Good Question: How valid are lottery drawings?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — This good question has to do with something we’ve been hearing about a lot lately, the lottery.

After more than 40 drawings, the Powerball jackpot is finally going home with one lucky winner from California. Monday night’s drawing had to be delayed until Tuesday morning due to technical difficulties. There was another recent lottery anomaly that had some people asking how do they know the drawings are accurate.

Maureen says: “On October 27, the Take Five had the same numbers in their midday and evening draws. The odds of that occurring are astronomical. What are they doing to make sure the draws are valid?”

Astronomical is right. 1-in-575,757. That’s still better than your current Powerball jackpot odds which are 1-in-292.2 million. But how can these five numbers be drawn twice in one day?

I reached out to the New York State Gaming Commission with Maureen’s Question and they confirmed that the drawings were accurate and vetted.

The commission explained how it ensures drawings are valid, saying in an email: “The results from the mechanical draw machines and game processes of both drawings were properly vetted and verified by on-site independent auditors. Statistically, there is no relation between the numbers drawn across drawings so the odds of a given set of numbers occurring in any Take 5 drawing are 1-in-575,757.”

Those two identical drawings in one day give a whole new meaning to “the luck of the draw”

There were no top prize winners in the midday drawing that day. There were 52 top prize winners that evening.

They brought home $715 each. The Powerball payout? More than $2 billion. Before Tuesday, the last time someone won the Powerball was back on August 3.

If you have a good question, send it to us at goodquestion@whec.com