed some lights on the apparent psychology of at least some of those who play the legalized numbers game.

If you won $1 million in lottery money, wouldn't you figure that you'd gotten your share? What would cause you to try for more?

But, Wilson kept playing the lottery long after she won a bundle on it. Something must have been driving her to keep gambling on the lottery, and it likely no longer was the need to use winning major money in the lottery as her personal retirement plan. After she won the first million dollars, her future was pretty well set. You only need so much money to buy coffee when you meet other retirees in the diner every morning — even if you're picking up every check.

That having been said, surely Wilson had the money to play the lottery after winning her first million, so it would be difficult to criticize her for continuing to bet if she found it fun. And now after her second win, Wilson will have sort of a salary to gamble — her latest windfall will be paid out in $50,000 annual installments — which will more or less free her from worry about whether she wins or loses.

Most lottery players lose, of course. States don't set up lotteries as a system to give back tax dollars. You play the lottery, you generally are handing over your money. I suspect that even many of the people who brag about winning $500 in the lottery may have spent $1,000 trying to do it.

Big Winners

Granted, Wilson probably didn't spend more than the $2 million she won. It would have been difficult physically to scratch that many tickets. Besides, she wouldn't have had too much time to play the lottery since she continued to work in the Long Island deli after she won the first time, according to an Associated Press story published in this newspaper Monday.

And, the 54-year-old employee of Emma's Deli and Catering claims she will continue to work, at least for a while, despite now being a multimillionaire.

"Wilson plans to keep working until at least December, making sandwiches and ringing up sales," the Associated Press story said.

But Wilson appears to be one-in-a-million when it comes to winning the lottery. What would you bet the odds would be against other winners' continuing to work?

I'm guessing we'd need more zeros. Most winners would be singing a different tune than Wilson. And Simon would be rolling his eyes.