John Lottery's Bimonthly Lottery Articles: February 2013

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Whittaker's Luck - Explains why two unrelated men won their country's large lottery jackpots!

If you want to win the lottery, perhaps you should change your name to Whittaker.

Within the strange coincidence of luck, we read that two unrelated men with the same last name have both won a large jackpot in different countries. This article explains why they won.

Most recently, James Whittaker of Edmonton Alberta won $15.7 million playing Canada's Lotto 649. James's winning was in the January 16, 2013 drawing. His numbers were: 14 21 27 34 37 38 (he did not need the Bonus ball 10). James bought his ticket at a 7-Eleven store.

A little more than 10 years ago, Andrew Jackson “Jack” Whittaker won $314.9 million playing the U.S. Powerball lottery. Jack's winning occurred in the December 25 2002 drawing. His lucky numbers were: 5, 14, 16, 29, 53, and Powerball 7. Jack purchased his ticket at the C&L Super Serve convenience store.

James Whittaker

The lives of these two men are quite a bit different. James is a young and unmarried Canadian. He always wanted to win the lottery, and now that he did, he plans to invest his winnings and do some traveling. Because Canada does not tax lottery winnings, James will get to keep his full $15.7 million.

"Jack" Whittaker

Jack, on the other hand, was a 55 year old United States citizen living in Jumping Branch, WV. He was married and owned a construction company. Although the official lottery picture shows Jack with a check for $314.9 million, Jack chose to take the cash option. After taxes were withheld, Jack received only $93 million (still quite a nice sum).

After winning, Jack had many personal and family problems. Hopefully, young James will learn from Jack's experiences and manage both his money and his life differently so that he avoids the pitfalls that Jack and other lottery winners encountered.

If you're wondering, the name Whittaker is a variation of the common name Whitaker (only 1 "T"). It's origin is from Old English and means "white acre" or "white field" depending on which source is used.

Uniquely though, both Jack and James spell their last name the exact same way (with two "T"s).

So, why did they both win the lottery? The only logical explanation is: Whittaker's Luck!

Now that we know of Whittaker's Luck, maybe we should all rush out: change our last name to Whittaker; and then buy some lottery tickets at a local convenience store. Note that it doesn't matter: if you are married or not, which country you live in; or how old you are. Only your last name and where you buy the ticket are important! But, make sure that your name has 2 "T"s in it.

Gotta go now. I'm rushing off to the courthouse to change my name!

Sources

Welcome

The purpose of this blog is to bring you a variety of articles focused on sharing Lottery Specific Topics that will better help you understand your chances of winning the large Mega Millions, Powerball, Lotto 649, Super 7, Euromillions, etc. jackpots.

We intend to post new articles on a Bimonthly (every 2 month) basis, but may add content more frequently. Examples of topics that we will address include: Do all combinations have an equal probability of winning?; Where does the money go?; What combinations occur most frequently and why? Should I take a lump sum payment or annuity?; and more.

Our blog is open to your comments. If you have a lottery related question that needs to be researched, please suggest it. If you know of interesting research sites that we should add, tell us. If you want to contribute an article, let us know. The only rules that we will impose are: (1) Keep it clean; and (2) Don't ask for lottery results (you can get that elsewhere). We hope you will enjoy reading our articles and participate in our growth. .... J.L.