Scientist disproves Irish town's strange luck

Dublin (Ireland):
It's official -- scientists have proved that the people of the small Irish town of Skibbereen do not have unnaturally good fortune. But they do seem pretty happy anyway.
The picturesque town near Ireland's southern coast earned a reputation as the country's luckiest after a series of lottery wins. But Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in England told a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Dublin that he had proved there was nothing particularly lucky about the place.
He bought 50 lottery tickets in Skibbereen and another 50 in Dublin. He didn't fare any better in the country town than in the capital, proving with statistical precision that its luck is little more than a myth.But that didn't dampen the spirits of the locals.
"They didn't strike me as very superstitious, they struck me as very outgoing and optimistic," he said. "But it (Skibbereen) is imbued with this idea of being a very lucky place."
"I suspect what's happening is that, by chance, somewhere has to do well and it happens to be Skibbereen," he said.
Sep 8, 2005
Paul Hoskins, Reuters