Bizarre Ritual of Buying Lottery Tickets at the Last Moment

Bizarre Ritual of Buying Lottery Tickets at the Last Moment

Posted: Monday, Jun 03,2019 | Time: 01:21 pm | Edited by: The Lottery Lab Staff

When do you buy your lottery ticket? Some players buy early in the week so that they don’t miss the drawing. They feel better to have the task out of the way so that they won’t have to worry and can relax until the draw. Some people buy their tickets near the deadline for the excitement of the moment. Some people don’t care at all because when they buy their lottery ticket doesn’t matter for them, they purchase their ticket whenever it is convenient for them.

Here is a strange but true story about a couple who used to wait until the deadline and would buy their lottery ticket the moment before the deadline. A writer at a finance website used to work for a large lottery operator, Camelot Group, in Britain. During her time there she encountered a wide variety of lottery fans who believed the oddest lottery myths. Theories ranged from the routine to just plain weird. During that time she encountered one couple who took the prize for the oddest playing behavior.

This couple would spend every drawing evening in the parking lot of their favorite supermarket. At 7:28 PM sharp, they’d dash into the store and purchase their lottery tickets just moments ahead of the 7:30 PM deadline. When asked why they did this, they said being one of the last players to purchase a ticket put their numbers at the ‘top of the pile’ and were much more likely to be picked.

Of course, the logic of this technique doesn’t make sense.  The winning outcome of lotteries is based on the numbers drawn from the lottery commission’s machines.  based on this logic, every ticket has an equal chance of being a winner, no matter whether they were purchased early or right before the deadline.  The technique used by this couple was more appropriate if the winning ticket was physically drawn from among all tickets (as in a raffle) and even then, there might be little advantage in the technique.

So, when do you buy your lottery ticket?

We recommend you to buy it early. Buying a ticket late can be risky.  Not only can the weather or traffic delay you, but some lotteries reserve the right to halt sales early. Although these interruptions are rare, there are advantages to waiting. One advantage of buying your ticket late is that you can keep your money in your pocket until the last moment.  That way, if an emergency pops up, you can use your lottery money to help you out. Just cut your time so close that you can’t even play!