Fortune cookie fuels record Powerball wins

Apr 1, 2005, 7:32 am (33 comments)

Powerball

Dozens of people recently got an extra-special dessert with their Chinese food: a winning lottery number.

A record 110 players won $500,000 and $100,000 prizes in Wednesday's Powerball drawing, most of whom apparently used the numbers included in a fortune-cookie message. Ordinarily the multistate lottery expects only four tickets to win at the Match 5 prize level.

Several winners in a half-dozen states revealed that they got the winning number from a fortune cookie, said Doug Orr, marketing director with the West Des Moines-based Multi-State Lottery Association, which operates Powerball.

"With the systems reporting so many plays of 22-28-32-33-39 and Powerball 40, it is likely that most drew their luck from that very fortunate cookie," Orr said.

The cookie was one number away from winning the $25.5 million jackpot: The winning numbers were: 22, 28, 32, 33 and 39, with 42 being the Powerball.

Tickets that match the first five numbers but miss the Powerball win $100,000 each. There were 89 of those.

There were 21 Power Play Match 5 winners. Those players matched the first five numbers and missed the Powerball, but placed an extra dollar on the Power Play number, a multiplier number from two to five. Last night's multiplier was five, meaning that the $100,000 prize for matching all five numbers increased to $500,000.

According to the Powerball Web site, odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 120,526,770, and odds of winning the $100,000 prize are about 1 in 2,939,677. Before Wednesday, the most tickets to win second-tier Powerball prizes in one drawing was 91, on Aug. 25, 2001.

One ticket, bought by a South Pittsburg, Tenn., family, had all six winning numbers to win the jackpot.

AP

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Badger's avatarBadger

Just goes to show you...when it comes to the obscene-odds jackpot games, don't waste too much time trying to "anticipate" the numbers that will be drawn. Use any 5 or 6....they stand just as good a chance as any  researching you can do.  I only wish I had seen that fortune cookie.

qutgnt

I agree one hundred percent.

mrmst's avatarmrmst

AHHHH!  I knew there had to be a reason other than just dumb luck for all the winners!!!!

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

Sometimes luck is all you need.



It was incredibly many who used the numbers found in the fortune cookies

If the cookie was from a Take Out or Chinese Restaurant all the winners are probably

from the same area as well.

JAG331

I should eat more Chinese food!

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Those cookies must sell overall the country.  According to the PowerBall website:

Record 21 Tickets win $500,000; 89 Win $100,000

Powerball paid off BIG in multiple ways on March 30th. Not only was there one winning jackpot ticket worth $25.5 million that was sold in Tennessee, but also there were a record 21 tickets that won $500,000, and a record 89 tickets that won $100,000. The eighty-nine $100,000 tickets matched all 5 white numbers and were sold in AZ (10), CO (2), CT (2), DC, DE (3), IA (3), ID, IN (8), KS (3), KY (4), LA, MN (4), MO, MT, ND, NE (2), NH (2), NM (3), PA (12), RI (5), SC (6), TN (7), USVI, WI (4), and WV (2). The additional twenty-one players winning $500,000 not only matched the 5 white, but also purchased the Power Play option. The Power Play multiplier was 5 last night. These lucky tickets were sold in AZ, CT (2), IN (2), LA (1), NH (1), PA (1), SC (8), and TN (5). .

RJOh

four4me
Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on April 1, 2005



Those cookies must sell overall the country.  According to the PowerBall website:

 


yep they do i have got the same fortune numbers in VA, PA and MD all within a months time at different Oriental take out food places. Now where did i put those numbers so i can playem  for Mega and share the wealth if they win. Ha ha ha

RJOh's avatarRJOh

I see 14 of those winners were from South Carolina and 8 of them had the PowerPlay.  I wonder if any of them made a trip from North Carolina.

RJOh

four4me

Very possible i go to PA or DC from Maryland to get my powerball tickets when the pots are over 100 mil.

Elizabeth03's avatarElizabeth03
Quote: Originally posted by four4me on April 1, 2005


Very possible i go to PA or DC from Maryland to get my powerball tickets when the pots are over 100 mil.



I wouldn't mind if  the restaurants in canada had fortune cookies with numbers written on them. They only have sayings written on them.

Elizabeth

 


 

Todd's avatarTodd

According to the USA Mega web site:

110 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 11 from Arizona (1 with Power Play), 2 from Colorado, 4 from Connecticut (2 with Power Play), 1 from Washington, D.C., 3 from Delaware, 3 from Iowa, 1 from Idaho, 10 from Indiana (2 with Power Play), 3 from Kansas, 4 from Kentucky, 2 from Louisiana (1 with Power Play), 4 from Minnesota, 1 from Missouri, 1 from Montana, 1 from North Dakota, 2 from Nebraska, 3 from New Hampshire (1 with Power Play), 3 from New Mexico, 13 from Pennsylvania (1 with Power Play), 5 from Rhode Island, 14 from South Carolina (8 with Power Play), 12 from Tennessee (5 with Power Play), 4 from Wisconsin and 2 from West Virginia.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

KyMystikal's avatarKyMystikal

I thought those numbers had looked familiar. I have a them from a fortune cookie my wife told me to play but I didn't because I thought the numbers were too high.

fja's avatarfja

Talk about free advertising for Oriental food...I bet they have a big boost in sales!

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

i already play fortune cookie numbers.....just didn't have those particular numbers......

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