Falling in lockstep with a controversial industry trend, the Missouri Lottery decided to change its lottery drawings from mechanical lottery ball machines to a random number generator computer system.
Opponents of the computerized drawings say that computers cannot achieve the true randomness of a physical drawing mechanism, mainly due to computers' inherent non-random properties.
In addition, with computer hacking, viruses, and tampering on the rise, concerned citizens worry about the potential of abuse or fraud.
Computerized drawings are typically accomplished using two or three personal computers isolated in a special room. When the drawing time arrives, instead of drawing numbered ping pong balls from a spinning drum, one of the computers chooses the winning numbers using program code designed to simulate random numbers.
A Random Number Generator (RNG) works by starting with a seed number and performing a series of complex calculations on that number. The result of the calculations is a "random" number. However, since the computer is performing a fixed series of calculations, opponents say that the computer will tend to generate patterns of numbers, instead of a true random sampling.
Most RNGs are programmed to periodically change the seed value, which will theoretically alter any patterns created. But this is not enough to satisfy those who also link the practice of computerized drawings to the potential for abuse.
Critics say that crafty computer hackers could clandestinely alter the computer code to produce whatever drawing results they wish. Further, if computer hackers are able to bypass anticipated "checksum" tamper detection, a breach could go undetected.
Video monitoring of the drawing process would not reveal the inner workings of the program code, and is therefore not a viable means of validating the results. In fact, if the program code is compromised, video monitoring could provide a false sense of security that the drawing is operating properly.
Another tactic of state lotteries to persuade the public is to cite decreased annual costs of computerized drawings. Again, opponents are not impressed.
With the Missouri Lottery estimating cost savings of $80,000 annually, critics say that decreased sales due to suspicions of the drawing process could easily eclipse that figure. Additionally, with total 2003 sales of $708.5 million, an $80,000 savings hardly seems worth the gamble.
The controversy surrounding computerized drawings has been voiced in other states as well.
In Indiana, the cause has been taken on by State Rep. Robert Alderman, R-Fort Wayne, who is investigating the state's number-selection process. (Are Computerized Lottery Drawings Truly Random?, Lottery Post, June 21, 2004)
Despite the controversy, the computerized drawings appear to be gaining momentum.
Below we present the full text of the Missouri Lottery press release regarding the state's recent changes to their drawings and games.
Lottery Makes Changes to Drawings, Pay Outs, Features
During the next couple of weeks, the Missouri Lottery will be making some changes to its drawings and daily on-line games to add convenience, enhance security and save costs. The changes include converting to an automated drawing system for daily Numbers Games drawings, adding a midday drawing for daily Numbers Games, raising some Pick 3 and Pick 4 payouts, introducing a four-week bonus ball promotion for the midday Pick 3 drawings, and eliminating the Xtra play feature.
Drawings
Beginning July 19, an automated drawing system will be used to select the winning numbers for the Missouri Lotterys Pick 3, Pick 4, SHOW ME 5 Paydown and Lotto games. The winning numbers will then be broadcast using three-dimensional animation on participating television stations.
The new drawing system, which utilizes computers and random-number generation to select winning numbers, will enable the Lottery to improve security and reduce costs by eliminating expensive mechanical draw equipment.
The three-dimensional draw show will be broadcast at the regular time 6:57 p.m. on participating stations, including KTVI Fox 2 in St. Louis. Video of the automated drawings will also be streamed on the Missouri Lotterys Web site after the drawings.
Gary Gonder, director of communications for the Missouri Lottery, said discussion to convert to the new draw system started when the Lottery began researching the costs of replacing its aging drawing equipment. He said the conversion is expected to save the Lottery more than $192,000 in equipment replacement costs and $80,000 annually in production expenses.
Midday Drawings
Also, beginning July 26, a second daily drawing Midday draws will be introduced for the Lotterys three daily games, Pick 3, Pick 4 and SHOW ME 5 Paydown. The Midday draws, which will be held at 12:57 p.m., will be conducted using the new draw system, and they will be streamed to the Lotterys Web site.
