Winner spent record $3.3 million on scratch-off tickets
/Texas scratch-off winner Joan Ginther captured global attention after her spending spree produced a fourth major lottery win in June 2010.
The surprizing moment came when she scratched off a $50 ticket from the Texas Lottery’s $140,000,000 Extreme Payoff to reveal '10MILL', securing a $10 million prize.
This last public win adds to her remarkable string of multi-million dollar lottery wins.
Ginther's lottery journey from 1993 - 2010 shows an impressive total of $20.4 million in winnings. Her series of successes include:
$5.4 million from a Lotto Texas drawing in 1993,
$2 million from the Holiday Millionaire game in 2006,
$3 million from Millions & Millions in 2008,
$10 million from the $140,000,000 Extreme Payoff in 2010.
These wins have sparked a mix of admiration and skepticism from the public as they debate her winning methods.
Reports suggest Ginther may have invested in upwards of 80,000 tickets, amounting to more than $3.3 million.
This could be the most a single player has spent on the lottery, a world record.
This information has fueled rumors among observers, with some questioning the possibility that she either had a sophisticated strategy or it was plain sheer luck.
Newspaper philly.com highlighted this theory in a revealing story, pointing to Ginther's academic credentials - a Ph.D. from Stanford - and her years of residence in the gaming hub of Las Vegas.
The rare chance of winning did not go unnoticed. Mathematicians have estimated Ginther's odds of achieving four major wins at an almost unfathomable 1 in 18 septillions.
It’s a figure so large it has inspired the concept of a film screenplay.
An unusual fact was that all her winning tickets were purchased either in or very close to her small hometown of Bishop, Texas.
Sun Bae, the retailer who sold two of the winning tickets, found herself at the center of attention several times as Ginther kept on winning.
Despite the intense public and media interest, Ginther remains an elusive figure, consistently avoiding interviews and maintaining her privacy.
The Texas Lottery Commission has not looked into her wins because they have never been concerned about the legality of her playing strategy.
