Gail Howard's Degrees of Luck

Degrees of Luck

People who consistently win lottery prizes invest time and effort in selecting their numbers. It's comforting to think that to win the lottery jackpot, all you need is a buck and a little bit of luck. But, jackpot-winning luck is out of the realm of mathematical probability. It happens only to that one in millions. Luck is an added plus that you can't count on until it happens to you.

Using my systems and strategies, I got lucky and beat odds of one in 48,696 to win a second prize in New York's Lotto, [then a] 6/48 lottery game. I had five numbers on one line — and the sixth winning number was in the right place but on the second line! In addition, I won a third prize, beating additional odds of one in 950.

On the same day in the same New York Lotto game, Sharon Jaynes used my system and beat odds of one in 12,271,512 to win the first prize jackpot. Sharon Jaynes won $13.8 million and I won $1,187. We both used my system, we both were lucky, and we both were winners. But that day, Sharon Jaynes was supremely luckier than I was. She was that lucky one in 12 million!

Mrs. Jaynes arrived at her press conference waving my book, which she kept in front of herself throughout the interview. This generous-spirited woman proclaimed to the media that she had used Gail Howard's book to win her jackpot and she offered to stop playing the lottery "to give someone else a chance to win."

Newspapers across the country carried the Associated Press article in which Sharon Jaynes credited my book for her jackpot win. Such wonderful publicity resulting from her genuine heartfelt gratitude meant more to me than winning the jackpot.