Lottery Winners Credit
TV Show
Three New Mexicans are
crediting The Learning Channel, better known as TLC, with helping
them to win the lottery.
Sunday night TLC ran a
program entitled “How the lottery changed my life” that revealed
the mot frequently drawn lottery numbers.
At least three New
Mexicans watching at home wrote down the numbers and won some money
in Wednesday evening’s Powerball drawing – including DeShundra
Jackson, who won $20,000.
“There are still four
more of those tickets in New Mexico that have four of those numbers
and the Powerball,” said Linda Hamilton, the spokeswoman for the
New Mexico lottery.
“It’ll be really
interesting to see where they got their numbers, as well.”
Lottery officials say the
TLC-mentioned numbers being drawn in one drawing immediately after
the TLC show aired is one of the oddest coincidences they’ve seen.
The numbers mentioned on
the TLC show were 8, 25, 31, 44, 50 and 54.
New Mexico woman plays
'most frequent numbers' on TV show about lottery winners and wins
$20,000 in Powerball
TV viewers in other
states play and win off same numbers
The TLC Network's
broadcast of "How the Lottery Changed My Life" might not
have been DeShundra Jackson's first choice for Sunday night
television viewing, but since her mother was already engrossed in the
program, Jackson didn't think about changing the channel.
The only thing she changed
was her luck.
After the show announced
what it believed were the most frequently drawn lotto numbers, the
28-year-old New Mexico resident stored the so-called lucky
combination of 8-25-31-50-44-54 in her cell phone.
When she purchased a $1
ticket for Wednesday's Powerball drawing, Jackson specifically
requested the same numbers from the TV program.
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She also spent another $1
on the Power Play option, which multiplies prizes between two and
five times.
"I'll try anything,"
Jackson said. "I thought to myself 'I should really play these
numbers."
It was a wager that paid
off. The winning numbers drawn on Wednesday were 25-27-31-44-54 and
the Powerball number was 8. Jackson had five of those numbers on her
ticket.
Jackson's decision to
purchase the Power Play option doubled Jackson's prize from $10,000
to $20,000.
According to the
Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which administers Powerball,
256 tickets won $10,000 prizes after matching four white balls and
the red Powerball. Sixty of those tickets also had the Power Play
option multiplying their prizes into $20,000 each.
Based on sales, MUSL
projected that 29 tickets would match four white balls and the red
Powerball in Wednesday's drawing.
The New Mexico Lottery
sold six other tickets that matched four white numbers and the red
Powerball for Wednesday's drawing, but those players have yet to come
forward to claim their prizes.
It is unknown at this time
whether they selected their numbers after watching "How the
Lottery Changed My Life."
Five players in Oklahoma,
one in Ohio, and two in Rhode Island collected prizes today citing
the TV program as the inspiration for their number choices.
New Mexico Lottery CEO Tom
Romero said the odds of matching four white balls and the red
Powerball are one in 584,432.
"Lots of players have
patterns for playing numbers — birthdays, anniversaries, the ages
of friends and family members — and anytime their numbers win, it's
a lucky coincidence," Romero said. "This is one of the
odder coincidences that sometimes happen."
Jackson, who purchased her
winning ticket at Freeway Liquors at 2034 2nd Street, NW in
Albuquerque, plans to share the prize with her family after paying
bills.
The massage therapist who
works at the Essence Day Spa in Corrales also plans to buy tickets
for Saturday's Powerball drawing — and she's going to play the same
numbers from the TV show.
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