We all know him on the competitions Forum as @inwithachance but he could just as easily call himself mrwinningstreak because this lucky comper, who has only been comping since last August, has been on a winning streak ever since. At last count, he has won 62 prizes (with a few freebies and product reviews thrown in), 28 since the beginning of this year, which means he has won a bit over the average of around two prizes a week., around $7,000 worth in total.
Not bad, if I may say so. Some of his latest wins have been DVD’s; movie tickets; a classy cutlery set worth nearly $600; a sound system and a charcoal spit-roaster. “It all began,” he tells me, “last July when I won $2500 cash in the OzLotteries Lot-O-Trivia competition.” And he hasn’t looked back since then, his wins continue and the prizes keep arriving at his doorstep. Even though he has been enjoying his wins he admits that they have actually caught him by surprise.
He tells me that he never thought it could happen to him: but he appreciates how lucky he has been compared to many other compers. He is also very grateful for his wins and thankful for his success even though he says: “sometimes it feels, in a good way, a little bizarre. I feel like I am in a Twilight Zone episode with all these prizes arriving!” Then he adds: “yes, it’s advertising and promotion for the companies and sponsors, but it’s all free.” Inwithachance feels much of his success has been due to luck, but he also admits he is very organised and uses his comping time wisely. I asked him for some advice for others, particularly newbie compers and this is what he had to offer. “Enter plenty of competitions and never talk yourself out of entering any. Three times I hummed and haa-ed about entering some but pressed on and won them. Yes, this winning streak is happening to me, but really anyone can be lucky too. Before I put my mind to comping, I never thought of myself as a winner. The only difference between then and now is that I decided to do it.”
And the proof, I now add to his wise words, is in the pudding, as they say. He also had a great anecdote to share: “Over the Xmas/NY period the prizes were arriving so fast it was a head-spin, literally!. Here’s how; one day I had just won an instant prize on the home pc when the doorbell rang, I turned around and it was the delivery man with a prize that I didn’t even know that I’d won! In the space of a few minutes I’d won twice!” I took everything inwithachance had to say and eventually looked it up on a few online dictionaries and came across this definition of a winning streak – “a series of consecutive successes, a run of good luck. It is an expression that comes from gambling, possibly originating in the mid-1900s.” ‘Inwithachance’ attributes much of his winning streak to luck, but can we put any winning streak purely down to luck?
Surely there is a lot of determined effort involved in all this winning as well, especially in the world of comping. Luck might have been on his side in the random draws, but even then it’s always still a numbers game – the more competitions you enter, the more chances you have of winning something. And what of the WOL comps? I think he has demonstrated a fair degree of skill with those as well and is getting better over time with lots of practise. However, regardless of what it is that is giving him such a winning edge over most of us (for the time-being anyway) we can only wish him a continued winning streak and hope, like he wishes that some of his good luck will rub off on us!