Sentence:  I should be quite happy. And I am certainly happier than those whose scores fell below the <WSD>payline</WSD> and who will not get funding. But I wrote several proposals to get that one funded, turning the process into a kind of lottery -- the more you play, the butter your chances (which is actually not true; it's just the only option). 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A criterion score used by an organization that gives grants to determine which applications are good enough to be given money.