luck of the draw

A allusion to the random manner in which playing cards are distributed or "drawn" in many card games.

luck of the draw (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) The random production of favorable or unfavorable results; chance.
   • 1973, Sheila Sutcliffe, Martello Towers, →ISBN, p. 63:

     [A] dry ditch or moat . . . should have been constructed around towers in particularly exposed or vulnerable positions but in some cases it seems that they were selected by the luck of the draw.

   • 1996 May 21, Carey Goldberg, "Best-Selling Author, but Not at Home," New York Times (retrieved 8 June 2013):

     [I]s it merely the luck of the draw that turns some novels into blockbusters and others of equal merit into also-rans?

   • 2005 August 10, "What You Need to Know on Smoking and Lung Cancer," Time:

     If you've never been a smoker and you develop lung cancer, how did you get it? Is it genetics, environment, radon, luck of the draw?

• happenstance

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