|
|
Tennessee Lottery computerized drawings flawed since inception
Tennessee Lottery: Tennessee Lottery computerized drawings flawed since inception
Rating:
Lottery throws all blame on a contractor; players bear the brunt A month ago, Tennessee Lottery officials claimed the state's new computerized drawings would be "exciting". What Tennessee lottery players got instead were buggy, unfair drawings, in which almost half the numbers people picked had no chance whatsoever of winning. The severely flawed drawings have been happening every day since computerized drawings replaced the lottery's real mechanical ball drawings more than three weeks ago. That's a total of 80 Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings in which almost half the lottery ticket players bought were unwinnable. The flaw in the drawings prevented two of the same numbers from appearing together, in what players refer to as "doubles" and "triples", and in Pick 4, "quads". The lottery is offering refunds to players with tickets with doubles, triples, or quads, but if you threw out your losing ticket, then you've lost twice. Only players producing qualifying tickets will get a refund. In a press release issued today, the Tennessee Lottery blamed a "programming issue" for the bad drawings. The programming issue , which impacted the last three weeks of Cash 3 and Cash 4 drawings, was discovered yesterday, and was attributed to human error made by an outside, third party vendor. The lottery did not state if they bothered to run any pretests, which in the lottery industry are designed to catch flaws before they impact players. Instead, the only blame cast by the lottery was on the unnamed outside vendor. In a statement released today, the lottery's CEO expressed "regrets" for the error, and then attempted to shift attention to education, even though it is unrelated to computerized drawings. "Once the issue was pinpointed, it was corrected immediately," said Rebecca Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery. "The Tennessee Lottery sincerely regrets what happened and wants to reassure our players and everyone in Tennessee that the drawings have been rectified and we will continue to move forward with our mission to maximize dollars for education." For those who selected two or more of the same numbers in a play for Cash 3 or Cash 4 during the past 23 days (July 28 through Aug. 20) and who still have their tickets, the Lottery is offering a double refund for the price of each affected play or two free plays equal to the value of the affected plays. For those who play Cash 3 or Cash 4 for the next 23 days, from Aug. 22 until Sept. 13, the Lottery will offer additional cash prizes. Players can win up to $599 in Cash 3 and up to $6,000 in Cash 4. The lottery announced they would try to fix any problems caused by the outside consultant by hiring another consultant. "Although we are confident with the application adjustment made yesterday by our third party vendor, we are seeking an outside consultant to review the entire process." The lottery did not state if they were considering a switch back to real mechanical ball drawings.
Lottery Post Staff
We'd love to see your comments here! Register for a FREE membership — it takes just a few moments — and you'll be able to post comments here and on any of our forums.
If you're already a member, you can Log In to post a comment.
32 comments. Last comment 2 years ago by .
Florida United States Member #6257 August 8, 2004 1396 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 7:11 pm - IP Logged |
|
I hear the sound of the first shoe dropping!
|
|
|
Stroudsburg, PA United States Member #1860 July 11, 2003 2597 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 7:52 pm - IP Logged |
|
I hear the sound of the first shoe dropping! Mark my words, the Tennessee Lottery will not learn anything from this. Remember when the same number came up three times in a row in the Kansas Pick 3, a billion to one occurance, or when Daily Derby in CA had it's own flaw. They didn't learn anything because they are still drawn with the same flawed technology. I can't see any reason the situation here in Tennessee will be any different. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I probably will be right.
|
|
|
Hamilton, OH United States Member #4236 March 27, 2004 168 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 9:00 pm - IP Logged |
|
When I was a kid, my calculator could do better random numbers. Seed cosine based on time to nanosecond of drawing individual balls. I still like the balls. Keep them honest. Must be a money thing for the lottery officials. If I was a programmer, I would put in a backdoor or a bomb. Win me a lottery the old fashioned way, steal it.
|
|
|
Clarksville United States Member #489 July 15, 2002 9131 Posts Online |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 9:06 pm - IP Logged |
|
I am so glad I still have my tickets. a 2 fer isn't bad. I am going to enjoy this..(I think). The draws should be mostly doubles coming up. It takes Everyone's input to HIT the number..all are equally important.
|
|
|
Chief Bottle Washer New Jersey United States Member #1 May 31, 2000 17000 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 9:28 pm - IP Logged |
|
Mark my words, the Tennessee Lottery will not learn anything from this. Remember when the same number came up three times in a row in the Kansas Pick 3, a billion to one occurance, or when Daily Derby in CA had it's own flaw. They didn't learn anything because they are still drawn with the same flawed technology. I can't see any reason the situation here in Tennessee will be any different. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I probably will be right. Sadly, I agree. There is a Forest Gump saying that comes to mind.
|
|
|
Coastal Georgia United States Member #2703 October 30, 2003 1868 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 9:32 pm - IP Logged |
|
"The lottery announced they would try to fix any problems caused by the outside consultant by hiring another consultant".  Why are we not surprised by this ? This is exactly what we all feared when Tenn went to this system and lo and behold it happened. The best way to fix this is to stop playing. See if that get's Rebeccas attention.
