Can a lucky bettor be unlucky?

It sounds like a contraction in terms. Graucho Marx would say is sounds like "military intelligence" :-) But keep reading this story...

A man from South Africa may go down in history as one of the unluckiest gambling winners ever. It all happened in Gabon, South Africa when his winning ticket was washed out. The gambler correctly predicted the first five finishers in a horse race that took place on 12 September. Based on the odds, his winnings would have been $170,000. Unfortunately he was not able to claim the big winnings because his wife unknowingly washed the winning ticket that was still in his pants at the time.
In fact the gambler in question was the only person that managed to pick the right order for the first five finishing horses. Even the bookmakers who he placed the bet with are aware that he ultimately chose the winning order. They keep duplicate records of all bets that are placed and are able to confirm that someone did actually place a bet on the winning order of finished horses and is therefore entitles to the money. But, since his winning ticket wad destroyed in the washing machine, by default he is not able to produce the ticket for verification and claim his winnings.
The bookmaker's PR agent explained the problem in detail as to why the winner can't claim his earnings: 'The following day, a man came to our offices, saying he had got the right order, which we already knew because we keep duplicates of all bets. Unfortunately, he was unable to present the green part of his ticket, which acts as proof, and explained that his wife had washed the trousers he had left it in...Despite his best efforts, he was unable to retrieve the slightest shred and after seven days, we had to declare the ticket lapsed, as stated in our rules. So in fact he cannot claim the winnings and they have already been rolled into the next jackpot. Now that is defiantly a case of winner's bad luck.
Verbatim from www.onlinecasinoreports.com

So, do you think a lucky bettor can be, at the same time, unlucky? And do you think his wife has now to hide from him? :-) We'll never know...