4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

[Evil Avatar]

From the Wausau Daily Herald (by way of the Arizona Republic) comes word (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1019powerball-lost19-ON.html) that hundreds of people picked the "cursed" LOST lottery numbers in Wednesday nights $340 million Powerball lottery.

Anything bad happen yet? No? Good. Inspired by the hit TV show "Lost" - and ignoring the fate of the character who played those numbers for a huge lottery win - hundreds of people selected that set of six for the Wednesday night drawing for the $340 million Powerball jackpot.

According to a Wisconsin Lottery spokeswoman, more than 840 people selected those numbers across five states during last week's Powerball drawing, including 266 in New Hampshire alone.

"A lot of people are playing those numbers," said Eva Robelia, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Lottery. "There could be thousands of people who play the 'Lost' numbers overall."
Kind of wild to think that someone won that $340 Million on Wednesday.

[Citizen Philip]

What's kind of wild in Canada is: Lottery money is not taxable, nor is any interest you make on it, and if you win $30 million, you get a check for $30 million. ;D

[ezzkmo]

why would you use numbers 100's of others are using as well? IF you won...you'd have to split the winnings a gajillion ways, leaving you with $65.29 after taxes...

[fitbabits]

Also wild - I had a win on the UK lottery when I lived there!

[IagoTheHunted]

why would you use numbers 100's of others are using as well? IF you won...you'd have to split the winnings a gajillion ways, leaving you with $65.29 after taxes...

Yes, useing TV show "cursed" numbers doesn't show a very high level of critical thought. Of course, neither does playing the lottery. (what about the phrase "mathmatically insignificant odds of winning" isn't clear exactly???)

[fitbabits]

(what about the phrase "mathmatically insignificant odds of winning" isn't clear exactly???)
Which part of the phrase "you've got to be in it to win it" don't you understand?

[Cubfan]

wouldn't it be smarter to play numbers that aren't cursed? duh.

[ChunderMan]

why would you use numbers 100's of others are using as well? IF you won...you'd have to split the winnings a gajillion ways, leaving you with $65.29 after taxes...

If the winning numbers were 4-8-15-16-23-42...

... and you played them, you won... I don't care if you have to split it.

And if you had played other numbers, you wouldn't have won. So you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[fitbabits]

wouldn't it be smarter to play numbers that aren't cursed? duh.
In the same way it would be smarter to not go into the cellar/pull over to the side of the road/pick up a hitcher/whatever in numerous thriller or horror movies. It's all about the thrill.

[Xerxes]

Now they only have a 108 minutes to live...

[BabyJesus]

What's kind of wild in Canada is: Lottery money is not taxable, nor is any interest you make on it, and if you win $30 million, you get a check for $30 million. ;D

Yeah, but thats like $4.73 US... ;)

[Atorak]

Yeah, but thats like $4.73 US... ;)

Bwahaha!

Well done, my friend. Well done.

[Kelegacy]

340 million for one person is ridiculous. American poverty could have ended if Powerball just said "fuck it" and gave every U.S. citizen 1 million dollars. Then everyone could be rich.

[fitbabits]

340 million for one person is ridiculous. American poverty could have ended if Powerball just said "fuck it" and gave every U.S. citizen 1 million dollars. Then everyone could be rich.
Or gave everyone $1! :D There are more than 340 people in the USA.

[sinclair122]

340 million for one person is ridiculous. American poverty could have ended if Powerball just said "fuck it" and gave every U.S. citizen 1 million dollars. Then everyone could be rich.

There will never be an end to american poverty. America's wealth is built on the backs of the poor. The government is so entrenched in big business capitalism that it has become something that is totally undemocratic. The "people" have no voice, only PACs and huge lobbies have the power to sway politics. The only way I see a possibility of change in the status quo, is for people to stop expecting others to "do the right thing" (insert your own solutions here) and start doing it themselves.

[MosBen]

The lottery is a tax on the stupid.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I also think playing the lottery is silly. The only one that wins is the government. They get money for the tickets. Then when someone wins they get more money - a double tax!!! How nice!

The person who wins is the biggest loser of them all. Winning the lottery is a curse.

[Xerxes]

Yeah, but thats like $4.73 US... ;)

Canadia jokes never get old... :D

[bapenguin]

Curses...I should have won that!

[Xaerin]

Also wild - I had a win on the UK lottery when I lived there!

I'm not surprised. You have the luck of a million irishmen combined.

