Madoff's Prison Number, Random Coincidences, and Lottery Picks

After Madoff pleaded guilty, 501 people played the last 3 digits of his prison number (61727-054) in the March 15 New York lottery - and won. This is another reminder that random lottery numbers can create a lot of coincidences: On Sept 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the 911 terror attack, the winning NY lottery numbers were 9-1-1. On Nov 12, 2001, American Airlines flight 587 crashed in Queens.  The New Jersey midday lottery drawing was 5-7-8 and the evening draw was 5-8-7.