Gonder noted that the Missouri Lottery has had two years of experience using computerized-number drawings since the introduction of Club Keno in May 2002.
Those drawings happen every five minutes, 21 hours, every day, and we have found that computerized drawings work, Gonder said about Club Keno.
The Lotterys new automated system utilizes a variety of new technology to improve the security of the drawings. The new computerized system software is loaded onto three independent computers that are housed in a secure draw room located next to the Lotterys main computer room at headquarters in Jefferson City. These draw computers are not connected to the Internet or any other network source. The room has no other phone or data lines from which to send or receive information.
The system will be operated by a draw manager and an independent auditor, who will conduct a series of system pre-tests and the actual draws, Gonder said. Prior to conducting pre-tests and draws, the new draw system uses special software to determine if anyone has tampered with the draw equipment since the last draw.
After confirming that no activity has taken place since the last draw, the draw manager will conduct a pre-test for all games to ensure the random-number generator is working properly.
Only then will the drawings take place. The new system is designed to permit only one drawing of a game per draw date. Only the designated drawing personnel and independent auditor will be allowed in the room during a drawing, and every drawing is video monitored by the computer room operator.
Security of the drawings has always been of the utmost importance, Gonder said. Weve taken additional steps with this system to ensure that security and integrity of the drawings are maintained.
Video monitors are located outside of the draw room to allow anyone, including the general public, to watch the drawings as they occur.
People always think of computers as things that are connected to the internet, so they are worried about hackers getting into the program. The computers are NOT connected to anywhere outside the room they are in. There isn't even a telephone line in the room!!
California does the Daily 3 (twice a day) and the Fantasy 5 (once a day) using computers in the same manner as Missouri. I agree 100% that the computer can not pick truly random numbers. This is a long-running discussion (argument??) in the field of mathmatics as well as cryptography. But we agree that the numbers can not be random, but random enough so that the bias that is in the program can not be detected. The discussion revolves around the question of "Is there anything in the world that is truly random?" That question starts a feeding frenzy in the two scientific fields I mentioned!
I have personally hacked into computers that are not connected to anything. Once you gain physical access to a computer it's easy. And I'm sure you don't think that the Missouri Lottery has security as good as Fort Knox.
At least with ballsets, you can physically audit the balls and machines without being a rocket scientist. However, if someone were to alter the computer code, it could stay hidden for months or years.
Convenience, enhanced security, and cost savings says the Missouri Lottery. Convenience possibly, but in the long run as far as security and the claim of overall cost savings considering those who will probably go elsewhere with their lottery dollars after the switch...I'd say 'nein weise' no way to both. Additionally, I wonder how much that new animated three-dimensional number display system will cost the lottery? Keep the mechancial drawing machines and the numbered drawing balls!
John, you're right. In the same vein, if a bunch of NASA rocket scientists can send a probe all the way to Mars and then make a rounding error that sends the probe crashing into the planet, don't you think a couple of government lottery programmers can make a bug or two (or a security hole)?
BTW, absolutely no offense is intended to any government computer programmers - it's definitely not a cut on you, it's a cut on the decision to drop the ball machines.
There is so much inherent fraud that can accompany computer generated lottery picks, that I will quit playing the game if IL decides to go this route and go back to collecting stamps and coins....at least they are a relatively honest hobby.
To my IL buds, if this happens here, I'm gone and it won't be because of computer problems.
Take heed, lotto directors...we don't want your fraudulent approaches to what once was a decent game, even though you take 50% of the proceeds for education....(by the way the 50% goes to the current existing education budget....the now-extra 50% goes to their whims.....did you guys know that?)
Don't kill your cash cow lotto-folks. You're making the casinos and race tracks look a whole lot more appealing.....and one more thing...get your IL budget together...do not threaten lottery winners with late payments while you folks get your fiscal act together. If I ran my company like that, I'd be fired tomorrow.
