we had a member from idaho by the name 'bellyache' but i haven't seen her here in a while.hope your ok

Congratulations...

Wish they had asked her how much money she spends on lottery.  It looks like she pretty much buys all the different products, so I wonder if she spends as much as she wins, or if she's truly lucky and has won all these prizes spending only $10 a week.

A local station did a live interview with her, and asked what her strategy is.  She said "it's dumb luck."  She made several statements that led me to believe the latest win was a quick pick, no system involved.

Definitely dumb luck.  I know a couple of people who who think that .4 at the deli counter is 1/4 of a pound and have won good money a couple of times, but not a large jackpot.

I've been thinking about giving up my own numbers and buying quick picks, although I'm not sure it makes a difference. 

Why do they always ask about a "secret"? What's the point of that question?

It's almost like asking someone if they are asleep, or dead. 

^{_{Modern "education" teaches a version of history so fictionalized, it should be followed by "TM"}
They're warning me about Osama or whatever. Picture me buying the scam; I say "never!".}

I "won" every day this past week starting with $12 in my pocket last Sunday and after last night's "win" I ended it up with $20 in my pocket. If I an keep this "winning" streak going, at the end of the year I'll wagered $4368 to "win" a net $416.

Winning $416 on one $12 bet looks pretty good but to do that I'll have make 364 $12 bets. I'm pretty sure that is what she is doing though after winning the truck, $15,000 and now another $110,000, her profit margin is much higher than mine.

Yep if she had played $50 a week (which is pretty darn easy to do when you start buying scratch-offs) for the past 10 years, she'd only have invested $26,000.   So maybe she paid for the truck.  Bet she's ahead, just wish I knew how much she plays.

It's true that people who play more often, win more often.  She is probably a regular. 

From my experience, those folks aren't interested in doing the math, paid out to payout.  They are in it because they like the action.  Winning is just the icing on the cake. 

Jarasan started a thread asking what we consider to be a jackpot and I thought of this news article when I read it.  Did she win a jackpot 5 times?  Yes, but what did the total add up to after years of playing? Hey, this lady is awfully lucky and I'd love to win even the one prize of $15,000 to catch up, but her 5 jackpots don't add up to one Fantasy 5 jackpot, and certainly not a Lotto win.

Captain Lotto is absolutely right.  Many of our members dream about hitting $100M in PB or MM but many are simply in it for the fun of winning an occasional pick-3.  The one thing I'm not sure I agree with is "the action" part.  When you walk into a casino, it's like entering a different world...the flashing lights, the bells, and all the excited people around you makes it irresistable. Most people I know who go to casinos regularly or go to the track don't consider the lottery to be exciting or even challenging. 

Do her 5 wins mean the secret is to keep playing regularly and steer away from the jackpots with the higher odds?  2 of her prizes were from second chance draws. 

I think it's safe to say that second-chance drawings offer your best odds of winning.  Most of those promotions are based on the number of entries received.  They may involve "smaller" prizes, but have fewer potential winners.  Look for promotions that are unpopular, or try to guage which drawing the fewest people are entering.  I'm thinking of a second-chance promotion that Missouri did with the MLB games.  The Cardinals are by far the most popular team in the state, so more tickets were produced and sold for the St. Louis version.  Players in KC had a much better shot at getting a prize, albeit a Kansas City one. 

Likewise, the odds of winning Lotto are much better than hitting Powerball, but still stacked in the Lottery's favor.   

October 2002, Rowell won a Dodge Ram Quad-cab pick-up truck.
Earlier in 2004 she won $1,500 on the 15th Anniversary scratch ticket.
July 2004, won $15,000 playing in the Lottery's 15th Anniversary Game Show.
2005, she won a Pac-Man video arcade through another second chance draw.
Rowell claimed her $110,000 winning Wild Card check Friday morning from the Idaho Lottery

Winning 5 jackpots doesn't always mean winning a pile of money, I would be just as happy matching 5+0 in the MegaMillions game and winning the second prize of $250,000 once.

In all of the times I won anything over a few dollars, it was with one of my systems. Do an honest backtest of your system vs. a RNG method (if you're a programmer or know one). Whatever you are using needs to overcome whatever the takeout ratio is. In nj it's 50 percent on the daily number games, that is you need to win twice as often as the odds indicate just to break even! Less numbers are better than more (don't bet against yourself too much, play #s in harmony like STR with matching PAIRs); most times I won was with only a few plays for that drawing. If you play machine QP you are going with the normal odds which will never overcome the takeout unless you win a jackpot and then stop playing. Also the 2nd Chance drawings are a good idea if you want to write out and mail them (a nuisance) obviously not a lot of people must do that so those who do have a great chance (how many people are dying to win a Pac Man arcade game?) Also Idaho seems known for multiple winning; one store sold a Powerball jackpot twice.

Congrats! I'm sure she considers all of her wins jackpots whether they are big or small.

wtg!!