Bulgaria lottery repeats winning numbers, and winners abound
Filed under: Extracurriculars
Despite odds of 4.2 million to one against it, the Bulgarian national lottery drew the numbers 4, 15, 23, 24, 35, and 42 on two consecutive draws. And more curious than that: either many people in Bulgaria are not mathematicians and believe in second chances; or it was rigged. Ann astonishing 18 people guessed the six numbers on September 10th, the second time they were drawn. Each of the 18 winners will receive 10,164 leva, the equivalent of about $7,300. No one guessed all six numbers on September 6th, the first time they occurred.Although the coincidence does seem wildly improbable, Bulgarian authorities insist that no manipulation would have been possible, giving as evidence of the event's randomness the fact that the numbers were drawn in a different order on September 6th and September 10th.
This may calm one's suspicions if it weren't for the fact that three of the six winning numbers also appeared once again in the following draw, on September 13th. Still, the geographic dispersion and rage of ages of the winners was deemed, in a lottery probe, as sufficient evidence the 18 people did not work together. The rather small winnings were also cited as making fraud unlikely.
I love this news, which provides illumination into the way regular human minds work. Instead of playing games of chance rigorously, by comparing the possibilities and determining what is most likely, people embrace the most delicious improbabilities. A recent statistical study determined that the best chance for winning the most money in a lottery is to play a random number, and not a pattern; and yet, 18 people believed that they might just win by playing the numbers picked in the last lottery draw.
The faith in the magic of coincidence, and the serendipitous result of that conviction, reaffirms my faith in the continued life of art and soul. If 18 lottery players in Bulgaria believed in magic -- and it worked -- why shouldn't you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-20-2009 @ 8:16PM
dom said...
pick 1956 thata the winner in trash removal queens new york city www.dimolabros.com we break it we take it away nyc
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9-20-2009 @ 10:05PM
Robert said...
Given how big corruption is today. It would not surprise me to find out the lotteries are rigged.
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9-20-2009 @ 9:43PM
carl said...
this happens all the time in the US , just on a small scale. The same numbers come out repeatly, but in different order in play 3 and play 4 lottery drawings.
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9-20-2009 @ 9:50PM
Dan said...
I've always felt that the lottery draws are rigged. Since they stop selling tickets 15 minutes before the drawing, don't you think that they have a way of running a scan to see what numbers haven't not been selected by consumers and then those numbers are the ones that are "drawn"?
I'm sorry, I don't put it past the lottery officials just to get the jackpots way up there, and sell more tickets!
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9-20-2009 @ 10:16PM
Oh Yes said...
Gee ya think is was fixed? They must have taken lessons from the Florida Lottery Commission. Check out the way they draw the numbers-you never see a clear view becuase they block with a pic in pic format-whoes to say the numbers showing picked in the little window are the same as the blocked view. A hypodermic with a heavier gas can slow the balls down and alter the odds. Then they sell scratch off tickets with a million dollar prize-except the prize can already have been won. It has happened to buyers of these tickets. Yes a small percentage of the money goes to education, but not in the areas whos volume of sales sold the most tickets. The good news is all the employess get state benefits, paid vacations, sickdays and pensions-but not from the lottery-from your taxes. What a racket!
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9-20-2009 @ 11:06PM
Tigger said...
I live in FL and you are absolutly right...thats why I very rarely buy lotto or scratch offs. Maybe on average 1 or 2 times a year. I do get the Christmas tickets and put them in cards though. People like them and usually the holiday tickets have a lot of small winners. A few dollars here and there plus free tickets. My friends dad bought him one for Christmas and his dad won $2,500. But they dont give nearly enough to education. Its a crying ass shame about that
9-20-2009 @ 10:20PM
jmo said...
you are scum-the only way you make that money is hooking or selling your mother
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9-20-2009 @ 10:34PM
ADMR said...
BLING Again....
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9-20-2009 @ 10:52PM
Wish Belkin said...
If you can't trust the Bulgarian lottery, who can you trust?
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9-22-2009 @ 5:23AM
Nicolai said...
I believe that the odds is one in 5.2 million not in 4.2.
First ball has a 6/42 chance of being one of the right ones. The next balls 5/41, 4/40, 3/39, 2/38 and finally 1/37.
The product of these are 1/5,245,786.
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9-27-2009 @ 1:16AM
JM said...
That's for A drawing. For two drawings the probability is squared (like for a coin, the probability of the same face twice is 1/4). So it's approx 1/(25x10^12). How much time is needed for 25x10^12 drawings? Not in this Universe!