Innumerous

They say a lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. You have better odds of being killed by a lightning strike than winning a Powerball lottery.

 

If you are going to play the lottery, know that every number combination has the exact same chance of winning as any other. There are no privileged numbers.

 

Many people believe (I won’t use the word think) that a number that has already won somehow has less chance of winning again. Wrong. It has the exact same chance of winning again that any other number has of winning. It’s just that there are so many numbers available that the same number almost never wins again, it’s just statistics.

 

Same with any “lucky” number.

 

So people who are reasonably savvy tend to play numbers that nobody else will play. Why? Because, if you do win, you are less likely to have to split your winnings.

 

Well, 1,994 people never thought of that angle because they all played the number 666 and they all won. So they won, which is great for them, but had one person played 665 and had that number won, he or she would be walking away with somewhere around $783,000 instead of the $250 they’re getting now.