A long-awaited lottery number, whose failure to be drawn in nearly two years was blamed for suicides and other family tragedies, finally made its appearance in Venice in Italy's highly popular lotto game.
Frenzy over the number, 53, which was drawn in Venice's lottery Wednesday evening, had driven countless Italians to spend large sums on the biweekly lotteries, convinced, every time, the number would be picked out of the basket.
Venice is one of several cities which participate in the lotto, and while 53 had come up in other cities, it had not been picked in the lagoon city drawings since May 10, 2003. Confident it had to be picked, Italians since then had bet the equivalent of more than $5.6 billion Cdn.
Many desperate players lost all their savings by betting repeatedly on 53, Italian news reports said.
In January, a man from Signa, near Florence, shot his wife and son before killing himself after he had gone thousands of euros into debt to buy lottery tickets with that number, police said.
Earlier that month a woman who committed suicide in the Tuscan town Carrara left a note saying she had secretly spent all her family's savings betting on 53.
Recently, Italy's economy minister invited Italians to "use their brains" when playing lotto and mathematicians appeared on prime-time news shows to explain, under laws of probability, in any given drawing, all numbers had an equal chance of being plucked out.
Lotto, a version of which was first played in Genoa in the 16th century, lets players bet any amount of money on numbers from one to 90 in biweekly draws. Players who guess all five numbers in a draw win one million times their bet, those who guess a single number win a little over 10 times the bet.
Lotto here is steeped in tradition and belief. Hardcore players often consult complex statistical models or soothsayers and fortune-tellers.
The website of the state-owned company that runs the lottery offers a computerized version of an age-old Neapolitan system that gives winning numbers by interpreting dreams.
The wins from Wednesday's draw will cost the Italian state between the equivalent of $805 million to $966 million, the Italian news agency ANSA said.
How many Italians came out winners and how high the take was for any individual was not immediately announced.
MM had the #2 megaball disappear from June of 2002 to december of 2004, drove me crazy for most of 2003, then I just gave up on it....so for the better part of a year I saved $1 by not playing it...
999 hasn't come out in Kentucky since Jan 5th, 2001.
Some people need to bet responsibly it's just a game. Admit if you've got a gambling problem and get help as soon as possible. I hate to hear about people going into lottery places to play numbers with kids with them crying that they are hungry while the parent ignores them and continues to play more money on numbers then turns to the child and says, "I don't have any money to get you something to eat."
MM had the #2 megaball disappear from June of 2002 to december of 2004, drove me crazy for most of 2003, then I just gave up on it....so for the better part of a year I saved $1 by not playing it...
999 hasn't come out in Kentucky since Jan 5th, 2001.
Some people need to bet responsibly it's just a game. Admit if you've got a gambling problem and get help as soon as possible. I hate to hear about people going into lottery places to play numbers with kids with them crying that they are hungry while the parent ignores them and continues to play more money on numbers then turns to the child and says, "I don't have any money to get you something to eat."
Who knows...Mega Millions or Powerball soon may have 90 numbers
That doesn't speak well for that over due theory that lottery players talk so much about. I prefer to play the more active numbers myself.
RJOh
"Lotto here is steeped in tradition and belief. Hardcore players often consult complex statistical models or soothsayers and fortune-tellers."
Italians are on Lottery Post too?
lottery post is worldwide from what i've seen,i've seen people from israel,puerto rico,canada,uk,all over.......
Article said: whose failure to be drawn in nearly two years was blamed for suicides and other family tragedies
CO, that's when I exclusively play your "favorite" game NY Lotto
... just a joke neighbor
This sounds like a very interesting lottery game. Does anyone have the odds and payouts of this game?