64 Trillion to 1 Double Jackpot Win Shakes Faith in South Korea Lottery
The emergence of two jackpot-winning lottery tickets from the same lottery shop has sparked chatter in South Korea.
The Donghaeng Lottery draw on March 1 resulted in 16 tickets winning the jackpot, with two of them originating from the same machine. The ticket numbers were allegedly selected randomly by a machine in a modest, inconspicuous lottery shop in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.
The chances of accurately selecting all six numbers in the South Korean Lottery are 8 million to 1. The chances of it occurring twice from the same machine in the same draw are closer to 64 trillion to 1.
Error in the Matrix?
This makes it much more probable that the double jackpot resulted from a malfunction in the machine's random number generator – or perhaps something more devious – rather than the lottery's official statement claiming it was just a remarkable coincidence.
South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance, responsible for the national lottery, rejected the notion of tampering.
The ministry pointed out that retail sales terminals are automatically disconnected from the server 35 minutes prior to the draw, rendering ticket issuance after the draw "impossible."
Additionally, if someone had discovered a method to exploit the system, why create two tickets when one would secure the same portion of the prize pool without raising suspicion?
Although 1 in 64 trillion seems unlikely, lotteries take place frequently around the globe, and countless tickets are purchased with every draw. After numerous years and countless draws, unusual occurrences will inevitably take place somewhere.
Theories of Conspiracy
Nonetheless, conspiracy theories are circulating on social media, intensified by the absence of public identification of South Korean winners, unlike in other nations such as the US.
"The government must investigate and explain whether there was any computer manipulation to add first-prize winners after the numbers were drawn,” read one viral post.
Social media users are demanding increased transparency, urging the lottery to reveal the exact times and places of winning ticket sales.
63 Champions
This isn't the first occasion South Koreans have had reason to doubt the fairness of their lottery. In July 2024, an extraordinary 63 individuals claimed the top prize, leading the ministry to organize a “lottery day” to showcase the system’s fairness to the public.
Donghang Lottery's Executive Director Im Cho-soon proposed that the apparently improbable quantity of winners actually mirrored trends in favored number combinations among participants. For example, he mentioned that a lot of South Koreans prefer linear arrangements on their tickets.
