How Brad Duke won $220 million in Powerball by obeying these 3 secret rules
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Brad Duke, the $220 million man, planned to increase his winnings by making big investments in different fields. CBS
When is enough, enough? Never, apparently, where Brad Duke is concerned. This Powerball winner wanted even more...
The the 33 year-old from Idaho won the $220 million jackpot on the USA Powerball in 2005, he took the all-cash option. After taxes, it left the director of Gold's Gym with a total of $86 million.
Brad shows his check. After taxes he received $86 million.
Most people would be happy with that amount. But for Brad, it wasn't enough. He knew he didn't want to end up like many other winners who lost their entire fortune by squandering it.
Most winners only take a couple of years to lose it all. But that wasn't even on Brad's radar. He actually wanted to increase his jackpot - to become a billionaire!
That meant multiplying his money by some 120 times.
Brad Duke appeared in this Powerball tv commercial for the Idaho Lottery.
Said Brad, "I wanted to make the most of the opportunity that was given to me, so I put together a financial team with the intent to reach and maintain a $1 billion status... I wanted to do it in 10 years." That date came up in 2015.
READ ALSO: What Are They Doing Now? Brad Duke, $220 Million Powerball Winner
So what did he do with his winnings - and exactly what method did he originally use to win?
You shouldn't be surprised when I tell you that Brad followed the three main pillars of winning that the Silver Lotto System also uses to win.
Cyclist Brad Duke with Lance Armstrong (r) in 2008. Photo: Idaho Press
His billion-dollar goal is quite different from most winners who usually try to figure out how fast to spend it. But Brad wanted to set up his fortune for several future generations of his family to live in comfort.
Brad shows the tickets from the Powerball win he hopes to turn into a billion dollars.
Of course, he bought stuff like the rest of us. Here's a list of how he spent some of his winnings. It makes fascinating reading.
His first priority was small spending such as you and I would do... just paying bills and taking vacations:
$14,500 - Bought a new car, a used black VW Jetta
$12,000 - Made a yearly present to all family members.
$18,000 - Paid back his student loan.
$63,000 - Took a trip to Tahiti with 17 of his buddies.
$65,000 - Bought new bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike.
$125,000 - Paid off his mortgage on his 1,400-square-foot house.
Then he got into serious investing:
$1.3 million - Set up a family foundation trust.
$35 million - Made aggressive investments in oil, gas and real estate.
$45 million spent on safe, low-risk investments like municipal bonds.
If he reaches his goal of a billion, Brad will have used a secret known only by the rich - delayed gratification. Brad is able to think of the future more than the present, and work towards it - waiting until everything clicks into place in time.
A hotel in Tahiti similar to the one Brad took 17 of his friends to after the Powerball win.
But he was sensible about it... he didn't pass up the chance to take 17 of his friends on a trip to Tahiti. Or pay off his mortgage.
When you read Brad's story, you'll quickly see the similarity between how he won, and what I tell you to do almost daily.
There are three similar processes he used which are exactly what my system does to eventually get the jackpot.
They are all rules of the Silver Lotto System, and he followed them to the letter:
RULE #1: He was motivated.
This is one of the most important non-mathematical portions of a lottery system... the belief. It is this strength that keeps him going when all else seems hopeless and the non-wins mount up.
To combat that, he made it a consuming interest. Brad said that he liked number games and considered Powerball a hobby. He always knew that someday he’d win.
"I had written about it in my journal," he said. "It was my favorite campfire topic: What would you do if you won the lottery?" That enduring belief kept him going on the important trail to his goal.
RULE #2: He set a goal.
"I absolutely thought I was going to win," he said. "In fact, I wrote a check out to myself for a million dollars, and in the note section I put: earn/won."
A goal is concrete evidence of the whirring thoughts that go on in everyone's mind. But when you put these thoughts down on paper, the buzzing stops and you get focused. Goals - you need to set them in writing!
RULE #3: He persisted.
Brad developed a number structure by going back over 6 years and analyzing the numbers that were the most popular. He formed them into a pattern that resembles part of my system. And then he did what my system does also... he played these SAME numbers - week after week - consistently for 4 years. Until he won.
That's the real secret... the persistance and consistency I call Relentless Focused Action!
So what's he doing now, all these years later?
"There are definitely some different things in my life," he said early this year. While his investments are working for him, Brad started a family foundation for children, and for fun he pedals a sophisticated road bike.
Recently he paid for a helicopter service, similar to the one pictured, to fly both him and a friend to the top of a Canadian glacier so they could mountain-bike to the bottom.
"My first piece of advice to anybody who would win the lottery is take a breath and start thinking about who's going to help you do the right thing," he said.
