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Lottery Players Favor Unholy Digits On Friday The 13th

(CBS) -- So many people thought Friday the 13th was going to be lucky, the Illinois Lottery had to stop selling a certain number combination for its Pick Three game.

WBBM's Steve Miller reports.

The Pick Three combination so many people were willing to take a chance on last Friday was 6-6-6.

Friday the 13th is associated with bad luck. The number 666 is associated with Satan.

"I couldn't tell you if it was because of Friday the 13th," Illinois Lottery Spokesman Jason Schaumburg says.

The lottery had to cut off sales so that the agency didn't exceed its liability limit.

"When a number combination reaches to where we'd have to pay $3 million in prizes, sales would be cut off," Schaumburg says.

The cutoff happens more frequently than you might think. Schaumburg says maybe once or twice a week the lottery has to cut off sales to a combination of numbers because it's so popular -- meaning, that liability limit of $3 million has been reached.

Pick Three is drawn twice daily, and ticket buyers can add a "Fireball" option to increase their chances of winning.

Last Friday's winning combinations were 3-0-6 (Fireball 5) and 4-6-0 (Fireball 9), according to the lottery's website.

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