[fitbabits]

I'm not surprised. You have the luck of a million irishmen combined.
And yet I'm Scottish! :)

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

$340 million/840 = $404,761.90

Geez, that's not very impressive.

[jacktion]

hundreds of people picked the "cursed" LOST lottery numbers in Wednesday nights $340 million Powerball.

Yeah, hundreds of stupid people. Why pick a number that many others are also going to pick? Really, why pick at all? You might as well throw your money away. You are not going to win. I promise you this. There is no chance in hell of you winning. Just wad your money up and throw it in the gutter.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

Can we please drop the "why pick numbers others will pick" argument? It's a game of random chance. There is no system to it. Numbers picked by 840 people are every bit as likely to win as numbers picked by zero people. If you think playing the lottery is dumb, fine, but claiming these 840 people (or however many it ends up being) are somehow exceptionally dumb because they're playing numbers they got from a TV show is straight out of Bizarro Land.

[Demo_Boy]

wait a sec, is the news that the tv show LOST used the numbers in their plot of the computer terminal that came up on the big lottery like less than a week later????

that is some kind of bizzare coincidence.

[NightRain]

Actually $340,000,000 Canadian dollars is $286,281,913.92 US dollars according to today's exchange rate, and in Canada we aren't taxed on lotto winnings. So in the lottery 340 million is Canada is worth far more than $340 million in the US to the winner.

[LilAbner]

What's kind of wild in Canada is: Lottery money is not taxable, nor is any interest you make on it, and if you win $30 million, you get a check for $30 million. ;D

Canada is looking better every day. Free health care, non-taxable lottery winnings and no GW Bush. Might be time to emigrate.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

wait a sec, is the news that the tv show LOST used the numbers in their plot of the computer terminal that came up on the big lottery like less than a week later????

No, the winning numbers were different. It's just that some newspaper needed to fill some space so they did a story about how lots of people picked the Lost numbers. I was confused at first too.

Actually $340,000,000 Canadian dollars is $286,281,913.92 US dollars according to today's exchange rate, and in Canada we aren't taxed on lotto winnings. So in the lottery 340 million is Canada is worth far more than $340 million in the US to the winner.

Yeah, but Lottery Canada's never exceeded a $34 million jackpot.

[Rafer]

What's kind of wild in Canada is: Lottery money is not taxable, nor is any interest you make on it, and if you win $30 million, you get a check for $30 million. ;D

The lottery is tax free in Canada because it's run by the govenment, so it doesn't make sense to hand out a prize then take back half of it, they just offer a smaller prize in the first place.

And what's with the currency jokes still, is every American unaware the U.S. dollar has been plummeting (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDCAD=X&t=5y)?

[IagoTheHunted]

Which part of the phrase "you've got to be in it to win it" don't you understand?

Oh right of course silly me, the weight of that expression has certainly held water for so many who follow it. You must have won the lottery tons of times by now yes??

The lottery functions and people follow expressions like that because it's FUN to think you have a chance to win when really, if it were possible to mentally fathom the actual odds of winning, nobody would play. Imagine 300,000 football fields all layed out next to each other... a sea of football fields stretching out to the horizon, more massive than anything you've ever seen... and each one is packed to the brim with people, hordes upon hordes upon hordes, more people than have ever been gathered together in a single massive location before. Then imagine, as you look out upon that massive unimaginable sea of people that the guy next to you wants a doller to pit you against EVERYONE there in a game of chance. You might as well just burn the doller.

[Kelegacy]

Or gave everyone $1! :D There are more than 340 people in the USA.

Jesus I am stupid. I was at work and was typing in between minimizing. But still, holy shit am I stupid.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Canada is looking better every day. Free health care, non-taxable lottery winnings and no GW Bush. Might be time to emigrate.

Amen to that!


The lottery is tax free in Canada because it's run by the govenment, so it doesn't make sense to hand out a prize then take back half of it, they just offer a smaller prize in the first place.

And what's with the currency jokes still, is every American unaware the U.S. dollar has been plummeting (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDCAD=X&t=5y)?

Well here in the US it is run by the gov't too, but the US gov't isn't above getting money for the same thing twice.

Actually most Americans are pretty ignorant of the way things stand in the country. Whenever I mention the dollar plummeting, people look at me with the most clueless expressions. Americans mostly think America is invincible, no matter how stupid or arrogant the country as a whole becomes.

[KarmaGhost]

Yeah, I'm all for the Canadian jokes, but Rafer's right. The US dollar used to be worth almost twice as much as the Canadian dollar, but (as of now) 1 USD is only worth $1.17 Canadian. Kinda sad, really.