Shame on all of you lottery directors...I've seen nothing but fraud in your processes lately and a 50% take is unheard of in any form of gambling. Come back at me, I'm waiting for your responses. Bunch of BS to me.
PS....What happens when we go to computerized elections? There are over 250 new viruses detected each month on the internet. Who's the boss here?...the lame-brain hackers who get off on ruining your $1000 computer investment and/or discount your important vote, or those of us who wish to fight for our democratic right to vote for our candidate in a fair and accurate manner?
I'll pull my chads off cleanly so my vote gets counted....and if it doesn't get counted or goes "computerized", I'm taking to the streets to fight for good old-fashioned 1776 democracy, when it actually counted and meant something.
I am not a computer wiz, but I know I can come up with a series of numbers that are extremely unlikely to come in as a three-some. My more knowlegegable computer wiz's would be the first ones to agree with this statement.
Ball machines have been good enough for the last 30 years or so, so why the heck do they seem so determined to switch to computerized drawings? The lottery officials must think they are going to make the game more difficult to win or they would not even mess with it. Lottery officials are DIRTY people! The job that they have is too make sure that nobody wins the game. I'm sure they think they are screwing us over somehow! Somebody needs to write a letter to president Bush, maybe he can do something about this! This is a serious matter!
Residents of Big Mo should watch for an upcoming announcement stating that live drawings will no longer be broadcast due to lack of player interest. That's how it happened in Indiana, except that Indiana actually downloaded their RNG from a public site on the internet.
Security for these machines is considerably less bulletproof than for the ball machines. In my home state, one of our official draw machines is actually housed at one of the Hoosier Lottery's vendors, Scientific Games, Inc. Oddly, they don't see this as a conflict of interest. Again, I'm going to point out that if something is computerized, it uses a PROM or an EPROM, which means that it can be programmed. In addition, a simple if/ then statement added to the end of the call command would enable an insider to predetermine the number, and even an audit won't reveal any wrongdoing if the perpetrator deletes the errant code. He can just put it back again next week, and who would be the wiser?
Indiana also claimed that they made the switch to an RNG to save money. In fact, they estimate their annual savings to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $600k per year. However, their annual report shows that they lost $100 million in revenues in the year 2000, their first year using the RNG. Their earnings have never recovered to pre-2000 levels, so how much money have they actually saved?
The ONLY viable reason that any state would switch from the standard, universally-accepted ping-pong ball method to a computerized electronic random number generator is that the RNG makes it very simple to manipulate their online games. They can minimize payouts on their daily Pick-3, Pick-4 and Pick-5 games, thus increasing revenues. Also, they can increase their lotto jackpot amounts by rolling the jackpot over and over, thereby increasing ticket sales.
I would suggest Missouri players check into this further and find out what prompted the change. If your state is deeply in debt, as Indiana is, you might want to find a border state in which to spend your lottery dollars. You might want to run to a border state, and take your money with you, while it's still your money.
This is a very bad situation but, unfortunately, you'll find your lawmakers and public powers, for the most part, unsympathetic to sound arguments againt the infernal machine. Your Attorney General will tell you that if any wrongdoing is discovered, he'll be defending the criminals against your charges. Your State Representatives will want to cover up the criminal activity so that the people who cheated the population of an entire state won't go to jail or even lose their jobs. The FBI won't get involved because they don't want to offend state government agencies, on whom they depend for cooperation in federal investigations.
The best you can do is to find an honest newspaper reporter, such as Kevin Leininger of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, who is willing to work with you for as long as it takes to get enough evidence to make a story. Hopefully, the good people of Missouri will be more interested in the situation than the ignorant population of my home state. Residents of Indiana, apparently, don't care that they're being cheated, or perhaps they just can't read; the story appeared on the front page. I fully expected the newspaper to be flooded with letters to the editor following the publication of the Hoosier Lottery frauds. The actual number of indignant replies: 0. That's right; not one letter. Kevin did an excellent job writing the article, and LosingJeff certainly did his part, so I can only fault my fellow Hoosiers for stupidly failing to respond.
