Have you ever had a small (or medium) sized win and decided to change your numbers? It stands to reason that a certain sequence comes out and therefore will never do so again. It’s understandable with so many combinations and such a low chance of winning. That may not be a good idea as one couple found out earlier this month. Eric Garrison of Falmouth in Kentucky had the shock of his life when his numbers came around again. In 1999, a ticket his wife bought netted them $2.6m (around £1.8m back then). But as with the time when the same sequence came out twice in successive draws, you should probably stick with numbers.
Their Numbers Came Around Again…
Granted, they won on different games – Linda won on the Kentucky Lottery and Eric on the Powerball. But it’s easy to get caught up in the “gambler’s fallacy”. This doesn’t just cover the belief that you are due a win, it also assumes that you will never win again after a big win, or can’t win with the same numbers. The law of averages is a genuine phenomena, but it doesn’t apply here. It is quite possible to keep winning with the same numbers, as proven with the couple whose numbers came around again.
Eric had only been playing the lottery for a few months. He let the machine pick random numbers on that first visit and decided to stick with those every week. It took just a few months to register a $50,000 win (around £37,500). He returned to the store from the place he bought the tickets and asked them to check it. They responded that the value was too high for them to pay out ($600 or around £450). The couple may use this new payout to buy a new car and decide what to do from there.