Man's Luck Changes After Wife "Mysteriously Dies"

Or her "mysterious death" was the first bit of good luck.

Some call it luck, but Keith Selix knows better. The 81-year-old Waterloo man has won three big lottery prizes since last year — a streak he believes would normally be impossible.

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 John Deere 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.

Selix's latest win came late last month and included $30,000 from the "Wild Crossword" confetti instant-scratch game. He also won $30,000 in June playing the "Wild Crossword" lizard game and $21,000 in September playing the "Double Blackjack" instant-scratch game.

The odds of winning the grand prize in either "Wild Crossword" game is 1 in 89,775, according to the Iowa Lottery. The odds of winning the grand prize in "Double Blackjack" is 1 in 119,700.

And the odds of your henpecking wife "mysteriously dying" just before you start getting rich? Sometimes, better than you'd think.

Thanks to Jack Straw.

posted by Ace at 02:36 PM

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