To all my friends in Missouri, you have my deepest and most heartfelt sympathies, as I know what you're up against. Organize. Gather in force. Visit havoc upon your public officials and express your outrage. Contact your local newspapers. Write a letter to the editor and ask your neighbor to write one as well. If that doesn't get the results you seek, write another and, this time, ask two or three of your neighbors to write, too. If it's just one or two of you trying to change things, you probably won't have much luck, but I don't think you'll have that problem in Missouri. After all, your residents know how to read a newspaper, and I'm sure they can also write.
I don't suppose a few of you would consider moving to Indiana? We could really use the help, and it would also boost Indiana's collective IQ to somewhere close to that of plant life.
Bryan, I hadn't heard of the gas gizmo, but it just goes to show how electonic things can easily be manipulated.
Public safety officials in IL designed a system for changing stop lights to green for their progress to an emergency. Now common folks own these things just because they're in a hurry to get soewhere. Hope the poor souls needing the medical sevice don't suffer from this selfishness.
Good luck in MO, Bryan, and like Jim said, fight it tooth and nail or quit playing if it happens.
One more thing, does anyone trust pick 3 draws that are not publicly televised so the players feel some concept of honesty in the draws? It seems to me that the cost of televising a drawing is a small pittance compared to lost revenues as Jim pointed out so well what has happened in his state.
Funny thing is, most states' midday drawings generate zero revenue, and are actually loss leaders.
In Indiana, for example, the midday Pick-3 game makes only 5% of what the evening game brings in. The same figures hold true for their Daily-4 midday game vs. the evening game, so they're actually losing money on both of these midday draws, if you use the figures from their annual report.
When a state changes its drawing format, they can safely add a midday drawing since the practice draws will essentially nullify the influence of the law of averages in both the midday and evening draws. In other words, the two drawings you don't see, the ones that take place before the actual drawing to ensure that the machine is operating properly, will absorb any apparent discrepancies in the average number of times any given digit will appear within a defined period of time (Oh, yes; that's much clearer...??!).
Simply put, for each drawing, they actually perform two practice draws, the results of which you will never see. It would be like skipping two days of entering data into your system grids for, say, the evening Pick-4 game in a state that uses ping-pong balls. Do you think you could make accurate predictions by tracking only three draws a week in your state's game?
Using an RNG also cuts down severely on the number of winners. This is a principle the state lotteries just don't get; winners sell tickets. When I won $6,800 in the Pick-4, everybody in town (so it seemed) suddenly began buying tickets for a game they hadn't previously thought about twice. "But," they reasoned, "if he can do it, I can do it," and they were ostensibly correct in that assumption. These lottery commissioners act as though the prize money were coming out of their pockets, and they need to be made to understand the concept of the game: People play the lottery to win money, not to donate their disposable income to the state.
A friend of mine tells this story:
"Every year, I put $100.00 on the Cubbies to win the Superbowl. The odds are in the neighborhood of 1 in 100 billion, but if they win just once, I'll be richer than Bill Gates."
Putting a dollar on the Pick-3 or Pick-4 number in Indiana is a similar gamble, but with a considerably smaller payoff.
I guess I just don't see why any business that generates hundreds of millions of dollars per year would make it a priority to save a few thousand bucks at the expense of its own customer base. In my opinion, the Missouri legislature has just put a price on its integrity, and that price is $80,000.00.
Eventually, the state lotteries will put themselves out of business with all this money they're saving with their RNG's.
Interesting the offending press release seems to have vanished off the Missouri lottery web site. They now have this which makes it sound like they are continuing regular type draws, but I suspect it's a trick to wean players off the normal draw with real balls instead of the computerized fake drawing.
