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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Bet on lightning, not lottery

April 04, 2012 12:00 am • Last Updated: April 05, 2012 11:26 am

By Rufus Giuseppe

Dang it, the math geeks were right. It IS easier to be struck by lightning than win the lottery. Our case in point: Bill Isles of Wichita, KS.

Last Thursday, at the height of Mega Millions fever, he went out and bought three tickets. Later that night, out in his yard with his ham radio doing his storm-spotter gig, he got struck by lightning.

The following night the historic (about $640 million) Mega Millions jackpot was drawn.

Bill lost.

But he did get struck by lightning. And that gets you 15 minutes of fame but you still have to keep your day job.

According to the story in the Kansas City News, the odds of being hit by lightning are one in 835,000. The odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery jackpot are one in 175 million.

I wonder what the odds are of winning the lottery AND getting struck by lightning?

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