Lottery winner's luck changes

Thursday, May 04, 2006 posted 12:34 PM EDT

WATERLOO, Iowa — Some call it luck, but Keith Selix knows better. The 81-year-old Waterloo man has won three big lottery prizes since last year.

Selix never had much luck with lotteries. But since his wife died in February 2005, the man's fortune has mysteriously changed.

"I'm still thinking that I'm being led from up above," said Selix, a retired machinist who spends about $200 a week on lottery scratch-off tickets. "I'm firmly in belief of that."

Ironically, Selix's wife had often scolded him for wasting his money on the "those cotton-picking tickets."

But Selix kept scratching after his wife's departure, and he has since cashed in three winning tickets totaling $81,000.

Joe Hrdlicka, the Iowa Lottery's vice president for marketing, couldn't guess the odds of winning three times. Repeat winners are pretty rare, he said, "but it does happen."

Selix has used most of his winnings to remodel his home.

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