"Pick 3 tickets will be in high demand starting Monday, July 26. To kick off the new midday drawings, the Missouri Lottery will run a four-week Pick 3 Midday Bonus Numbers Promotion, in which midday Pick 3 players will have an extra chance to win. After the regular midday Pick 3 drawing, Lottery personnel will draw from seven balls in a separate container; six of the balls are white and one of the balls is orange. If the orange ball is drawn, Lottery drawing officials will draw a second set of Pick 3 numbers, giving the player two chances to win. If a white ball is drawn, it will be held out of the next days drawing and remain out of the mix until the orange ball is drawn. Whenever the orange ball is drawn, all seven balls will be replaced for the next midday Pick 3 draw. The promotion will end Aug. 21.color=#0000ffPROMOTIon DETAILS "
Oddly enough, I can't find the promo details you are referring to. I even clicked the link you provided. It said, it was a dead link...hmmm? They have used the orange ball method to boost sales before when things got a little slow for the P3. And considering the letter MO lottery sent to me the other day they will have to use the ball machines to have a second drawing. According to that letter the programming of the new computerized drawing system only allows one draw per day per game. It is one of the security measures...hmmm?
Hot Lotto (not available in Missouri) draws numbered balls.
People always think of computers as things that are connected to the internet, so they are worried about hackers getting into the program. The computers are NOT connected to anywhere outside the room they are in. There isn't even a telephone line in the room!!
California does the Daily 3 (twice a day) and the Fantasy 5 (once a day) using computers in the same manner as Missouri. I agree 100% that the computer can not pick truly random numbers. This is a long-running discussion (argument??) in the field of mathmatics as well as cryptography. But we agree that the numbers can not be random, but random enough so that the bias that is in the program can not be detected. The discussion revolves around the question of "Is there anything in the world that is truly random?" That question starts a feeding frenzy in the two scientific fields I mentioned!
I have personally hacked into computers that are not connected to anything. Once you gain physical access to a computer it's easy. And I'm sure you don't think that the Missouri Lottery has security as good as Fort Knox.
At least with ballsets, you can physically audit the balls and machines without being a rocket scientist. However, if someone were to alter the computer code, it could stay hidden for months or years.
Bring back the balls!
Convenience, enhanced security, and cost savings says the Missouri Lottery. Convenience possibly, but in the long run as far as security and the claim of overall cost savings considering those who will probably go elsewhere with their lottery dollars after the switch...I'd say 'nein weise' no way to both. Additionally, I wonder how much that new animated three-dimensional number display system will cost the lottery? Keep the mechancial drawing machines and the numbered drawing balls!
Computers cannot be trusted.
MP
Hey Todd,
Again I s
Coffee? I didn't get no st
John, you're right. In the same vein, if a bunch of NASA rocket scientists can send a probe all the way to Mars and then make a rounding error that sends the probe crashing into the planet, don't you think a couple of government lottery programmers can make a bug or two (or a security hole)?
BTW, absolutely no offense is intended to any government computer programmers - it's definitely not a cut on you, it's a cut on the decision to drop the ball machines.
There is so much inherent fraud that can accompany computer generated lottery picks, that I will quit playing the game if IL decides to go this route and go back to collecting stamps and coins....at least they are a relatively honest hobby.
To my IL buds, if this happens here, I'm gone and it won't be because of computer problems.
Take heed, lotto directors...we don't want your fraudulent approaches to what once was a decent game, even though you take 50% of the proceeds for education....(by the way the 50% goes to the current existing education budget....the now-extra 50% goes to their whims.....did you guys know that?)
Don't kill your cash cow lotto-folks. You're making the casinos and race tracks look a whole lot more appealing.....and one more thing...get your IL budget together...do not threaten lottery winners with late payments while you folks get your fiscal act together. If I ran my company like that, I'd be fired tomorrow.