|
|
|
Hamilton, OH United States Member #4236 March 27, 2004 168 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 9:35 pm - IP Logged |
|
Sadly, I agree. There is a Forest Gump saying that comes to mind. OOO, oooo; stupid is as stupid does. Ping pong balls are much nicer.
|
|
|
Chief Bottle Washer New Jersey United States Member #1 May 31, 2000 17000 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 9:36 pm - IP Logged |
|
When I was a kid, my calculator could do better random numbers. Seed cosine based on time to nanosecond of drawing individual balls. I still like the balls. Keep them honest. Must be a money thing for the lottery officials. If I was a programmer, I would put in a backdoor or a bomb. Win me a lottery the old fashioned way, steal it. I agree, but I don't think it was even their RNG. It was just an incredibly BAD programming error, which should have EASILY been caught. Obviously, the Tennessee Lottery did NOT do any semblance of due diligence on the new draw system, or it would have been caught, as the article states. I'll bet that the RNG did not spit out any doubles or triples because it was setup exactly like the Pick 5 game, in which it is not allowed to draw duplicates. So all they did is change the possible numbers that could be drawn, and did not alter the rules to allow duplicates. This is absolutely horrendous. The CEO is directly responsible for this, as that's where the buck stops. Yet she tries to cast the blame on a contractor, rather than admitting that the lottery did not do the proper due diligence. I am outraged, and I don't even live there. I can't imagine what you Tennesseeans must feel like. You have all been repeatedly slapped in the face, while the lottery tries to convince you that someone else is at fault.
|
|
|
nashville United States Member #50355 February 18, 2007 907 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 10:08 pm - IP Logged |
|
I agree, but I don't think it was even their RNG. It was just an incredibly BAD programming error, which should have EASILY been caught. Obviously, the Tennessee Lottery did NOT do any semblance of due diligence on the new draw system, or it would have been caught, as the article states. I'll bet that the RNG did not spit out any doubles or triples because it was setup exactly like the Pick 5 game, in which it is not allowed to draw duplicates. So all they did is change the possible numbers that could be drawn, and did not alter the rules to allow duplicates. This is absolutely horrendous. The CEO is directly responsible for this, as that's where the buck stops. Yet she tries to cast the blame on a contractor, rather than admitting that the lottery did not do the proper due diligence. I am outraged, and I don't even live there. I can't imagine what you Tennesseeans must feel like. You have all been repeatedly slapped in the face, while the lottery tries to convince you that someone else is at fault.  hopefully this will cause more people to join the boycott of the RNG games here until they lose enough money to go back to balls.
|
|
|
Michigan United States Member #54649 August 8, 2007 95 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 10:17 pm - IP Logged |
|
I Don't Like It Either! I like to witness the drawing in real time; mechanical, not computerized. Computerized drawings..... anything can happen. When you got a huge Jackpot up for grabs, people are going to be P/O! They're NOT going to be happy campers! To say the least Here in Michigan, the 3 digit game, and 4 digit game are still mechanical. But the Keno, Fantasy 5, and Classic Lotto 47.... I'm not so sure. Everytime I looked at the drawings on tv @ 7:29pm here in MI, and after the 3 & 4 digit games were drawn all the person says is " And the rest of the winning numbers are NOW, on your screen". And then they show the numbers. That's It!! Good Nite! and Good Luck! They don't show how they were drawn (like they use to, years ago, with other lotto games by the mechanical rotating balls dropping into the different slots of the machine. A progammer can do anything. And when you have a team, look out!
|
|
|
North New Jersey United States Member #5812 July 18, 2004 11617 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 10:25 pm - IP Logged |
|
I've said it before, stop buying lottery tickets and see how quick they have a change of heart about computerized drawings. Thats the government spirit, spend more money to an outside consultant...>>>>>>?? I really feel sorry for the people of Tenn...!  This is one Sweet ride clyde...!
So, what has "hope and change" done for you lately??
|
|
|
Delaware United States Member #30650 January 14, 2006 493 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 11:14 pm - IP Logged |
|
To the Tennessee Lottery: Prove to me beyond the shadow of the doubt that you didn't do this on purpose and only regret getting caught. Any references to education will discredit your argument in full. I'd wait to hear your response but I have better things to do with my time than listen to your silence.
|
|
|
Atlantic Mine, Michigan United States Member #417 June 23, 2002 1593 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 11:14 pm - IP Logged |
|
Wow....that is all I can say....wow Brad
|
|
|
Just outside of Cleveland, OH United States Member #54547 August 3, 2007 83 Posts Offline |
| Posted: August 21, 2007, 11:50 pm - IP Logged |
|
When I was a kid, my calculator could do better random numbers. Seed cosine based on time to nanosecond of drawing individual balls. I still like the balls. Keep them honest. Must be a money thing for the lottery officials. If I was a programmer, I would put in a backdoor or a bomb. Win me a lottery the old fashioned way, steal it. One of the stories,that I had read on this site about another state changing earlier this year, claimed cost effectiveness of the computer system over the ping pong ball method. I guess if they can eliminate another job and replace it with computers that don't need food, clothing or medical insurance, then the computer IS cost effective--until using a computer draw becomes a liability (i.e.--till TN citizens stop playing the P3 and P4 games) PS Jeffrey--Steal one for me while you're at it.
|
|
|
|