By Todd Northrop
If the Illinois Lottery issued stocks, now would be the time to sell.
Despite widespread player sentiment that is strongly against computerized drawings, the Illinois Lottery stated Friday that it is dropping real lottery ball drawings, and moving to the despised computerized draws.
Computerized drawings are conducted by having a computer system that picks the winning numbers using a Random Number Generator, or "RNG". Players generally dislike the fact that it is impossible for a human to witness the drawing taking place, since it just consists of software running inside a computer.
Worse, computerized drawings have been at the heart of several instances of drawing errors that have gone unchecked sometimes for months at a time. They were also used to rig a Hot Lotto drawing. (See MUSL security worker who rigged drawing gets 10 years, Lottery Post, Sept. 9, 2015.)
Illinois lottery players should buy their tickets now, because real drawings won't last much longer. The dreaded new drawings will begin on Oct. 1. Computerized drawings will be used across the board, for Pick 3, Pick 4, Lotto with Extra Shot, and Lucky Day Lotto.
Illinois Lottery officials call the move to computerized drawings "exciting".
"For over 25 years, WGN-TV has been the television home of the Illinois Lottery," said B.R. Lane, Acting Director of the Illinois Lottery, in a statement. "While we have been proud to partner with WGN over the years, the new digital draw system will allow us to open an exciting new chapter in Illinois Lottery history, on behalf of our players."
For their part, WGN officials were gracious about the Illinois Lottery move.
"The Illinois Lottery has been a great partner with us over the years," said Greg Easterly, President and General Manager, WGN-TV. "They have decided to take their live lottery drawings in a different direction and we understand their changing business needs. We value and appreciate the long term relationship we have enjoyed with the Illinois Lottery."
The new "digital draw system" will utilize a Random Number Generator, or RNG, to select winning numbers. RNG systems are currently used by the Illinois Lottery for "quick picks" at retail locations, as well as to select winning numbers for raffle games.
Lottery Post has long railed against computerized drawings, and has warned about the possible dangers of computerized drawings since 2004. The rigging of the $16 million Hot Lotto drawing in 2011 occurred in the exact manner that Lottery Post described in its prescient warning.
More information regarding the digital draw system can be found at www.illinoislottery.com/dailydrawings.
Players who wish to voice their opinions to the Illinois Lottery can do so by sending them an e-mail at: LotteryInfo@NorthstarLottery.net.
In Case of R.N.G.
Press, HARD.
RNG? Seriously?. More like one step forward, 1000 steps backwards. Oh, I almost forgot, this is Illinois politics we are talking about. Shame!!!.
Gee, what're the odds.
ALERT Illinois: You're about to be Computerized.
Illinois lottery players are about to be hosed, for real.
Great reason to just stop playing. They have finally put the nail in the coffin. Leave it to these states that have went to computer to mess up a great lottery.. that is typical of politics and government getting involved long enough to screw things up... Good bye lottery.........
Essentially they turned every Lottery Retailer into a Toll Booth... WAY TO GO!!!
Lottery officials call the move "exciting"
Ever notice how these "officials" are "excited" by things that don't effect them on a retail level ?
I wonder how "excited" they'll be when they realize that many people that live near the border
are buying in other states !
Some already are B/C of the non-payment on prizes over $25G
R.I.P.
You hit the nail on the head. As a disgusted Illinois player well before I caught wind of this today you can be assured that I'm finished playing the Illinois Lottery. If there's not balls bouncing around they there's nothing "random" about it in my book. I'm honestly done and I already dropped my play about 60% over the last year anyhow when they started screwing around with the frequency, matrix's and payouts of Lucky Day. Illinois Lottery is no more than an open till for politicians. I can't believe they are stupid enough to shoot the golden goose, I'm mean that's straight insanity but good for them as I've hated them for years and even more now after sending Northstar packing but not changing back all the nonsense game changes. Goodnight Illinois Lottery and thanks for the extra money that will be lining my pockets starting day one when you stop pulling balls.
Another SAD DAY for us players....Those computers pick the less picked number to ensure the House wins and keeps high picked one out. Those are facts. Every state which uses it have doubled or even tripled their earnings and given high bonuses to the company which run them. Hate it!
Sounds like typical american politics to me.
Might start giving Indiana and Wisconsin a shot.
