Rhode Island Lottery Takes A Bath On Unusual Numbers Midday Drawing
Winning numbers closely match the date, resulting in 762% payout favoring players
1 min
When sports bettors collectively did better than expected in the latter portion of the NFL regular season, publicly traded major gambling operators FanDuel and DraftKings adjusted their earnings guidance downward and introduced euphemistic terms like “customer-friendly” results.
Well, those “customer-friendly” results the sportsbooks experienced were nothing compared to what the Rhode Island Lottery ran into on Monday.
The Numbers Midday drawing on the date of Jan. 27 produced numbers almost identical to the date: 1-0-2-7.
And based upon the results, it seems playing the date, or some close variation thereof, is a popular move in this four-number draw game.
Typically, lottery games pay out 50-70% of dollars spent back to players. Monday’s Numbers Midday draw paid 762% — meaning for every dollar spent, $7.62 was awarded.
Four-figure and five-figure wins
The Rhode Island Lottery shared specifics on some of the winners. The biggest among them was a $26,040 hit on a ticket bought at a Stop & Shop in Westerly.
Prize amounts vary because there are several different price points and ways to win in The Numbers (which has two drawings daily — one at 1:30 p.m., and one at 7:29 p.m.). Customers can play for $.50, $1, $2, or $5 on each board, and can select different options regarding whether they need to match all four digits perfectly or can win lesser prizes by hitting two or three of the digits or having the winning numbers out of order.
At Sparkle City Laundromat in Pawtucket, seven winning tickets combined to haul in $32,500. At Carolyn Market in Providence, there were a pair of $5,000 winners.
And as the RI Lottery stated, there were “loads” of winners of $2,500 or more across the state.
Looking back, looking forward
The Numbers has been around in Rhode Island since 1976, and was the first lottery game in the Ocean State that allowed players to choose their own numbers.
The midday drawings stream on YouTube, while the evening drawings are televised live on local WPRI-TV — and from 1994-2020, were hosted by communications majors at local colleges.
In case you’re curious, the evening drawing on Monday produced winning numbers 7-9-6-3, which does not appear to have resulted in any particularly “customer-friendly” consequences.
And, no, 0-1-2-8 did not come up in either of Tuesday’s drawings. One suspects the Rhode Island Lottery will win back the money it lost Monday before too long.
