WWTBAM Bored

OMAHA, Neb. - The odds are against something this odd. But a Nebraska Lottery official says there was no mistake: The same three numbers in Nebraska's Pick 3 lottery were drawn two nights in a row this week.

Lottery spokesman Brian Rockey said one of two lottery computers that randomly generate numbers produced the numbers 1, 9 and 6 - in that order - for Monday night's Pick 3 drawing. Rockey says the next night, the lottery's other computer produced the same three numbers in the same sequence.

The odds of such an occurrence? One in a million.

Oddly enough, several people cashed in on the winning numbers. Rockey said one person claimed the game's top prize of $600 on Monday. Tuesday, there were three $600 winning tickets.

Appa23 wrote:If it makes you feel better, BiT, the Omaha World-Helrad reporter provided the correct explanation is his article, rather than rely on the Associated Press version (with that wrong "one in a million").

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10544158

BackInTex wrote:O.K. it is probably reporter math as the odds are not coming from a Nebraska official, as far as I know. (see story below)

To me, the odds of a day's drawing being exaclty the same as the previous day's is 1 in 1,000. Not 1 in a million.

So, every thousand days we should get a duplicate of the previous day. Three numbers (0-9) drawn randomly with replacement provides 1,000 possibilities. So 1 in 1,000 to match a particular combination (i.e., yesterday's numbers).

My guess is the math they did was 1,000 possibilities for day 1 time 1,000 possibilities for day 2 = 1,000,000 possibilities over 2 days. However, 1,000 of those possibilities are duplicates so 1 in every 1,000 results in a match.

http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory. ... 2249999525

OMAHA, Neb. - The odds are against something this odd. But a Nebraska Lottery official says there was no mistake: The same three numbers in Nebraska's Pick 3 lottery were drawn two nights in a row this week.

Lottery spokesman Brian Rockey said one of two lottery computers that randomly generate numbers produced the numbers 1, 9 and 6 - in that order - for Monday night's Pick 3 drawing. Rockey says the next night, the lottery's other computer produced the same three numbers in the same sequence.

The odds of such an occurrence? One in a million.

Oddly enough, several people cashed in on the winning numbers. Rockey said one person claimed the game's top prize of $600 on Monday. Tuesday, there were three $600 winning tickets.