Not only did it spark debate about the sequence of the numbers – 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 – but it also highlighted how digits used for lottery tickets are not always random. There are many different strategies prevalent in picking numbers. One of these centres around birthdays. For instance, if someone – or a family member or friend – grows another year older on 11 December, the first two numbers of their entry might be 11 (date) and 12 (month). The rest of the sequence could comprise professional and personal milestone dates. Sporting yardsticks get used to. Cricketers, soccer players and local rugby recruits from Port Elizabeth and Pretoria to Bloemfontein and Bethlehem also like to enter the lottery. Many of them have been known to use their personal best scores, debut dates or favourite scoreline to fill part of their number sequences for the lotto. There are, of course, schools of thought that suggest avoiding the most popular lottery numbers. Now, what determines whether a number is ‘hot’ or not is open to interpretation, but that are resources that showcase which digits occur in draws more often than others. Some might advise leaving out the so-called lucky number 7, but then they’d be well advised to refer to early December 2020’s SA Powerball outcome. That number was integral to the sequence that landed 20 lucky winners almost R6 million each. Other theories are built on negating sequences. They, too, were ostensibly contradicted by the SA Powerball result in question. There is nothing much more sequential than 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. The 70-plus entrants who opted for this run of numbers, but not the bonus ball of 10, pocketed about R,6000 each. And then there are ideas around not opting for the number 13, which is seen as unlucky for those who are particularly superstitious or might not have had much fortune with it previously. Sticking to what one knows, rather than trialling and testing other options and combinations, is another direction to go. Take, for example, the man in Gauteng, South Africa, who won R38 million by using the same numbers he had been deploying for close on half a decade. His numbers eventually came up in August 2020, much to his delight and pride in being consistent with his selections. “I have been playing the same numbers for the past four years. I wanted to play the quick pick selection because I thought I have been playing the same numbers for years and the maximum amount I have won was R1,200, so I thought maybe it’s time I changed my playing strategy,” he was quoted as saying by the Citizen. “I asked the cashier for a quick-pick selection, but before I gave her the money, my gut told me that today might be the day I strike it lucky and opted to play the same numbers manually.” One has to wonder, however, if the 20 winners who opted for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 recently will be daring and defiant enough to do so again in the future.
