Six correct numbers in the lottery - that's what millions of Germans dream about every week." If the six numbers on a ticket match the numbers drawn by the lottery, the ticket holder is a jackpot winner. The probability of this happening is 1 in 13,983,816 but this never stopped my stepfather.
Like millions of other Germans, he played LOTTO every week. His secret of trying to beat the odds was a "system" by which he chose each week's numbers, and to which he added the latest results as soon as they had come over the radio on a Sunday evening. Streets emptied and pubs fell silent during those short few minutes when the lucky six numbers were announced, after which millions of Germans put an end to this week's dream and started on next week's. My stepfather's dream was lifelong!
I never played LOTTO in my life, and yet, just before they began to announce each Sunday's LOTTO numbers on what was still black-and-white television, my lucky number came up in 1965: "A65/17-1", the approval number on my "Auswanderungsantrag nach Australien mit Fahrtunterstützung".
Who needs LOTTO when you can make your own luck in a new country?
P.S. This is only the second time that I wrote about LOTTO as a kind of memorial to my stepfather. I do remember the first time I wrote about LOTTO when I was about eleven or twelve years old in an essay at school for which I got top marks. From memeory, it was entitled "Nur ein Stück Papier" and described a LOTTO-addict who on the Sunday night found the LOTTO-coupon in the pocket of his jacket, filled out with all six winning numbers, only to discover he had forgotten to submit them.