Also, to clarify the "why pick those numbers because 840 others did, too..." The point is that you would have to split your winnings with 840 other people, not that you would have a worse chance at winning. If 4,8,15,16,23,42 is just as likely to win as, say, 1,23,45,36,21,19, why not choose the latter as you're less likely to have to share your winnings with someone else.

[The Iron Weasel]

Canadia jokes never get old... :D

Neither do american jokes... :D

[Hieremias]

The lottery is tax free in Canada because it's run by the govenment, so it doesn't make sense to hand out a prize then take back half of it.

But they do tax any EI benefit claims. Figure that out.

[Xerxes]

Neither do american jokes... :D

I must admit the Bush years are as funny as they are sad... :rolleyes:

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

The point is that you would have to split your winnings with 840 other people, not that you would have a worse chance at winning. If 4,8,15,16,23,42 is just as likely to win as, say, 1,23,45,36,21,19, why not choose the latter as you're less likely to have to share your winnings with someone else.

You're less likely to have to share your winnings if you win, the odds of which, as you state, are unchanged. So again: what difference does it make? If you were the only person to play a particular set of losing numbers and 50 people picked the winning numbers, could you honestly say in retrospect you made a better decision than those 50 because nobody else picked your numbers? To argue that it's somehow wiser to pick numbers that others are less likely to pick presupposes advance knowledge of the outcome.

[Hizawky]

Canada is looking better every day. Free health care, non-taxable lottery winnings and no GW Bush. Might be time to emigrate.

We have enough crazy liberals of our own, we dont need you.

[WileE.Coyte]

Holy Shit, I never realized how much space Canada has. A population of about only 35 million, a huge surface area and 20 mil live in the city's! I checked the world populations, are those numbers right? Give me some free farmland and I'll move today. I've always been a bit of a country bumpkin. Maybe I'll grow some Hemp.

[KamaItachi]

I'm not surprised. You have the luck of a million irishmen combined.


Off topic, but where are you from in NI, Xeaerin?

[Mav]

Yes, useing TV show "cursed" numbers doesn't show a very high level of critical thought. Of course, neither does playing the lottery. (what about the phrase "mathmatically insignificant odds of winning" isn't clear exactly???)

While improbable, it is not impossible to win the lottery. I'll give you that it is extreme luck that out of what seems like an infinite combonation of numbers you manage to pick the winning ones.

But that gets me is the people who go out and literally drop $100 or more on tickets. If you buy 1 ticket or 100 your chances are roughly the same.

Personally I think its fixed. I mean, a system that random sucks up pingpong sized balls out of cases to randomly decided the winning sequence? Any number of ways could be used to rig it (on their end).

[hotdrop]

Being that they pay out on the lottery is 1:10 or so if you pick the same number as other people that just lowers the payout for you and leaves you with the same odds. So now instead of playing really really bad odds for a 320 mil payout your playing them for 450,000. But then again if you play the lottery math isnt your forte.

[Scull]

What you naysayers of the lottery have to realize is that, although the chances of winning are almost nil, you are paying a dollar for a dream, for some imaginary fun, for a hope of winning. It's a game. Anyone else here like to play games? Anybody here ever spent a buck in an arcade? People get their entertainment in different ways.

[CapnBob]

This explains it all. *cough cough* http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/lost

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

Being that they pay out on the lottery is 1:10 or so if you pick the same number as other people that just lowers the payout for you and leaves you with the same odds.

So your odds of winning...

a) with numbers that 9 other people pick -- 1 in one hundred billion trillion (this is an approximation)
b) with numbers that no one else picks -- 1 in one hundred billion trillion

So if I pick number set a and number set a wins, I split my winnings ten ways, while the person who picked set b wins nothing. If I pick number set a and number set b wins, I win nothing while the person who picked number set a wins everything. All outcomes are equally probable. So I repeat: what difference does it make? The only reason it would be "stupid" to pick numbers other people are picking is if you knew in advance those numbers had less chance of being selected than other numbers, which isn't the way the lottery works.

[Xerxes]

This explains it all. *cough cough* http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/lost

WHAT THE DEUCE?!? :confused:

[NightRain]

No, the winning numbers were different. It's just that some newspaper needed to fill some space so they did a story about how lots of people picked the Lost numbers. I was confused at first too.



Yeah, but Lottery Canada's never exceeded a $34 million jackpot.

Lotto on Wednesday night was $54 million in Canada