Lotto Powerball Jackpot subject to scam accusations
The South Africa Lotto website advises against playing consecutive numbers – the most popular combination of every draw
The winning lottery number in Cape Town has caused quite a stir on social media with many calling it out to be “a scam” and others ranting over Twitter “to put this to rest, all those 20 winners must be shown on TV. If not, we demand a Zondo commission.”
By placing bets on these consecutive numbers 5,6,7,8,9, Powerball 10; the 20 winning punters discarded the advice on the SA Lotto website that encourages punters against betting on six consecutive numbers. They are expected to receive R5,688,468.21 of the R114 million jackpot.
The website stated that “Six consecutive numbers have never drawn in any state or international Lotto game. I have all the drawing results for more than 180 state and international Lotto games going back more than fifty years! Even five consecutive numbers are a very rare occurrence that, in most Lotto games, has never happened.”
It advised punters to go against placing 1-2-3-4-5-6 combination bets.
Stating that “the most popular set of numbers most often played is 1-2-3-4-5-6. Thousands of tickets are bought with this combination of every drawing. The 
selection is too far out of balance to come up in a random drawing.” However, according to a report by the Guardian, the reality remains that in the UK, 10,000 people play the lottery numbers 1-2-3-4-5-6 in every draw.
Another reason why it is advised against playing in consecutive numbers is there is a likelihood of not making winnings in a significant amount. Although, according to mathematical experts, “the odds of drawing a certain combination is similar to the next one.” In a 6/49 game, there are 14 million possible combinations and 1-2-3-4-5-6 is just another one in the many.
Higher numbers are the more reasonable combinations with 70% of lottery jackpots falling between a total number of 104 and 176 according to the SA Lotto website as it states:
“The majority of Lotto players like to play the calendar numbers such asbirth dates and anniversary and their children’s ages. This means that the mostheavily played numbers are 1 through 31, South Africa lotto 6/42 has 42numbers. If you play the calendar numbers, you might be sharing your jackpotwith dozens of other winners.”
