Idaho woman hits fifth lottery jackpot in five years

Nov 16, 2007, 5:17 pm (15 comments)

Idaho Lottery

Some people dream of winning the Lottery at least once. But for one Caldwell, Idaho, woman, winning the Lottery over the past five years has become common place.

Anna Pearl Rowell could be considered the luckiest Lottery Lady of all time.

Rowell claimed her $110,000 winning Wild Card check Friday morning from the Idaho Lottery and then retired from her position as the office manager for the Canyon County Assessor's Office.

Rowell became the third Wild Card jackpot winner from Idaho in the past four months when she matched all of her numbers and the Wild Card from the draw on Nov. 3. Those winning numbers were 16, 17, 18, 24, 26 and the Wild Card was the Ace of Spades.

She bought the winning ticket at Jacksons Food Store at 2406 S. Montana in Caldwell so she could enter the "Second Chance to Paradise" promotion to see Boise State play Hawai'i over Thanksgiving.

"It's a pretty great feeling when all your numbers start to match up," Rowell said. "I read the numbers in the paper on Sunday morning and couldn't believe it. I started reading the numbers and looking at my ticket and then said, ‘Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!' My husband thought the dog had been run over."

And while this was the third Wild Card jackpot winner out of the past five for Idaho, this was Rowell's fifth big Lottery win.

In October 2002, Rowell won a Dodge Ram Quad-cab pick-up truck through the Lottery's "Bucks and Trucks" second chance scratch game promotion.

In July 2004, Rowell hit lottery luck again when she won $15,000 playing as a contestant in the Lottery's 15th Anniversary Game Show.

And those are just Rowell's highest wins. Earlier in 2004 she won $1,500 on the 15th Anniversary scratch ticket and in 2005 she won a Pac-Man video arcade through another second chance draw.

When asked the secret to her lucky success Rowell said, "Well, I tell my husband he's really lucky to have me."

Rowell, a long time employee of Canyon County, had planned to retire on Nov. 16 before hitting it big. Her win just happened to be a great big coincidence.

"This is great because now I'll be able to pay off my house," she said.

Anna Pearl Rowell receives her $110,000 winning Wild Card check Friday morning from Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson. Anna Pearl Rowell receives her $110,000 winning Wild Card check Friday morning from the Idaho Lottery.

Idaho Statesman

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LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

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

pumpi76

Congratulations...

LuckyLilly's avatarLuckyLilly

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.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

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. 

time*treat's avatartime*treat

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. 

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by LuckyLilly on Nov 18, 2007

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.

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.

LuckyLilly's avatarLuckyLilly

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Nov 18, 2007

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.

Captain Lotto's avatarCaptain Lotto

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. 

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

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. 

Captain Lotto's avatarCaptain Lotto

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.   

RJOh's avatarRJOh

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.

LckyLary

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.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

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

dumars798's avatardumars798

wtg!!

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