N.Y. Woman Wins Jackpot — Twice

(AP)  A woman who won $1 million from a state lottery game four years ago has improbably hit the jackpot again.

Valerie Wilson, who works at a Long Island deli, said she won another $1 million on a lottery scratch-off game last month.

"The first time I couldn't believe it," Wilson told Newsday. "This time I said, 'God's on my side."'

Wilson, 56, beat some long odds to pull off her double victory.

In 2002, her winning ticket in the Cool Million scratch-off game, which has since been discontinued, was a shot of 1 in 5.2 million, according to the New York State Lottery. Last month, she beat odds of 1 in 705,600 when she got the $1 million prize in the New York lottery's Jubilee scratch-off game.

Overall, her chances of winning both games were a slim 1 in 3,669,120,000,000.

A lottery spokeswoman verified Wilson was a Cool Million winner in 2002, but declined to confirm her latest win until a planned news conference. There have been only two previous repeat million-dollar-plus winners in the lottery's history, according to the state.

Wilson still hasn't quit her job at Emma's Deli and Catering. Despite her unexpected bonus, Wilson plans to keep working until at least December, making sandwiches and ringing up sales.

The prize will be paid out in $50,000 installments over 20 years. Wilson said she used her first winnings to help buy homes for her three children.

"This one is going to be for me," she said. "I'm going to live a little bit."

[alphaa10-2009]

Andy Rooney did a fine take-off on the whole lottery fascination-- "What about requiring lotteries to show all the people who did not win?" he asked, as innocently as only Rooney can.

Still, winning does happen, and all Americans like to think they have a good chance. Theoretically, at least, they do. Provided that all factors which might interfere with an equal probability for all entrants are kept neutral, each lottery entrant has an equally miniscule chance of winning-- and not only once. Lottery lightning can strike twice, or as many times as it pleases.

But give us a break. The lottery game is full of stories about people who are simply "lucky". The "Millionaire Mile" in one American city hosts fast food joints and cafes which have a bumper crop of lottery winners. While a statistician might note these places sell an above average number of lottery tickets, and the above average result in likely, most of us suspect there is a ghost somewhere in the machine.

Curiously, winners do not like to disrupt their lives after getting their awards. A wise move, however intuitive.