Once, twice, three times a millionaire -- now it's four.
Joan R. Ginther, a native of Bishop who moved to Las Vegas, made her fourth appearance Monday at lottery headquarters in Austin to collect seven figures, lottery officials said.
Ginther, 63, won $10 million, the top prize in Texas Lottery's $140,000,000 Extreme Payout scratch-off ticket, pushing her total wins to $20.4 million.
It was her third time to win on a ticket from a Bishop store, and second one at Times Market at 525 Highway 77 Bypass, in Bishop.
"This is a very lucky store," said Bob Solis, store manager. The owner Sun Bae is the one with the lucky hand, Solis said. "Sun sold both the winning tickets to the woman."
The store, which sells about 1,000 lottery tickets daily, now is eligible to receive a bonus of $10,000 for the second time, lottery officials said.
"It's incredible for the store owner," said Bobby Heith, spokesman for the commission. "Most of our 16,000 retail stores have never sold a winning ticket."
In 1993 Ginther first won a $5.4 million share of an $11 million Lotto Texas jackpot for a ticket bought in Bishop. She opted for annual payments of $270,000 (excluding tax charges) for 19 years.
On year 13, while visiting Bishop to care for her father in 2006, Ginther won the top prize of $2 million in the Holiday Millionaire game. It was on a $30 scratch-off ticket she bought at Diamond Shamrock at 525 S. 14th St. in Kingsville. Ginther requested a lump-sum payment of about $1.5 million, after the 25 percent taken by the commission for taxes.
Two years later she collected a $3 million prize in Millions and Millions, another scratch-off, at the same Times Market where she won this week.
Ginther requested minimal publicity, according to the lottery commission, and could not be reached Friday.
The commission doesn't calculate the odds of winning millions more than once, Heith said.
"We have had multiple winners before," he said. "But she's obviously been born under a lucky star."
