New York Lotto Winners

"Wow! All those five-number wins and four-number wins and then the jackpot!" exclaimed Tom Mayer of Liverpool, NY.

Mr. Mayer is one of 16 co-workers on the night shift at the Miller brewery in Fulton, NY who started pooling their money three years ago to buy Lotto tickets. The year before they discovered my system, the group spent $3,000 and won only a $19 prize, according to Mayer. "We got a hold of Gail's literature," he said in a recent interview, "and 'Wham!' We started winning like crazy!"

The "Miller Die-Hards," as the group calls itself, won not only the first-prize jackpot of $1.4 million but also four second prizes worth $1,373 each and seven third prizes of $53.50 each for an additional $5,866.50 - all for a $50 investment in New York Lotto tickets.

Mayer wheels the numbers and buys the tickets for the group. On Aug. 4, he watched the TV drawing before going to work at midnight. The first thing he did was have his wife confirm the win. Then he immediately called one of his co-workers, whose daughter answered the phone. When he blurted out the good news, the girl dropped the phone. It landed on the hard floor with such a resounding crash that the new million-dollar winner said it gave him a headache.

Headache or not, Mayer went in to work bursting with the good news. "Each night for the past three years, I'd give them a 'thumbs up' or a 'thumbs down, '" he said. "That night, I gave them a bunch of 'thumbs up'! Sharing the enthusiasm and the experience has been the best part of winning," he added.

No member of the Miller Die-Hards has ever spent more than $7 a week, according to Mayer. "Group playing;, makes it possible to use the bigger wheeling systems and get better advantages over the odds," he said.

Since their big win of $1.4 million (plus 11 other prizes), the Miller Die-Hards have won 36 more second and third prizes, Mayer estimated. The group puts the winnings from what he calls 'low-tier' wins into a kitty and reinvests that money. Mayer said his group was branching out into the Massachusetts, Delaware and Canadian lotteries - where they get the best odds. "I know we're going to hit it again - I know we're going to hit all of these," he said. "We never gave up—we all agreed to die hard."

They proved that pooling your money, playing the bigger wheeling systems, and not giving up can pay off!

The fun-loving Miller Die-Hards not only wrote thank you letters for helping them win, but also wrote and sang a thank you song, written by one of them: