98 win lottery with 1-3-5-7-9

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The Florida Lottery said 98 people each won $1,995.32 by playing the numbers 1-3-5-7-9 in the Fantasy Five drawing.

Officials said the game can pay out prizes of as much as $200,000, but there tend to be more winners when common numbers are picked, the Miami Herald reported Thursday.

"A lot of players tend to play birthdays and anniversary dates," Safford said. "That's when you see lots of winners."

Sneh Gulati, director of the statistics division at Florida International University, said players should steer clear of common numbers.

"Every possible combination is equally likely in the odds of winning," Gulati said. "They always tell you to not pick a number that you think will be common because if you get them, you'll end up sharing the prize with more people."

"It's just a coincidence that it happened to be this," Gulati said. "Do not pick the common numbers!"