Wins $9.1M jackpot three months after buying "how to win" book
Includes video report
A Webster City, Iowa, man today claimed a $9 million prize from Saturday night's Hot Lotto drawing, one of the biggest prizes ever awarded in the history of the Iowa Lottery.
Larry Dawson, 58, and his wife, Kathy, were surrounded by their four grown children, their spouses and 10 grandchildren during a news conference at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines.
"I am a little guy, but I am a big dreamer," Dawnson told reporters when asked about his plans for spending the money. He is the longtime owner of a financial services business in Webster City and he mostly plans to use the prize money to expand his firm, he said.
Dawson's nickname is "Lucky Larry," according to his wife, because of his ability on the golf course to transform bad shots into good shots, such as hitting a tree and having a golf ball bounce back onto the fairway. He and his wife started playing Hot Lotto about three months ago after reading a book that claimed to have the secrets to winning the lottery. He followed the recommendations, which included buying 19 plays for each drawing to cover all the Hot Ball options.
But he said he was beginning to doubt the book's advice just before he won.
"We were just getting to the point where I said, "You know, this just isn't worth it. I don't think I am going to do this anymore. But we played one more time and...it's kind of nice," he said.
Dawson's $9.09 million prize was the 12th-largest ever awarded in the 26-year history of the Iowa Lottery, said Iowa Lottery Vice President Mary Neubauer. His ticket was purchased at Doc's Stop convenience store in Webster City.
Hey Ridge Runner~~
Looks like it wasn't a QP.
Congrats to the winner!!
I disagree.. has to be a quick pic. either its a Qp or he has 18 other 2nd tier prize winners....
Well, don't tell me, call Ripley's.
No, I don't think so.
When I play a system that uses all bonus balls, I most definitely do NOT use the same "first 5" numbers on each ticket. I use an abbreviated wheel. Here's an excellent wheel for Hot Lotto. It's a 2 if 2 of 19 wheel that is highly balanced, using each of the 19 numbers you choose 5 times each. It has 19 lines, making it perfect for playing each bonus number once.
You would use all bonus numbers so that you are guaranteed to have a bonus number winner in your set of tickets, and hopefully you have some "first 5" matches to go along with it. Also, if you happen to match all 5 numbers on one ticket, it ensures that you have at least a pretty good chance of winning the jackpot too.
In the case of Hot Lotto, if you match the 5 five numbers, the strategy gives you a 1-in-19 shot at winning the jackpot.
I love this story...
A financial advisor buying a how to win the lottery book.
Makes me wonder about the advice given to his clients and what they think after hearing what he was doing. He's telling everybody how to be responsible in allocating their funds and how to invest and save responsibly while he's playing the lottery. I love it.
This is really wild.
Ha, Ha... or the Guiness Book Of World Records....
Ridge
If you think about it, it might just be a really good way to judge the true state of our economy. Another thought
is that he might be needing to shore up some of the accounts he manages. I wonder if there is any connection
between high risk capital and lottery tickets as they both seem to have the same rules, "Don't invest more then
you can afford to lose."
RL
From the OP:
He and his wife started playing Hot Lotto about three months ago after reading a book that claimed to have the secrets to winning the lottery. He followed the recommendations, which included buying 19 plays for each drawing to cover all the Hot Ball options.
But he said he was beginning to doubt the book's advice just before he won.
"We were just getting to the point where I said, "You know, this just isn't worth it. I don't think I am going to do this anymore. But we played one more time and...it's kind of nice," he said.
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Since he said he was just about to give up and it mentions playing 19 plays per drawing it sounds like it might have been Lustig's book, which has been reviewed here on LP.
Whether the winning combo was a QP or not, or birthdays, or ages, or hot and cold numbers, etc..ad nauseum, the fact that a combo he played was the combo drawn still comes down to luck.
Ut oh.
Whether it's Lustig's book or someone else's people will post and ask if anyone has read it and can they tell them what it says.
While the book sales will definitley increase it was also become apparent that a lot of people not only want the information to beat the house but to beat the one with the information out of the money for it, too.
I don't think that's the book, because they are playing a relatively small number of picks (19) and Lustig says you have to play as much as you can afford -- not specific strategies like "play all the bonus numbers".
And of course there is luck involved. A great deal of it. But the strategy they played certainly helped them as well.
Whether the winning combo was a QP or not, or birthdays, or ages, or hot and cold numbers, etc..ad nauseum, the fact that a combo he played was the combo drawn still comes down to luck.
And what is Luck. hmmm
L=laboring U=under C=correct K=knowledge
And at the time he was laboring under correct knowledge. It was spot on. C'mon Coin Toss, luck adds up to a lot of things.
I think he's been lurking on lottery post, and read "win with magic" by sully & Harve$t Moon
Congrats to the Dawsons, Enjoy.
I'm not familiar with Hot Lotto.
Is it possible to select all your bonus balls and get the other numbers by Quick Pick?
It depends on what the individual state's lottery terminals allow. (That goes for all games, not just Hot Lotto.) Some states have Quick Pick all-or-nothing options, and others allow you to QP just the bonus or the first five numbers.
OK, thanks. It'd be interesting to know exactly what he did.