Lottery blunder

[brownie]

From BBC NEWS:

EURO JACKPOT LOST IN PLAYER ERROR

Members of a Belgian lottery syndicate who thought they had won 27m euros were dealt a huge blow when they found their winning numbers had not been entered.

For weeks the group of 30 players had been using the same combination for the EuroMillions jackpot.

They were overjoyed when it matched the winning numbers in Friday's draw.

But the group of friends were crushed when it turned out the person charged with buying the ticket had allowed the machine to choose random numbers.

The syndicate includes the owners and patrons of the cafe La Fraternelle in the town Mouscron, south-west of Brussels.

"One of us came into the cafe after the draw on Friday and said we had won 27m euros," owner Christiane Farvacque told the BBC news website.

No forgiveness

"We were all celebrating. Everyone was calling family and friends," says Mrs Farvacque.

You think you are the only winners in Europe, but you end up with nothing

Christiane Farvacque

But when she phoned lottery organisers, she was told there had been no winning entry.

"We knew something was wrong," she said. "We spent all night trying to find out what had happened."

In the morning Mrs Farvacque tracked down the person who had bought the ticket - the owner of a bookshop across the street - and found that she had failed to enter the correct combination.

"We were all bitterly disappointed," she said. "You think you are the only winners in Europe, but you end up with nothing."

Mrs Farvacque made clear her friendship with the bookshop owner would not survive the disappointment.

"Even in 20 years' time, my hair will stand up on end whenever I see her," she said.

[Jazzmoose]

Ouch. Might as well close that shop before it's torched...

[BruceH]

What a maroon...

[Tom Storer]

What a maroon...

She was only a maroon with respect to not doing what her friends expected of her. The random number she went for had just as much chance of winning as the number they had been using. And since the chances of either one of those numbers winning was infinitesimal...

I wonder if that group will continue playing the lottery, and if they'll keep using the same number.

[Rooster_Ties]

The others should just sue the "maroon" for the 'lost' winnings (the 27m euros).

Problem solved!!!

[porcy62]

The others should just sue the "maroon" for the 'lost' winnings (the 27m euros).

Problem solved!!!

In Old Europe there aren't US lawyers.

Edited December 12, 2006 by porcy62

[Rooster_Ties]

Crap. Need any?? I think we've probably got plenty to spare!!

[porcy62]

Crap. Need any?? I think we've probably got plenty to spare!!

I hope that after democracy GWB don't want to export lawyers.

[brownie]

A followup story from The Daily Record, Scotland:

I LOST MY LOTTO SYNDICATE £18M

Woman leaves town after failing to put on winning EuroMillions numbers

By Dennis Newson

A NEWSAGENT tore up a lottery entry that would have won her syndicate £18million.

Now Dominique Baecq fears she will have to move to escape the wrath of those who lost out.

She said: "I collapsed on the sofa when I saw the winning numbers and haven't stopped crying for two days.

"We'll be the laughing stock of the whole town. For as long as we live here people will point their fingers at me, my husband and our five children. We daren't show our faces."

The 32-year-old had been putting on EuroMillions tickets for a group of 36 people from her local pub.

Syndicate members each paid five euros (about £3.40) and played the same numbers every week. But last week, six people failed to pay and Dominique was left about £20 short.

She said: "This wasn't the first time we didn't get all the money.

"Only the week before, I had to dip into my own pocket - but I couldn't do this forever.

"I've asked myself a thousand times why I didn't tell other players and ask what to do. But I didn't. Now it's all my fault."

Dominique thought the best idea was to let the lottery machine pick random numbers.

But disaster struck three days later when a player ran into her shop and said: "We've won."

She couldn't face the syndicate in the La Fraternelle pub, in Mouscron, Belgium, so her husband had to break the news.

Publican Jacky Fervacque, 50, said: "We guessed something was wrong as we had phoned EuroMillions and they said nobody had won the jackpot.

"It's a disaster as this money, about £500,000 each, would have changed our lives.

"Some of our customers are out of work and many are struggling to bring up families."

Patrice D'Hoop, one of the losers, said: "I suppose it was a human error - but one can't forgive something like this."

A Highland lottery winner who matched five numbers and the bonus ball in the draw on Wednesday, November 15, has yet to claim their £87,000 prize.

[Claude]

The random number she went for had just as much chance of winning as the number they had been using. And since the chances of either one of those numbers winning was infinitesimal...

I wonder if that group will continue playing the lottery, and if they'll keep using the same number.

I never play lotto, but this news made me check the website of the Luxembourg lotto company. Interestingly, in the table that shows how often a number has been picked since 1955, the number 13 is the lowest (by far). Can that be a coincidence?

http://www.loterie.lu/fr/lotto/frequence.a...mp;number_add=0