Apocalypse Now: 666 is the Winning Number For Pennsylvania Lottery
More than 8,000 Pennsylvanians won the state’s “Pick 3” lottery using the notorious combination 666.
ReadingEagle.com reports that though the end of days isn’t here just yet, 8,333 players in last Saturday’s Pick 3 drawing won a total of $2.08 million using the demonic combo. 666, of course, refers to symbol of “the Beast” in the Book of Revelations (13:18) and is generally associated with the Devil.
Ominously enough, 666 has been drawn 23 times since the Pick 3 games (previously called “The Daily Number”) began in 1977. The last time it was drawn during the day drawing was in 2011. The last time the it came up in the evening drawing was in 2010.
Drawing a triple, any triple, is exceedingly rare. Professor Eric Landquist of mathematics at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania says there’s less than a 1% chance for a triple to be picked.
“Since three digits zero through nine are picked for the winning number, there is a 1/1000 probability (0.001 or one in a thousand) for any three-digit number to be the winning number, including the infamous lottery number of the beast,” Landquist said.
Triples have been drawn exactly 200 times since Pick 3’s debut: 153 times in the evening drawings and 47 times in the day drawings. In 2010, triplets were drawn 14 times, a game record.
Pick 3 involves players placing 50 cent and one dollar bets per play with up to five plays per ticket. The combos can be chosen by the buyer or at random by the lottery terminal. Placed in panels, the five combos can be played straight, boxed, straight boxed, super straight, front paired, back paired, etc. A straight bet’s odds is 500:1.
Lottery winnings can range from just a few dollars to those so large that they must be paid in installments, rather than in a lump sum lottery payout. Many lottery winners, therefore, sell their payments for either a lump sum or an annuity. Immediate annuities, for example, can deliver payments as quickly as 30 days since the agreement.
