"Random" Musings

Every now and then I throw a couple of bucks away on the lottery, be it Mega Millions or the New York Lotto. I get myself some "Quick Picks" - a selection of random numbers generated from the lotto machine because (1) I'm too lazy to pick numbers myself, and (2) If I did play the same numbers every week, I'd be mortified if I forgot to buy a ticket and they then came up.



So anyway, bear in mind that my lotto numbers are generated randomly (and randomly is the key word here), what's wrong with this picture?

I've been noticing this a lot lately - my ability to match numbers between my own lines and yet fail to match ANY numbers to the ones drawn is astounding. The odds of matching my own numbers are also astounding.

Basically, given the numbers 1 to 59, your chances of matching one number to any one drawn is 1 in 59. Your chance of matching a second number to one drawn is 1 in 58 (since one ball is now missing from the lotto machine), but your chances of getting two correct are 1/59 x 1/58 which is 1 in 3422

However, given that my numbers are just on a ticket, there is no "missing ball" so the chances of me matching two numbers on my ticket are 1/59 x 1/59 which is 1 in 3481. Yet it happens to me ALL THE TIME.

I'm beginning to think there's a conspiracy here. The random number generators in the lotto machines of NYC aren't that random. Maybe they're running some weird algorithm to ensure that people don't win.

As Ted said in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - "Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K"