Lottery Expert
Imagine this: You’ve been playing the lottery for years, throwing in your favorite numbers, daydreaming about what you’d do if you won. Then, one fine day in September 2009, you watch the Bulgarian National Lottery’s live draw, and BAM! The numbers are 4, 15, 23, 24, 35, and 42.
Now, you’re bummed because, once again, your numbers didn’t come up. Oh well, that’s how it goes, right?
Wrong. Four days later, the exact same six numbers roll out again. No, you didn’t accidentally replay last week’s episode. The same numbers. Twice. In a row. I mean, what are the odds?
Spoiler: 1 in 4 million.
That’s right, folks. On September 6th and 10th, 2009, the universe played a cosmic joke as the Bulgarian lottery machine spat out the exact same six numbers, not once but twice. Of course, the officials jumped into damage control mode faster than you could say “rigged.” They immediately launched an investigation, because apparently, drawing the same numbers twice makes people suspicious. Who knew?
“It’s not a glitch, it’s a feature!”
Lottery officials swore up and down that everything was above board, as if we’d all just forget that this was something you’d expect to see in a rigged casino heist movie. Konstantin Simeonov, the investigator in charge, dug deep and confidently reported: “No wrongdoing.” His findings were backed by mathematician Michail Konstantinov, who did some quick math (so we wouldn’t have to) and found that the odds of this happening were 1 in 4 million. Comforting, right? Well, unless you’re one of the people who’d already bought a ticket for the next draw, hoping lightning wouldn’t strike again.
And while we’re on the subject of unlikely events, let’s not forget to mention the 18 players who guessed the numbers correctly on the second draw. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I were one of the 18, I’d be planning a quick trip to the nearest casino.
So, what did they win?
A life-changing fortune of… 10,164 leva. That’s around £4,700 each. Not exactly yacht money, but enough for a good vacation—maybe even a new sofa! You can almost hear the disappointment as these “lucky” winners claimed their checks.
The aftermath: “Coincidence,” they said.
The organizers quickly brushed the whole thing off as a “freak coincidence,” because what else could they say? Sure, the numbers were drawn in a different order the second time, so clearly, that makes it less weird, right? They assured us that everything was secure, with committees and TV cameras making sure no funny business was afoot. Just another day at the lottery office!
But wait… there’s more!
And just when you thought the story couldn’t get any more bizarre, three of the six numbers from those twin draws showed up again in the next round. By then, everyone was side-eyeing their lottery tickets and wondering if they should maybe switch to blackjack.
But don’t worry—officials pointed out that the winners were scattered across Bulgaria, ranging in age from the young to the not-so-young, so it couldn’t possibly be a coordinated effort. And really, who would go through all that trouble for just 10,000 leva? Exactly.
The takeaway? Don’t hold your breath.
In case you’re wondering if it’s a good strategy to just start playing the same numbers over and over—don’t. Experts (aka math people) will tell you that the odds of those same numbers coming up again are just as low as they were before. But hey, if believing in lightning striking twice is your thing, by all means, go ahead. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.
As for the rest of us, we’ll keep dreaming of the day when our numbers, different every time of course, finally hit. Or you can stop dreaming and perhaps try various strategies how to pick your next winning lottery numbers.
