Only One “Formula” Works

The story about a recent lottery winner from Wisconsin is making headlines around the world. Want to see how far the story has traveled? Click here, here and here for just a few examples. 

It seems that a couple from Mount Horeb, Wis., has won four jackpots of $350,000 in Wisconsin’s SuperCash game. The couple won four times, all in the Aug. 16 drawing. Each jackpot-winning ticket was purchased at a different store, but with the same numbers on each ticket. Word has it that the man claims he’s developed a formula for picking lottery numbers and is considering a patent for his work.

I’ve seen the debates raging online about the story and whether it’s even possible to develop a formula for winning the lottery. I’m betting there have been debates about “the winning formula” in lottery games for as long as there have been lotteries -- and that stretches back at least to the time of the construction of the Great Wall in China.

For the record, you can put me firmly in the camp that understands that lottery games and their drawings are based solely upon random outcomes. There truly is no way to predict which numbers will be drawn next in our games because … wait for it … it’s all random. There are lots of books on the topic at your local library, if you want to research mathematics and random statistics.

Now, there have been weird coincidences in lottery games through the years, but that’s all they are: coincidences.

A few years ago, hundreds of people all won prizes of at least $200,000 in one drawing by matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball. It turns out they’d all been playing numbers that they’d found inside fortune cookies, and all the cookies were produced by the same New York company and contained the same numbers. Their numbers came in and the players all won big.

Last year, another group of players that included an Estherville man, all won Powerball prizes in the same drawing with numbers that were suggested by a television show. It was another strange coincidence that led to a group of players winning big. That’s what happens in the world of random statistics.

There is only one “formula” I know of that guarantees you a chance at winning a lottery prize: You have to buy a ticket! So buy a ticket if you want, but remember that the lottery is a just form of entertainment, like going to the movies, reading a magazine or going out to eat. Don’t believe that any formula is going to help you win and don’t play beyond your means. Just have fun with it.