SA lottery - nobbled?

[ColinJ]

Apparently, the SA PowerBall lottery on Tuesday was won by 20 people with the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10!

The odds against that happening by chance are HUGE so there is a suspicion that somebody might have nobbled it...

The thing is, surely they televise the draw? If so, exactly how could someone nobble it!

 

[newfhouse]

the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10!

The odds against that happening by chance are HUGE

The odds are the same as any six numbers being drawn, aren’t they?

 

[Seevio]

The odds are the same as any six numbers being drawn, aren’t they?

The probability is indeed the same. Humans do like seeing patterns though.

What I'm sure the investigators will be looking into though, is whether there was an abnormal number of tickets bought with those winning numbers that week.

 

[classic33]

There's some wanting all 20 winners to appear on the show, at the same time. Which suggests it is televised.

In March 2003, 33 players won a share of the jackpot, according to a South African website that tallies results.

10,000 people play the numbers 1,2,3,4,5, & 6 in the UK lottery every time

 

[Accy cyclist]

On the subject of these lotteries,is it me or have any of you noticed this last year or so that when the newspapers announce stuff like 'Was it you?! British winner wins 78,000,000 in last nights Euro Millions draw'!,that we don't see the 'winners' the following week or so popping the champagne corks in front of the cameras,like we used to see?🤔
It makes me think of the Accrington Stanley FC half time draw,when it was announced over the tannoy that the number 94736,was the winner of £237(for example). Yet,as many fans of the club said,'we didn't find out who the winner was'.🤔 Methinks 'winners' are sometimes made up and the lottery/half time draw organisers keep all the dosh! 🧐

 

[newfhouse]

The probability is indeed the same. Humans do like seeing patterns though.

What I'm sure the investigators will be looking into though, is whether there was an abnormal number of tickets bought with those winning numbers that week.

I think if I was going to organise a lottery scam I’d pick numbers less likely to draw attention. Maybe it’s a double bluff.

 

[ColinJ]

I think if I was going to organise a lottery scam I’d pick numbers less likely to draw attention. Maybe it’s a double bluff.

I was thinking the same thing after I posted it...

"So we can nobble the lottery. What numbers shall we choose?"

"How about 23, 45, 17, 39, 50 and a PowerBall of 19?"

"Nah, we'll never remember those. Let's make it easy - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6."

"That's a bit bleedin' obvious, innit?"

"Huh, okay then - 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!"




I once rolled 4 double sixes on the trot when playing backgammon. My friend insisted that I must have cheated because it was "impossible" to have happened by chance. Ok, it was very unlikely (1,679,616:1), but it happened!

 

[GoldenLamprey]

If I was a hacker, I'd be trying to access all the winners' online accounts with 'PASSWORD' or PIN '1234'. Those with insufficient imagination to pick numbers outside such an obvious sequence are unlikely to exercise their imagination elsewhere...

It's a lesson for all, though. Imagine winning the lottery jackpot and not being a millionaire! Pick something equally likely, but less obvious, and not have to share.

 

[Drago]

The odds against any other specific combination of numbers being selected are equally huge. Certain numbers and combinations thereof do not attract a greater or lesser probability of selection. Mathematically, its no more random than last weeks numbers. Alas, the public aten't mathematicians and are getting jolly excited over something that, scientifically and mathematically, is totally unremarkable.

Its nothing more than monkeys and typewriters.

 

[Dirk]

Apparently, the SA PowerBall lottery on Tuesday was won by 20 people with the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10!

The odds against that happening by chance are HUGE so there is a suspicion that somebody might have nobbled it...

The thing is, surely they televise the draw? If so, exactly how could someone nobble it!

The odds are the same as any other random sequence of numbers being drawn.

 

[PeteXXX]

As unimaginative as those numbers are, at least they are easy to check..
There's £millions sitting there waiting to be picked up on the UK lottery site..

~ UK unclaimed prizes ~

 

[steveindenmark]

I think the odds of consecutive numbers coming up is huge. But I am not at all suprised that a few people have actually chosen consecutive numbers.

 

[Ridgeway]

Corruption in SA, really

 

[byegad]

There's some wanting all 20 winners to appear on the show, at the same time. Which suggests it is televised.

In March 2003, 33 players won a share of the jackpot, according to a South African website that tallies results.

10,000 people play the numbers 1,2,3,4,5, & 6 in the UK lottery every time

That set of 6 numbers is as equally likely to come up as any other randomly picked set of 6 numbers.

 

[figbat]

Does it help to rationalise it if you know that the numbers drawn were actually 8, 5, 9, 7, 6, 10? Feels a bit more random, right?

The odds on getting 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 drawn in that order are astronomical (but still not impossible). Part of the issue with credibility is that the numbers are sorted into numerical order, which immediately looks like a pattern. I wonder how many lottery draws have come out in numerical order? I'd guess at not many in terms of a % of draws. The other issue is the number of winners, which is apparently unusually high - again, people are drawn to patterns - I suspect there is a mindset along the lines "nobody will be stupid enough to go for a sequence, so I will".