American illusionist David Copperfield said Sunday he was bombarded by requests for tips on the winning numbers in Germany"s national lottery Saturday night -- numbers he said he had predicted seven months ago.
Copperfield wrote down his forecast on Feb. 17 for the multi-million mark lottery drawing due Saturday Oct. 13. The prediction was sealed by a notary and locked in a box that was kept under round-the-clock surveillance.
One hour after the winning numbers were drawn, the box was opened on a live television broadcast and the numbers on the slip of paper matched the winning draw: 2, 9, 10, 15, 25, 38, 4.
``It wasn"t a trick,"" Copperfield told Bild am Sonntag newspaper after the Saturday night performance on the popular ""Wanna Bet?"" broadcast on ZDF television. ``It was more an experiment and mental exercise. We only use about 10 percent of our brain capacity.""
Copperfield said he doesn"t participate in lotteries because ``I find them boring. I"m not a gambler."" He said he isn"t tempted to play the lottery himself because then he wouldn"t be able to ``see"" the numbers.