Does Playing the Same Lottery Numbers Every Week Work?

Does playing the same lottery numbers week after week work? Or do you need to change them every time to have a better chance of winning?

You might want to rethink how you choose numbers in the future when you read these success stories of people who have struck it lucky by playing the same lottery draw time and again.

Mega Millions Mega Win

Kevin Blake played the same Mega Millions lottery numbers at the same grocery store for as long as he can remember. But this year, on a Friday the 13th, something finally clicked. The numbers he picked were: 2, 7, 18, 26, 31, and a Mega Ball of 12.

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It had become a regular routine for Mr. Blake and for years he’d just simply put the same numbers on constantly, without really thinking about it anymore. On the night of Friday 13th October 2017, something changed. After the Mega Millions draw had been made that evening, Blake’s wife Stephanie decided to check their numbers and it was then she made the discovery. For years, Kevin played those numbers; it had become second nature. In fact, he had gotten so used to the routine that, after he got his tickets, Kevin put them in his pocket and just went about his day.

Later that night, it was Kevin’s wife, Stephanie, who ultimately made the discovery. “I was watching the news Saturday night after Kevin had gone to bed, and they ran a story about a Mega Millions jackpot winner being sold in Waterford,” she said. “I thought, ‘How neat that someone from our town won!’”. On checking their tickets she discovered that it was them that had won – and not only that, the prize was a cool $21 million! The couple is still said to be stunned by their win and trying to take it all in – but ultimately very happy!

Oz Lotto Draw

Over in Australia, a newly retired couple from the town of Rutherglen is celebrating after winning $15 million in Tuesday, October 3rd’s Oz Lotto Draw. The wife of the unnamed couple said they were sure they had won but didn’t want to celebrate until they had had it confirmed by an official source.

The couple – who have decided to remain anonymous have said they intentionally played the same numbers for years but said there was no real significance to any of them. “We play the same numbers every week, we chose them at random a long time ago, but we’ve just kept playing them,” she said, adding: “They are definitely significant now!”

The retired twosome is planning to rest, relax and travel with some of their winnings, planning a long overseas trip and see as much of the world as they can. Who can blame them?

National Lottery

Our next story really is unbelievable. Imagine playing the same numbers every week, but then having them come up not once, but twice!

Way back in June 2002, electrician Mike McDermott played their regular numbers 15, 16, 18, 28, 36, and 49 and was ecstatic when five of them came up plus the bonus ball, scooping them a lovely £194,501. Even though they’d won, McDermott carried on playing with the same set – not really thinking they’d even win anything again. Fast forward 3 months to October of the same year and the National Lottery draw for the Saturday evening. On checking the family’s numbers, it was discovered they’d yet again matched five balls plus the bonus. This time scooping £121,157!

The odds of the first win were 2,330,636 to one. But the second time, the odds became an unfathomable 5,400,000, 000,000 (that’s trillion!) to one. The reason for this is that you are six times more likely to match five numbers and the bonus ball, than you are of getting the first six numbers correct because statistically there is one more chance, so the odds are fourteen million divided by six!

The couple, who have two grown-up children wanted to realize their dream of retiring to the dream island of Kerkenah in Tunisia. “Thinking of something that is as unlikely as this is almost impossible,” said Professor Simon Cox, of the University of Southampton. “It is such an unlikely event that I can think of nothing else that is as unlikely – other than winning the lottery twice”

The Washington Lottery Match 4 Game

When Thomas Grimme, a resident of British Columbia took a real chance by playing the same numbers he’s always used for lottery draws, not once, not twice, but forty times in a row on a single draw, he didn’t expect it to pay off. And got the shock of his life when it did!

The win, which still defies logic happened in December last year and Grimme picked up $400,000 from a lottery game that usually only pays winners a maximum of $10,000. He bought forty tickets at the Cost Cutter Grocery store in his hometown of Blaine and picked the same four numbers on all of them. When the draw was made, his numbers came up and officials had to pay out the $400,000 prize!

A professor from Washington University’s Math Department said: “I don’t understand why you would do that,” and that using the same numbers in the same draw repeatedly “doesn’t really make much sense.”

An investigation was carried out into the win with Grimme explaining that he’d simply picked the numbers (4, 8, 17, and 24) as they were his children’s birthdays. He’d been playing them for several months after inheriting some money from a family member. It turned out that in the previous three months, he had spent well over $8,000 on Match 4 tickets with those four numbers, often buying many tickets for a single game.

The investigation found there was no suspicious or unusual activity associated with the draw or with the win and it was legitimate. When Grimme was contacted for comment, it was found that he had moved away from the area he was living in and had left no forwarding address.