These 8 Rare Events Are More Likely Than Winning the Lottery
“Like winning the lottery” is a popular expression used to talk about something that happens extremely rarely. Most lottery players rarely realize how rare a jackpot win actually is, because the numbers can be discouraging.
According to best NZ casinos, the chance of getting six correct numbers in the classic 6 of 49 Lotto is 1 in 15,537,573. If you are still hoping for the correct super number, you are playing with odds of 1 in 139,838,160.
You’re more likely to get struck by lightning, right? We compared 8 (mostly unfortunate) rare events to winning the lottery. Find out here which lucky and unlucky events are more likely than winning the lottery.
- To Be Killed by Lightning
Let’s start directly with the lightning bolt that is often used proverbially in comparisons. Every year about 2,000 people are killed worldwide by lightning. Even significantly more are hit, namely between 30 and 50 people per year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the chances of being struck by lightning are about 1 in 500,000.
Accidents often happen to joggers or cyclists who are surprised by a storm far away. Experiencing a lightning strike at all is a true miracle, because up to 100 million volts and tens of thousands of amperes flow through the body within a fraction of a second.
Those who survive this often have to struggle with health consequences for the rest of their lives. Frequent consequential damage is permanent paralysis, heart damage, convulsions or amnesia.
- Experience a Plan Crash
While most adults are not particularly afraid of thunderstorms, many people suffer from a fear of flying. Horror and action films about dramatic (near) crashes of passenger planes should certainly also contribute to this.
However, the chances of crashing in an ordinary Boeing on the way to vacation are very, very small. The probability is around 1 in 16,042,000.
- Eruption of Yellowstone Caldera With Global Consequences
There are often dangers in life that we are not even aware of. For example, we pay almost no attention to the countless volcanoes that dot the earth, because most of the time they only appear as silent and inconspicuous mountains.
However, some of them could wreak global havoc in the event of an outbreak. For example, the famous Yellowstone Caldera in the US National Park of the same name in Wyoming.
If this were to actually erupt, as is said to have happened 640,000 years ago, several US states would initially disappear under a gigantic cloud of ash. Depending on its size, it could also extend across the oceans and across other continents and darken the earth.
The consequences for the climate, flora, fauna and humanity would be dramatic. According to the US Geological Survey (USGC), geologists estimate the probability of an eruption within one year at approximately 1 in 730,000 or 0.00014%.
- To Become a Parent of Quadruplets
Giving birth to one healthy baby at a time is enough for many parents. Twins are often a welcome surprise, but triplets or even quadruplets should give most expectant parents at least a moment of concern. Multiple births are rare, but again not as rare as one would think.
About 1.6 million twins are born each year worldwide, and 3.9 million triplets come to the world annually.
- Die at the Dentist
Even in adulthood, many people are afraid of going to the dentist. Toothache is nasty and dental treatment is often even nastier, at least in imagination. But what bad could happen?
Now, before you panic, the dentists perform significantly better than other doctors. The main reason for deaths at the dentist is complications with general anesthesia. Around one in 400,000 patients succumb to this during dental operations.
In hospitals, the mortality from general anesthesia is four times higher. Around one in 100,000 patients does not wake up from anesthesia.
- Having Too Few or Too Many Fingers
Congenital physical malformations are also generally considered “rare”. However, some of these are more common than one might expect. For example, having more than five fingers or toes per hand or foot.
The so-called “polydactyly” occurs in only one in 500 people worldwide. The extra finger or toe can either be fully developed and functional or it can be stunted.
Some parents choose to have corrective surgery right after birth, but you can find plenty of adults online who proudly carry their extra body parts around.
While some people are born with too many fingers, the opposite also exists. In some cases, people got only four fingers on one hand or five fingers that are severely shortened. This malformation occurs in approximately one in 32,000 newborns.
- Death by Falling Out of Bed
Let’s go back to the unusual and fortunately rare ways of dying. Hardly anyone would want to read this cause of death on their death certificate: Death after falling out of bed. In fact, this cause of death is not that rare.
The CDC records an average of more than 700 deaths this way each year. This results in chances of about 1 in 2,000,000. It remains questionable whether the Americans’ beds are particularly high or whether they fall on particularly hard ground!
In most cases, when people fall, their heads land so unfavorably that brain haemorrhage occur. Maybe pillows on the floor would be a solution?
- Getting Hit by a Pinecone
A hit with or a blow to the head should never be underestimated. It doesn’t matter what falls on your head, for example. In California, for example, you might want to wear a helmet when walking through the woods.
In fact, there are coniferous trees, more precisely pines, with gigantic cones that can weigh more than 7 kilograms. The magnificent specimens, which are equipped with pointed scales all around, are also popularly known as “widowmakers”.
How many men, or people in general, are actually killed by the cones that trees use for reproduction is unknown. However, the nickname suggests that there may have been some deaths, at least in the past.
In 2015, a man made headlines who narrowly survived a “cone attack”. The Navy veteran is said to have been sitting under a bunya bunya tree reading a book when a 7.3 kg cone fell on his head.
He suffered a fractured skull but survived. He later south the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park for $5 million in damages.
