Winning is never meant to be as easy as 1, 2, 3 but it was nearly the case in Wednesday’s lunchtime draw for 49’s, the UK-based lotto game.
The winning sequence of six numbers published at 12.49pm read: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 – and even the Bonus Ball joined in the fun, returning a 9.
The UK 49’s lottery has two daily draws, one at lunchtime and the other in the evening, and as you’d expect by the name, there are 49 balls with six drawn at random to provide the winning numbers, plus a Bonus Ball.
Many betting sites in the UK offer gamblers odds on which numbers will be drawn, with the payout depending on where you place your bet.
Although bizarre, the winning sequence in Wednesday’s draw is certainly not the first string of numbers to raise a few eyebrows among lottery players worldwide.
What Are The Most Unusual Lotto Results Ever?
South Africa’s national lottery achieved a straight flush in December 2020, with 20 winners correctly predicting the five winning numbers 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 while the PowerBall completed the set with a 10.
The chances of winning South Africa’s PowerBall lottery are one in 42,375,200, as players have to select five numbers from a set of balls marked 1 to 50, and a bonus ball from a further pool numbered 1 to 20.
There have been several occasions of consecutive numbers being drawn in United States lottery games, which is perhaps not so surprising when you consider how many there are available and how frequently they run.
Last December, Florida’s Mega Millions threw out 56, 66, 67, 68 and 69 as the main numbers with 18 as the Mega Ball, while in June 2022 the Virginia Lottery’s Bank A Million went one better, with a run of 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.
That actually produced an outright winner, Alonzo Coleman, who banked the $250,000 prize.
The UK’s Lotto draw on March 23, 2016, saw nobody claim the jackpot but a staggering 4,082 players matched five of the main numbers.
Taking a closer look at the six numbers drawn, 7, 14, 21, 35, 41 and 42, revealed that five were multiples of seven, traditionally a lucky number for gamblers.
In October 2022 a mind-boggling 433 people won the jackpot of the government-backed lottery in the Philippines.
Each winner had picked six correct numbers out of a possible 55 but as improbable as that sounded, there was some mathematics behind it.
The six winning numbers were 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 and 54, and anybody who knows their nine-times multiplication tables will have spotted immediately why that run was an overly popular choice.
Playing The Same Numbers Can Work
The Bulgarian lottery in September 2009 proved that lightning can indeed strike twice.
There were no winners in the September 6 draw but four days later a record 18 players hit the jackpot, by choosing 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42.
What had the shrewd punters done to all land the top prize at the same time?
They had simply copied the same numbers that had failed to produce a winner a few days earlier and celebrated after the lottery obliged by drawing the exact same numbers on September 10.
Back in the UK there was another theory surrounding multiple winners when 133 players shared a Lotto jackpot of £16.2 million on January 14, 1995.
At first glance there didn’t seem anything to connect the winning numbers 7, 17, 23, 32, 38 and 42 until it was discovered they all sat in the central columns of the payslips in use at the time.
What is the UK 49’s Lottery?
The UK 49’s lottery was started in 1996 and has several unique betting options.
Online gamblers and betting shop customers can place bets on the 49’s with varying odds, depending on the number of balls being predicted and type of bet placed.
The draw takes place twice daily, one at lunchtime and one in the evening, with the results published on the official UK 49’s website.
Jim Munro is a betting industry and gambling expert who has been a national newspaper journalist for over 25 years, predominantly at The Sunday Times and The Sun, where he wrote a weekly soccer betting column. Jim also worked on the launch of Virgin Bet with Gamesys and was subsequently head of editorial at LiveScore, the sports media and betting group.
