Lottery players in Connecticut spend millions on tickets every day, most chasing a once-in-a-lifetime dream that never comes. But a handful of big winners show up again and again, seemingly beating astronomical odds to rack up dozens, even hundreds of sizable payouts.
A first-ever analysis of lottery winnings dating back to mid-1998, conducted by The Courant in collaboration with students at the Columbia School of Journalism, found 57 people who have won $1,000 or more at least 50 times. A dozen have won that much at least 100 times.
For those in Connecticut who have beaten the odds an extraordinary number of times, chances are most of them have spent far more on tickets than they have won.