Miracle as man wins Lotto (archives 99/03)

Johannesburg - Religious leaders from all beliefs have hailed the winning of last week’s inaugural National Lottery by a Gauteng man as “a miracle” and “further conclusive proof that God exists”.

An unnamed chartered accountant from Benoni amazingly predicted all six numbers in the first South African National Lottery ever. The probability of getting all six numbers spot-on is approximately 1 in 14 million.

Bishop Derartu Tulu from the Catholic Mother Church in Gauteng said that all praise must go to Almighty God: “The Statisticians of the Church informed me before the lotto took place that a person is more likely to recover from a late stage of brain cancer than to win the lotto. However, God’s power is infinite, and I told them that it would not surprise me if someone actually did win the lotto in the very first draw.”

The Bishop also added it is wonderful that such an unlikely event had occurred in the public domain, and that it underlines the presence of the hand of God in the everyday lives of average citizens.

“We have all read or heard about cancer patients miraculously recovering, the unlikely survival of car accident victims, strange coincidences leading to the prevention of disasters and literally hundreds of similar events, but now the public can experience the boundless love and generosity of Our Saviour first hand.”

Prof. Martin Steele, department head of the Mathematical Sciences department at Stellenbosch, had a different take on things: “The probability of any one specific person winning the Lotto is one in 14 million. However, the probability that there would be at least one winning lottery ticket among the estimated 7 million participants was closer to 50%." - Reuters