One popular number combination begets many winners
By Kate Northrop
Thousands of players across the state of North Carolina are splitting a whopping $3.6 million in the North Carolina Lottery's Pick 3 game thanks to a popular number combination.
The Pick 3 afternoon drawing on Friday, July 9 produced the lucky number combination 0-0-0, resulting in 9,307 tickets winning the game's top prize.
Players who matched all three numbers and bought a $1 ticket won $500, while those who wagered 50 cents won $250. In total, the Lottery will award $3.6 million to players holding winning tickets for the single drawing.
The combination 0-0-0 is commonly known as a "triple" and are some of the most popular combinations played in the lottery. According to the Lottery, the odds of matching all three numbers in a Pick 3 drawing are 1 in 1,000.
Winners in the Pick 3 drawing on Friday afternoon will have 180 days from the draw date to claim their prizes.
The North Carolina Lottery holds Pick 3 drawings twice a day, at 3:00 pm and 11:22 pm EST.
Wow!! .....9,307 players with the same number sequence on the same day. That's fantastic. It's amazing how many triples seem to appear in my state on days when I'm not playing triples. Congrats to all the winners, especially the people who loaded up and spent 10 or 15 dollars on that number, what a great investment.
It looks like the odds are 1:1000 (0-9 = 10 options.. three numbers. 10^3)
There are ten "triples" meaning.. they come up once every 100 draws (statistically).
And then you get the fact that some combinations are more attractive than others.. And I think 0-0-0 might be one of the more popular.
On a side note.. Not sure, but anyone loading 2 or more $ on the combination is going to be hit with withholding tax.. Not sure what happens if you only win the $500 (Is that still taxable? but an undocumented cash transaction on which most people don't even think of paying tax?)
It's says "9307 winning tickets were sold". The lottery couldn't possibly know how many tickets each player bought and several of the tickets were 50 cent tickets.
Nice win their for those players even $250 is still a nice prize.-weshar75
In my state you are not required to fill out a tax form on a $500 win. If someone happens to get lucky and load up on a particular 3-digit number, they still would not be forced to pay taxes on the prizes since they would simply cash in the tickets one at a time at their local supermarkets. BTW .....I love the way you figured those odds, that's very interesting.
"several of the tickets were 50 cent tickets."
$3,600,000 total payout for 9307 winning tickets is an average of $386.80 per ticket. Assuming the 9307 tickets really means 9307 individual bets, and assuming the only choices are 50 cents to win $250 or $1 to win $500 4,214 tickets were for 50 cents and 5093 were for $1.
Last night around 2015 hours went to play triples 000-999 for mid-day today...no problem. Go to do Quads, same scenario. Already 'liability limited' for 0000-4444. Did buy 5555-9999.
Today 0500 in the store and a lady tried to play the pick 3's and they were already sold out for Mid-day. She left a $1 in the machine, told her and she didn't react, so purchased her a Cashball 225 ticket and said enjoy your $170K after taxes tonight. Said meet me @ the store if I win, said no you keep it.
Not to fret, but KLC will be getting a FB messenger asking them to raise the 'liability limit' which is very vague in their rules and regulations. With past draws it appears to be just over $2 million. With Cashball 225 it is in black and white what the cut off is.
Some lucky soul in NC won $2 million in Powerball last night. That state seems to be a magnet for winners!
Look at California secondary prize for Powerball...over $3 million waiting to be won!
Congrats to all the winners, enjoy.
KY lottery limits its pick 3/ pick 4 to $1.5 million/draw. They will forward my concerns to the appropriate folks, though won't hold my breath waiting for a change! They are very good about answering inquiries!
I thought that "load up" meant "the single ticket was worth more than $1", rather than buy multiple tickets each worth $1 (or 50 cents).
Multiple tickets.. Yep. can see that not being a problem (Okay, so a single retailer might pitch a fit if asked to pay out on "too many" (taking all their cash)..
You are probably supposed to pay tax on teh win.. but there is no real record of it (It is income. Of course the IRD want's their share :))
I forgot about the 50 cent and $1 front, back, and outside pairs, but not very many players use it.
"You are probably supposed to pay tax on teh win"
Gambling winnings are taxable income, so you're supposed to pay income tax on a $4 win from a $2 PB ticket if you don't have at least another $2 in losses to offset the $2 profit. I've always figured that the IRS doesn't worry too much about wins that are small enough to not require a 1099 because people who won prizes of less than $600 don't usually turn a profit, even if they come out ahead for that particular tax year.
"front, back, and outside pairs"
The possibility of stuff like that is why I included the qualifier, but those options probably wouldn't make a very big difference. Even if people who play pairs are more likely to play the same numbers (just like triples are more common) it takes 10 prizes to equal one regular prize.