Lucky lottery player wins for fourth time

An American woman has been dubbed the luckiest lottery player after scooping a fourth seven-figure prize.

Las Vegas resident Joan Ginther is expected to win US$10 million after striking it lucky with a US$50 scratch-card.

Her latest jackpot will take her total winnings to more than US$20 million ($28.85 million).

Her first win came in 1993 when she won US$5.4 million from the Texas lottery, which she took in yearly instalments.

She won a further US$2 million from a US$30 scratchie ticket in 2006.

Ms Ginther, 63, originally from Texas, won a further US$3 million two years later, again from a scratchie ticket.

She bought three of her winning tickets in Texas, two of which were from the same store, the Times Market in the town of Bishop.

"This is a very lucky store," store manager Bob Solis told the Corpus Christi Caller Times. But owner Sun Bae was the one with the lucky hand, he added. "Sun sold both the winning tickets to the woman."

The store sells about 1000 lottery tickets a day.

News networks in the United States have dubbed her the world's luckiest lottery player.

The Texas lottery says there is a one in 1.2 million chance of winning the Extreme Payout scratch-card top prize of US$10 million.

It does not calculate the odds of winning millions more than once.

"We have had multiple winners before," a spokesman said. "But she's obviously been born under a lucky star."

Ms Ginther requested no publicity, the commission said.


Golden touch

* 1993: US$5.4 million share of an US$11 million Texas Lottery jackpot. Joan Ginther's take: US$270,000 a year for 19 years.

* 2006: With only six years of payments left, Ginther scored a US$2 million prize from a scratch-off ticket. Her take: US$1.5 million lump-sum payment.

* 2008: A US$3 million jackpot from a scratch card.

* 2010: Seven-figure payout not yet announced.

- staff reporter