Cantonese-speaking China and the diaspora
Eight is the number of prosperity: in Cantonese 八 (baat) sounds close to 發 (faat), “to prosper”. This one is measurable in money — licence plates heavy with eights have fetched extraordinary sums at Hong Kong auctions, and the preference shows up in property pricing.
Beijing, 2008
The Beijing Olympics opened on 8 August 2008 at 8:08 in the evening. Nothing about that hour was accidental.
Smorfia napoletana'A Madonnathe Madonna
Cultural interest — does not change your odds.
What the machines actually did with 8, across every lottery this site holds a long record for.
Across 5 lotteries that hold an 8, its average deviation from expectation is −0.47σ. Statistically ordinary, everywhere.
The one thing a belief about a number can measurably do is change how many people play it — and a jackpot shared more ways is worth less to each winner. That is the only real consequence, and it is arithmetic rather than folklore.