Your one-in-38 million chance
As people flock to buy tickets ahead of tonight’s $42 million jackpot, Lotto is happy to share tales of their luckiest stores.
The unlucky ones, not so much.
Stuff requested – and received – a breakdown of the top five ‘luckiest’ Lotto outlets, their location and the number of First Division wins.
But while happy to tell hopeful punters where Lady Luck trod, Lotto refused to detail the doors she didn’t grace.
A request for how many of their 1563 retailers have never sold a first division win was rejected by the government entity, which oversees the tens of millions of dollars gambled by the public each year.
‘‘We are unable to provide information about the unluckiest Lotto stores, as we don’t want to give the false impression that you won’t win Powerball if you purchase from these stores,’’ said head of communications Marie Winfield.
‘‘Any ticket from any store has exactly the same odds of winning Powerball.’’
That much is correct – you have the same one-in-38 million chance whereever you buy a ticket, according to University of Auckland statistician Professor Brian Millar. To put this in perspective, he said your chances of getting struck by lightning are a much likelier looking one-in-eight.
Millar has analysed winning Lotto numbers from the start, and has no truck with lucky stores, or numbers.
‘‘There always has to be one store that’s sold more [winning] tickets than another store,’’ Millar said.
He said there was ‘‘zero evidence’’ that lucky stores, or lucky numbers, exist. ‘‘Some of the numbers come out more than others, but that’s it.’’
He said people have ‘‘funny ideas about randomness’’, believing for example, that a number that may not have come up recently is ‘‘due’’.
‘‘It’s entertainment,’’ he said. And no, he doesn’t play himself.
According to Lotto their ‘luckiest’ outlet is the Unichem Stortford Lodge Pharmacy in Hastings, having sold 49 first division wins.
The top five is rounded off with the Richmond Night N Day in Nelson (35 first division wins), Pak’nSave Riccarton in Christchurch (33), Coastlands Lotto in Paraparaumu (32) and Hornby Mall Lotto in Christchurch (31).