The odds of winning at least $1 million by matching the first five numbers in a Powerball drawing are 1 in 5.15 million. Four people beat those odds in Florida this week.
In the same county. Buying from the same grocery chain.
Four tickets bought from a Publix store in separate cities in South Florida's Broward County matched the first five numbers drawn on Wednesday night, said David Bishop, Florida Lottery deputy secretary.
Each missed the Powerball digit, but still won a prize of at least $1 million. One was an upgraded Power Play ticket, bringing that buyer's prize to $2 million.
"Four winners in the same county, all bought at one retail chain. It's really remarkable," Bishop said Friday.
Each of the tickets was a "quick pick," meaning the numbers were automatically selected at the time of purchase and none of the winners chose the numbers themselves, Bishop said.
Asked if the machines would be checked for any irregularities, Bishop said that "from an integrity standpoint, we always check that information." But the lottery doesn't suspect anything out of the ordinary beyond a statistical fluke.
"It's statistically improbable, but not statistically impossible," Bishop said. "We do our due diligence, but we see nothing other than an improbability that came true."
One winner had come forward as of late Friday afternoon, Bishop said.
Wednesday's drawing – 7-10-14-33-57, with a Powerball of 18 – produced one $241 million jackpot winner, in Iowa.
The four $1 million tickets in Broward County – sold at Publix stores in Coral Springs, Plantation, Weston and Pembroke Pines – were among seven that won nationwide Wednesday, according to Powerball officials.
Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, is Florida's second most populous county, with more than 1.7 million people in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Publix is the Florida Lottery's largest retailer, according to Bishop.
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Who stuffed those ballot box's... .? Oops my bad..it's the Florida lottery this thread is about... .
something fishy here
Can you day computer glitch?? Im sure they scrutinized this from every angle to make sure it was legit. Even so, if it was me, I'd make em cough over the dough before they found a reason NOT to pay out.
Can you SAY, not day...DYAC!
It would have to be a pretty deep conspiracy for these winners to arrange the same numbers from quick picks at different stores. You would have to rig the number generating system and rig the drawing, which is overseen by an accounting firm. If someone attempted to rig the lottery, they would win the power ball number and they would have selected the numbers themselves and not bothered with rigging the quick pick system. This is one instance where you look like a fool if you think something fishy is going on.
or risk looking like a bigger fool if you don't.
John, what about my theory? A computer glitch? That possible?
Re: My last post...I wasn't asking if there IS a glitch...I'm curious to know if they could SAY theres a glitch so as to deny the winning numbers?
Many pseudorandom number generators use a random seed number. Seems like these four machines all used the same random seed. Pseudorandom number generators are not truly random, but generate a sequence of numbers that approximate the properties of random numbers. If the seed is something like a timestamp, then many machines could be choosing the same timestamp as the seed, thus lowering your odds of being a sole winner (since the sequence of numbers generated would be the same by the multiple machines). It may have gone undetected for quite some time until it happened that the generated numbers matched the real numbers drawn.
Dang!
Forgot to buy my ticket again!
This makes what, my entire life that I've forgotten to, lol....
It Figures..
Seems to me the Powerball authorities should be investigating why four machines generated the same quick pick numbers in a game of chance with odds of around 170,000,000 to 1. My angle is the more tickets they sell with the same set of numbers the less likely a winning ticket is sold thereby increasing revenue and lowering payout which supports the large salaries the administrators are paid.
It's fixed!
It is not remarkable. They are independent events. The probability is the same for each one of those wins, whether they happen at the same store or at opposite ends of the world.
this reeks of behind-the-scenes meddling. Given the sheer number of retailers selling tickets, the number of tickets purchased AND the odds of hitting that series of numbers, then the odds of this having happened, without prior knowledge or action, are...ummm...IMPOSSIBLE.
I guess I am moving to Florida. I can't hit a $3 winner in Texas on ANY lottery. I think God hates Texas!
Na,it's the same here in Florida. I've been playing the same 5 friggin Fantasy 5 numbers for many years and I'm lucky if I get 3 numbers!