Same 6 numbers drawn in consecutive Bulgarian lotteries | Hacker News Reader

Same 6 numbers drawn in consecutive Bulgarian lotteries

news.bbc.co.uk

6 pointscromulent9 comments

This is obviously exciting and unlikely, but keep in mind that last week's set of numbers has exactly the same chance of being drawn as any other specific set of numbers.

What I find interesting is that 18 people picked them correctly. If it's manipulation, it's pretty dumb (ie, if you can rig the lotto, why use such obvious numbers?). Makes me wonder how many people may choose to play 'last week's numbers' every week, the same way others play birthdays and anniversaries?

Well, in Bulgaria, it turns out that no more than 18 people play 'last week's numbers.' every week.

Correction, in Bulgaria it turns out that no more than 18 people played 'last week's numbers' last week. Next week that is probably going to be very different.

Please note that last week is a subset of every week, so I'll stand on my original analysis - I make no claims about the one off case of _next_ week. :-)

hehe. touche :)

I yield to the master.

The top prize was $7k USD. Anybody who can rig a lottery should have waited for a better jackpot, if this was rigged.

Even if they don't investigate this and just let it be, that number is as good as dead; whoever "wins" with it the next time will have to share prize with at least seven thousand other people.

I'm trying to figure out why anyone would play a 6 number lottery for a maximum possible payout of about $125k (18 winners of 7k each). I know lottery players are really bad at math...but, who even fantasizes about so little money? I guess Bulgaria is an extremely poor country.

Do we know how much it costs to play? If its only a few cents (or the equivalent thereof) the returns are considerably better than if these tickets are a $1 or more...

It's about 45 cents per combination of six numbers.

Interestingly enough, both times the numbers were drawn in the higher tier draw (there are two tiers of draws in the bulgarian lotto - one in which you get a prize for 3, 4, 5 or 6 matched numbers, and second higher one in which only 5 or 6 matches get a prize and which usually accumulates higher jackpots). Let the conspiracy suspicions begin. :-)

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