Man chooses wrong lottery numbers and wins jackpotPrevious TopicNext Topic

Well, it is apparent that this guy actually chose the "right" numbers.  If I were the journalist thinking up a headline for this story, I think I would have titled it, "Man Plays Unintended Lottery Numbers and Wins Jackpot; Goes Back and Plays Intended Numbers and wins 2nd Tier Prize!"  I think that would be a more correct description of what he did as I don't think anyone who somehow picks the winning jackpot numbers would describe them as the wrong numbers (unless his/her vocabulary did not contain the word "unintended").

Congrats though to him. 

He didn't really choose the wrong number, he checked the wrong box, found the mistake later, and played another ticket checking the "right" box. But had he checked the right box the first time, he would not have won so it is a neat story.

Every time I read about playing a large wheel with thousand of combinations, I wonder how they could fill out the play slips without making many mistakes.

That would make an interesting headline:

Man checks the wrong box, finds the mistake later, then plays another ticket checking the "right" box, and his first ticket wins the jackpot

Or, you can stick with the original headline:

Man choose wrong lottery numbers and wins jackpot

Personally, I like the original headline better. 

In a news story, a headline is not used to spell out all the minutia.  It is used to summarize the story, which it does in this case. 

From the winner's perspective, he did indeed choose the wrong numbers, so it is accurate.

@Todd.      Just like a book title, a headline is supposed to attract your attention, not summarize the

story.

"From the winner's perspective, he did indeed choose the wrong numbers, so it is accurate."

Yep, checking the wrong box and choosing the wrong number is almost the same thing and I agree the headlines are accurate because he won on the mistake.

People playing the same numbers every week know them and might not check their tickets.

Man cashes his ticket believing he hit 5 out of 6 and finds out he won the jackpot because he forgot his glasses and checked the wrong box

Where was his bifocal ? How did he know that he had played the wrong number ?

Winning is random. This is a good story to hear.

sounds like he played the right numbers.