A woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do.
So Twila Varga helped her husband Darren pick National Football League results for a recent Sport Select lottery ticket.
The result, combined with what they believe was a little luck from paying it forward all summer, won the Red Deer couple $60,000.
Darren said that he and Twila decided to work on a Sport Select ticket as they drove home from Edmonton recently because “We’ve had good karma and we’ve been paying it forward.”
Sport Select involves wagering on professional sports games, trying to predict the outcomes. Being a sports fan and therefore knowledgeable about sports could be helpful.
Earlier in the summer, Twila was at a local coffee outlet when someone handed her a card that said: ”Pay it forward.”
So she did — she bought someone a coffee that day.
As summer passed, whenever they did something similar, paying it forward got to be a bit of a fun joke between them, said Darren.
As they drove from Edmonton it was the first time Twila had ever done football picks on pools with him. Twila ended up choosing a lot of the winning teams. They got 14 of 15 results correct on the team selections.
It might be some time before he lives down the fact Twila did so well. “Oh you know it,” he said.
Darren has been playing Sport Select for a long time.
Is Twila a sports fan? “Oh no. Not at all,” said Darren. “She might be now though.”
The good karma generated from paying it forward worked, he said.
“All of a sudden we won 60 grand.”
“Holy smokes! We’re really liking the idea of paying it forward.”
The couple, both age 45, received a quarter of a larger pool split with three other winners.
Darren picked up the money on Friday in St. Albert. It was from a draw two weekends ago.
They plan to continue paying it forward, he said, and have a few plans such as maybe attending the wedding in Jamaica of some friends and paying off a vehicle.
barr@www.reddeeradvocate.com