Don't these outfits ever learn? They keep circling the bowl until the suction takes them down.The sad part is that the hard earned money of the players goes down with their ridiculous ideas.Why did they not put this " exciting " idea to a vote by the playing public or better yet-"Read LP'S succinct thought on the matter? This is called ramming an idea down the throats of the players and telling them " Don't worry,like most medications it only tastes bad at first, but you'll get used to it."
Hey, Spartan, I'm in Georgia, and I can't prove it, but I have always suspected that the computer picked the least played numbers....our All or Nothing game is computerized by the way, and has been around for about 1 1/2 years and no one hardly wins....kinda suspicious to me.
Anyway, do you know where I can go to get facts or information on this.
Thanks
Might start giving Indiana and Wisconsin a shot.
wisCONsin, Pffff... CGN (Computer Generated Nonsense) a.k.a. RNG (Ridiculous Numbers Generator).
We know, when we lived there, we remember the CGN test game Badger 5 when they were going to RNG.
My take is for players who select diverse numbers (ie. 524, 100, 034, 7140, 2192, 9155, etc) on traditional numbers games (ie. Pick 3, Pick 4, etc) with no rolling jackpot, there will likely be little real change. While a RND is potentially less random than balls, the number distribution over long periods of time will near certain be similar - lotteries test for this, and so do many players; that's how various RND configuration problems have been discovered.
In my view, the most likely abuses of computer RND are:
On the flip-side, use of computer RND come with potential risks for the lotteries too:
Another abuse is redoing the draw / suppressing the results afterwards. However, this type of abuse can be done with regular balls too. How many lotteries perform truly live drawings all the time in front of an audience... Some are good about it, though not 100% consistent. Among the worse offenders, in my view, are the big jackpot (Powerball / Mega Millions) drawings. No studio audience, and often are delayed due to a "technical problem" - maybe it was, or maybe the lottery didn't like the results, and figured on a redo. It's another reason I rarely play MM / PB - I don't fully trust their process despite them using physical balls (except for the multiplier part).
Ultimately, it comes down to trust regardless of the draw method. Computer RND adds another way to abuse it, and is extremely difficult to scrutinize. Use of computer RND, even if implemented correctly and functioning properly, still reduces the faith many have in the draw process being fair.
MPM:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>but,........ WHAT CAN WE DO? 
A 
A BITCH
Maby, we can ask Lottery Post News to try and get information as to what type of RNG software they will
use and the suppliers name and company? It may take a year or two 2 get this data or they could provide
it upon a simple request to the Illinois Lottery Commissioners Office. Did the Illinois Lottery give a reason
for this BIG CHANGE? Do they need more wine, more women, more money or more paid corruption?????
Don't bother with Indiana we already use the R.N.G. drawings.
Indiana actually switched to real ball drawings for Daily 3 and Daily 4!
Illinois Senate consists of the following;
39 DEMOCRATS ---- 19 REPUBLICANS
Illinois House consists of the following;
70 DEMOCRATS ----- 47 Republicans
Wonder who could be the majority part of the problem with recent lottery concerns and changes ?
Yuck
Well, it just keeps getting better and better in Illinois.
First they don't pay, now they screw people with RNG draws.
I feel for you folks up there, and for you Coin Toss.
Haha I love how the title of this article is in all caps
You have a point as far as the risk for the lotteries. Do you remember for the PA Lottery day draws (which of course has always used a RNG) when 4444 was selected on October 25, 2004 and then the very next day on October 26, 2004 5555 was selected.
Can you imagine if we had RNG's back in the day when Nick Perry was involved with the lottery?
Read this.
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/294241/4289044
Those of us south of 183rd St in Chicago (actually I think it's south of Decatur) haven't seen a Chicago newscast, which included the lottery drawings, a Cubs or a White Sox game since WGN's new ownership decided not to be a super station anymore.
With the RNG drawings added to the non payments to winners of $25K or more it's like the Illinois lottery is trying to self-destruct.
So for Illinois the only ball drawings will b PB and MM but if you win between $25,000 and 5 + 0 you won't get paid......there's a Catch Yossarian!
Does it really make a difference to players who buy QPs and let a computer choose their numbers?
Yes, because if the drawing is rigged (as happened in Hot Lotto), then your Quick Picks don't even stand a chance of winning.
It matters.
Here's some additional reading on this subject that should be interesting. Compare these two different articles: