People from next door

How do you hit the lottery jackpot?

Peter Riemer's regular customers have card indexes. When they are on vacation, he plays for them.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Gerhard Bartel)

Peter Riemer runs the oldest lottery retailer on Stephansplatz. In the "Krone" interview, he explains his fascination with gambling and which numbers Emperor Franz Joseph picked.

"Krone": Mr. Riemer, what qualities do you need to be the boss of the oldest lottery retailer in the country?

Peter Riemer: I've always been a numbers freak and calculated probabilities. When the opportunity arose to take over the business, I jumped at it. That was 22 years ago.

What do you know about the history of the shop?

It was opened in 1752 and is the oldest with continuous operations. Since then, the original form of Lotto, 5 out of 90, has also been played here. Mozart was already a regular customer and always bought tickets. Emperor Franz Joseph always played the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in one form of the lottery, which were never drawn. But a regular customer of mine made an extremely high profit with precisely these numbers.

You can't force luck in the lottery, nor can you prevent it. There are 50 new lottery millionaires in the country every year.

Peter Riemer ist ein Lotto-Profi

Where does the enduring fascination with the lottery come from?

It simply appeals to everyone, from street sweepers to CEOs. It's the only game that can change your whole life in one fell swoop. And there's always something to discuss. And of course: every pick can win.

So you can't trick the draw?

Mathematically speaking, every pick has the same chance. There is the concept of playing the numbers that are rarely drawn, because at some point it has to even out.

Mozart and the emperor have already tried their luck at Stephansplatz 4.

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard/Gerhard Bartel)

How would you describe your customers?

I definitely have more puzzlers who are interested in the game. The Quicktipp players tend to go to the tobacconist.

Has anyone cracked the code?

You can't crack it, but I've had about 25 customers with sixes that I know of. There are even some who have hit the jackpot twice.

The 6 out of 45 lottery has been played since 1986.

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard/Gerhard Bartel)

Is the lottery really just about the money?

No, many people just want to be the person who picks the right six numbers. Of course you need luck. My colleague in Spain sold a Euromillions ticket to a Swedish vacationer who was just playing for fun because there was such a long queue outside the store. It was a jackpot. The next day she brought the ticket in and won 150 million euros. She then stayed in Mallorca. But it also works the other way round: my regular customer always played birth dates, and once she came in two minutes after the closing time. And that was exactly the day her numbers were drawn.

The number 33

is the number that is most rarely drawn in the 6 out of 45 lottery. The most common numbers are 3, 5, 39, 42 and 43.

6 out of 45, Eurodreams, Euromillions, Joker - what should you play?

Everything has its appeal. However, you have eight times the chance with Joker than with Lotto.