The digits 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were the SA Powerball numbers drawn on Tuesday, 1 December 2020. If the uncanny order was not unusual enough, the bonus ball then came out as 10. “The numbers came out as 8,5,9,7,6 and the bonus ball was 10. But remember when we televise the draw show, we do put them in numerical order and there is a one in 42 million chance in terms of these numbers coming out,” confirmed national lottery representative Busisiwe Msizi. As many as 20 fortunate ticketholders won on the back of this interesting string of numbers. They each pocketed a cool R5.6 million. Just think about all the festive season spending they can do with their prizes. There were 79 more winners that guessed all the numbers, except the one on the bonus ball, correctly. They each one approximately R6,200. That’s not really a life-changing amount, but enough to buy a swanky, new television or perhaps put a deposit down on a zippy scooter for getting around the busy streets during the South African summer. “I see that people are more focused on the 20 that won the lotto. What about the other 79 people who decided to go ‘5,6,7,8 & 9’? In total 99 people played the same extremely unlikely combination,” exclaimed one book-smart Twitter user. The news didn’t just do the rounds across South African media outlets, but was picked up across reputable global sources like Sky News, the BBC and The Guardian. It was effectively the talk of the town from Sterling in Scotland to Essex in England. Meanwhile citizens around the South Africa – from Pretoria and Centurion to Cape Town and Hermanus – were also flabbergasted and even dumbfounded by the unlikeliness of the number sequence. “Can’t believe what I am seeing. How on earth would 20 people possibly get this right?” said one. “I asked my five-year-old little brother for lotto numbers and he was like, ‘5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10’ and I didn’t bet them. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw those Powerball numbers,” added another. “With the year 2020, anything is possible,” concluded a third. This, of course, is not the first time a peculiar sequence of numbers has been drawn in a national lottery. In 2009, the Bulgarian lottery yielded a draw of 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42. The sequence is not unusual in isolation. Considering the exact same numbers were drawn in the same lottery a mere four days prior, though, made the string of digits strange and intriguing, indeed. Nobody one on the first lot, but the second time saw 18 entrants win. And then there were 2016’s unique instance in the United Kingdom. The main numbers drawn in March, four years ago, were 7, 14, 21, 35, 41 and 42. Yes, that’s multiples of seven throughout. More than 4,000 people matched the numbers and walked off with plenty of pounds for their daring selections.
