# You know people won the lottery last night. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110 "2002-09-12T14:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/1 "2002-09-12T14:23:49Z")
Last night’s lottery numbers in NYC were 9-1-1. Now, I’m not superstitious. I don’t think it “means” anything. Heck, I’d sooner believe the lottery was fixed than believe some mystical power placed those numbers in that particular order. But I can only imagine the number of people last night who played 9-1-1. There had to be a TON of people, all getting, what? $500 a pop? I wonder if the lottery lost money last night. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/2 "2002-09-12T15:09:10Z")
I personally vote that God is speaking to people through lotto tickets. Now the lotto commision can come up with new slogans. Personally I like, “Lotto, we control your access to God” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/3 "2002-09-12T16:03:14Z")
Lotteries lose money when popular numbers come up, but they limit their losses by closing out certain numbers (like 777) after bets hit a certain amount. A lottery spokesperson said the number was bet heavily enough to ‘close it out’ during the day. It’s a loss, but a controlled loss. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/4 "2002-09-12T16:32:47Z")
Damn, **Ender** beat me to it. Except I was going to title my thread [Joe\_Cool, you were right. It’s a conspiracy!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=134444) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/5 "2002-09-13T16:23:46Z")
So, could Osama have anything to do with it? ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/6 "2002-09-15T13:50:34Z")
Real funny, biggirl. I didn’t say there was anything cosmic about it. Although it should be obvious there WAS a conspiracy. Unless, of course, you think it’s just coincidence that all those guys decided on the spur of the moment to hijack four planes and crash them into buildings independently with no prior communication or planning. Conspiracy doesn’t mean whackjob theory. It means the act of joining in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act. Sounds lots like what happened, right? Anyway, my point wasn’t that the sky is falling, it’s that lots of planning went into the act, so it’s not that much of a stretch to wonder if the date was planned with any significance. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-people-won-the-lottery-last-night/128110/7 "2002-09-15T14:46:14Z")
Hey, sorry **Joe** , didn’t mean to upset you. Good thing **Ender** beat me to it then! Of course it people conspired to hit buildings with planes. The problem comes when someone tries to stretch the conspiracy so much it begins to look like, well, a whackjob theory. Not that I’m saying you or your theory are whackjobs. It is possible that 9/11 was picked for its historical significance just like it is possible that the lottery was fixed, but I do think both theories are stretching it a little.