ROCKY HILL, Conn. — Hours after US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, the lottery number 1549 sold out in Connecticut.
Lottery players who attempted to purchase a Play 4 ticket using the numbers 1549 Thursday night were told the number had sold out.
Diane Patterson of the Connecticut Lottery said that it is possible for a number to sell out.
Patterson said the state has an $8 million liability on the game. She said if a number is picked enough times where it reaches the liability level, the machines will automatically stop the sales of the number.
Patterson said the state sometimes sells out numbers on holidays such as New Year's Eve when many people play the numbers 1111. She said 1414 is often played on Valentine's Day.
The landing of Flight 1549 was being hailed as a miracle by many across the nation Thursday night. All 155 people on board made it off the aircraft safely after it plunged in the icy water.
The actual winning numbers Thursday night were 9449.
In another thread (locked out) entitled "Texas Lottery confirms that Quick Picks are not generated by central computer",
there was debate on if the central computer system could have any influence on quick picks.
The above scenario indicates what the central computer is capable of - be it Connecticut or Texas.
For a number to sell out, the Central Computer must know how to handle the situation!
The central computer would have to disable the sellout number and it would also have to instruct the lottery
terminals not to issue the sellout number.
This article mentioned above indicates that it is a game where quickpicks are issued via computer.
How to Play4 DAY and Play4 NIGHT
Mid-Day4 and Play4 offer bigger prizes than Mid-Day3 and Play3 - up to $25,000!
To play, simply pick your favorite four-digit number. Or ask for a "Quick Pick" and the computer will choose your number for you!
See the Payout Chart below for wager and win amounts.
If a number set had sold out, then only the central computer system would know that and it would/could be
programmed to instruct the lottery terminals to not issue that number.
At least in my opinion.
Best Of Luck!
LottoL
I tried to play that number in Georgia last night and was told the same thing.
Yes, I created that thread so that I could disseminate some facts, namely that the lottery terminals themselves generate the Quick Picks. That was true in that thread, and it is true here. If the terminal happened to generate 1549 as it's random number, the central computer would reject the number, and the terminal would simply generate a different random number. All of this would happen in a few milliseconds (you would not even know it happened) because that's the speed that computers operate.
HEY guys, LET's all play 1549 and see what happen from state to state.
I won't play a number that was a flight. 2009 never came out and was over played for weeks. maybe 9409
Dont forget the amonut of people saved " 155 "
It's already hit in Texas as 515 (1/16/09}
NY nearly had it box today Midday result was " 5418"
I wonder what would the prize be here in CA if 1549 had hit and tons of people are playing, we are pari-mutel so I imagine if it hit, something like a $25 dollar straight!
When I lived in Jersey I had a landlady who played these kind of numbers - and hit!- constantly.
Planes, trains, anytime there was a picture on the front or back page of the NY Daily News and there was a tail number, engine number, etc, she's call the bookie (this was beofre there were legal state lotteries and Pick 3). It was incredible how often she hit.
Also try the date this incident occurred or the time flight took off......
I couldn't play it even if I wanted to since there is no Pick 4 here.
Not talking about QP here.
If you submitted a playslip with just those numbers to the lottery retailer,
I would imagine you would have received a "rejection message" of some
kind. Would you know what it would say?
If you did receive a message, where did it originate from?
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I agree with you the central computer processes transactions in milliseconds,
however, the network cloud from terminal to central system is not that fast.
Best Of Luck!
A few weeks ago one of my programs was PICKING that number for Pick-4! Good advice to not play numbers related to the News if they are pari-mutuel (varying payouts) because the prize will be diminished vs. other equally possible numbers...but in fixed prize States it's fine but they are often "sold out" because the Lottery will lose tons of money if it happens to come out! It's also a "year" number which was heavily played even before all this and in nj they pay cheap.
As I just checked the midday numbers, your post came to mind, and I thought, "why didn't I take heed.
"155" straight midday Maryland.