Back in the day when I lived in South Africa there was no lottery, it was against the law, but a national magazine ran a weekly competition.
All one had to do was match four numbers and two letters that were printed on the cover of the magazine with a list of numbers and letters that appeared inside the magazine.
One week my numbers were 7755 PO (I’ll never forget it) and when I checked the list … lo and behold I had a match.
Apparently I screamed so loud, my neighbors heard me. In addition to screaming I was also jumping up and down. As it turned out, I didn’t win. When I had calmed down and looked property the winning number was 7755 OP not 7755 PO, like I originally thought.
Now here comes the kicker … the top price in that magazine competition was for 200 Rand, back then approximately $50. If I was screaming and jumping up and down for $50, can you imagine what my reaction would be should I win thousands or even millions of dollars? I might not survive it.
Dying of shock is quite possible, you know.
On October 16, 2008, a 62 years old man bowled a perfect game (300) in bowling. He never even made it off the lane. After his twelfth strike, he collapsed and died. http://tinyurl.com/llq595n
So all things considered, maybe it’s better if I don’t win big and don’t bowl a 300 game.