Well, in this case, conditions like that can still happen, but on the other hand, talking about looking for opportunities beforehand, I might focus on this because of course we also have to be aware that I won't mention that it was luck, but the result of the hard work that he had previously built.
You said that your brother has a high spirit of hard work and when he gets a big project and succeeds there it is not luck but the result he has learned from previous hard work.
I was often told by my parents "what you plant is what you pick" in this case I actually think that is what was meant. when you are lazy then indeed success will not come by itself, even though it may exist but the ratio is very small and it can only be counted on fingers. but it's different from us looking for and taking advantage of all the momentum with continuous effort, so indirectly we go straight to the success that comes our way.
......And sometimes what you might plant might not even get picked in the end and it just goes -poof- gone. Same goes for some other people's dreams that they dreamed the most. You just gotta suck it up that everything will not always go your way.
Your race, your birth place, your luck overall will affect on the probability of you getting what you wanted. It's just the broken reality there, bud. I can recall some seniors in my workplace being praised while just sitting their ass off without doing anything for 9 hours almost.
I also don't completely agree with the OP's point in saying that success is all about luck, not effort. But it is also undeniable that, without luck, our efforts can hardly bring success. For me, when the opportunity comes is called luck, it is not necessarily created from effort, and taking advantage of the opportunity to achieve success is due to our efforts. Every successful person needs these 2 factors, I don't believe anyone can achieve success without luck, although effort is more appreciated and vice versa. No one can succeed without trade-offs or without effort.
You bring opportunities by doing hardwork and your luck decides whether you truly deserve that kind of success. It's just the same thing for everybody. If you were born in a rich family, you would have it easy meanwhile being a poor family would still go long ways just to even start your career.