Page 38 - Unlikely Stories 1

Your Lucky Numbers

through gathering darkness. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled
slowly.
“Okay. I’m going to turn on the radio to get the news. But before I
do that, I owe you an explanation.”
“What? You mean this isn’t necessary? Another one of your
practice drills?”
“No. This is not a test. Please just listen. Let me start by telling you
exactly what my job has been for the past twelve years. I am part of
the group that runs the state lottery—you know, the bi-weekly Your
Lucky Numbers. We do not generally advertise the nature of our
employment—it should be obvious why: it is gambling, after all, and
it has to be kept squeaky clean. If I told you, you might tell a friend
or relative, and from there it could reach the ear of someone
interested in cheating. Better to keep it quiet. Anyway, that is why I
have been working late on the nights of the six-out-of-forty-nine
draw. The randomness must be guaranteed, a transparent process
involving several procedures under constant scrutiny and cross-
checking both before and after the draw. No criminal activity is in
fact associated with our state lottery. Each draw is completely fair; no
set of numbers has a greater chance of coming up than any other.
The public has confidence in the honesty of our selection, and thus
continues to buy tickets. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, Bernie.”
“But you must also realize that the jackpots and other payouts are
carefully calculated by mathematical formulae to assure that, on
average, the state will make a profit on the lottery. The chance of any
one ticket having all six numbers drawn is roughly one in fourteen
million. The frequent result of these odds, given the expected
number of purchased tickets, is rolled-over jackpots, attracting ever-
greater sales with each successive draw without a six- pick winner;
that, in turn, is offset by the increased chance of one of those picks
hitting the jackpot simply because more tickets, with more different
selections of six numbers, are purchased as the roll-overs continue.
That, too, is subject to laws of probability. I can assure you that no
lottery in the world, if structured properly, is losing money. The

37