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Six predestined numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 - brought $156 million to Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, a character on the ABC television show "Lost."

However, the money also brought a string of incredibly bad luck into the life of Hurley and those around him.

On Jan. 7, 1,637 Floridians played these fated numbers in hopes of millions, said Alfred Bea, communications manager at the Florida Lottery.

But if they aren't careful, they and all lottery winners could end up just like Hurley - lost.

Nearly one third of all lottery winners go bankrupt, according to the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. Web site.

The yearly payments prove cumbersome for some winners. The People's Lottery Foundation, a company created to give loans to winners if they run out of money early, was created for this reason.

Millions still play in Florida, even though the odds of winning the lotto jackpot are 1 in 22,957,480, according to the Florida Lottery Web site.

Bea said he sees the lottery as a fair chance for everyone to win millions.

"That is the beauty and the fairness of the Florida lotto game - every combination of numbers has an equal chance of coming up," he said.

Bea said people pick numbers from random billboards or TV shows such as "Lost."

All numbers are worth trying, he said.

Suzanne Mullins, a 1993 jackpot winner from Roanoke, Va., destined to receive 20 annual payments of $47,778.84, took out a loan in 1998 for $197,746.15. She still owed $154,147 in November 2004, according to The Associated Press article on the Ringler Associates Web site.

Gerald Muswagon, a Winnepeg, Canada, $10 million winner in 1998, hung himself Oct. 2, 2004 after spending all of his winnings in just 7 years, according to the Brandon Sun Web site.

Because most winners do not receive guidance on how to invest their money, handling the millions is more of a detriment than a help, according to the Investment News magazine Web site.

Amber Brice, an avid lottery player, "Lost" fan and college student, said her parents have played the lottery every week since she was a little girl.

"Every time I go to the gas station, if I have a spare dollar, I play it," she said.

Even though Brice knows lottery winners have problems, she said it will not stop her from playing.

"You never know when you are going to win," she said.

The most recent Florida winner, April Martin, 20, was the first resident of Okeechobee to ever win the lottery, and decided to split the $46 million among her four siblings and parents. She also decided to take the money in 30 payments, according to a press release on the Florida Lottery Web site.

"This is going to be an amazing Christmas," April said in the press release.

Unlike Hurley from "Lost," Martin's winning numbers were 3, 4, 5, 9, 44 and 51. No word how long these numbers' luck will last for Martin.