Shame on all of you lottery directors...I've seen nothing but fraud in your processes lately and a 50% take is unheard of in any form of gambling. Come back at me, I'm waiting for your responses. Bunch of BS to me.
PS....What happens when we go to computerized elections? There are over 250 new viruses detected each month on the internet. Who's the boss here?...the lame-brain hackers who get off on ruining your $1000 computer investment and/or discount your important vote, or those of us who wish to fight for our democratic right to vote for our candidate in a fair and accurate manner?
I'll pull my chads off cleanly so my vote gets counted....and if it doesn't get counted or goes "computerized", I'm taking to the streets to fight for good old-fashioned 1776 democracy, when it actually counted and meant something.
I am not a computer wiz, but I know I can come up with a series of numbers that are extremely unlikely to come in as a three-some. My more knowlegegable computer wiz's would be the first ones to agree with this statement.
GO RICK! You hit it on th
Ball machines have been good enough for the last 30 years or so, so why the heck do they seem so determined to switch to computerized drawings? The lottery officials must think they are going to make the game more difficult to win or they would not even mess with it. Lottery officials are DIRTY people! The job that they have is too make sure that nobody wins the game. I'm sure they think they are screwing us over somehow! Somebody needs to write a letter to president Bush, maybe he can do something about this! This is a serious matter!
Residents of Big Mo should watch for an upcoming announcement stating that live drawings will no longer be broadcast due to lack of player interest. That's how it happened in Indiana, except that Indiana actually downloaded their RNG from a public site on the internet.
Security for these machines is considerably less bulletproof than for the ball machines. In my home state, one of our official draw machines is actually housed at one of the Hoosier Lottery's vendors, Scientific Games, Inc. Oddly, they don't see this as a conflict of interest. Again, I'm going to point out that if something is computerized, it uses a PROM or an EPROM, which means that it can be programmed. In addition, a simple if/ then statement added to the end of the call command would enable an insider to predetermine the number, and even an audit won't reveal any wrongdoing if the perpetrator deletes the errant code. He can just put it back again next week, and who would be the wiser?
Indiana also claimed that they made the switch to an RNG to save money. In fact, they estimate their annual savings to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $600k per year. However, their annual report shows that they lost $100 million in revenues in the year 2000, their first year using the RNG. Their earnings have never recovered to pre-2000 levels, so how much money have they actually saved?
The ONLY viable reason that any state would switch from the standard, universally-accepted ping-pong ball method to a computerized electronic random number generator is that the RNG makes it very simple to manipulate their online games. They can minimize payouts on their daily Pick-3, Pick-4 and Pick-5 games, thus increasing revenues. Also, they can increase their lotto jackpot amounts by rolling the jackpot over and over, thereby increasing ticket sales.
I would suggest Missouri players check into this further and find out what prompted the change. If your state is deeply in debt, as Indiana is, you might want to find a border state in which to spend your lottery dollars. You might want to run to a border state, and take your money with you, while it's still your money.
This is a very bad situation but, unfortunately, you'll find your lawmakers and public powers, for the most part, unsympathetic to sound arguments againt the infernal machine. Your Attorney General will tell you that if any wrongdoing is discovered, he'll be defending the criminals against your charges. Your State Representatives will want to cover up the criminal activity so that the people who cheated the population of an entire state won't go to jail or even lose their jobs. The FBI won't get involved because they don't want to offend state government agencies, on whom they depend for cooperation in federal investigations.
The best you can do is to find an honest newspaper reporter, such as Kevin Leininger of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, who is willing to work with you for as long as it takes to get enough evidence to make a story. Hopefully, the good people of Missouri will be more interested in the situation than the ignorant population of my home state. Residents of Indiana, apparently, don't care that they're being cheated, or perhaps they just can't read; the story appeared on the front page. I fully expected the newspaper to be flooded with letters to the editor following the publication of the Hoosier Lottery frauds. The actual number of indignant replies: 0. That's right; not one letter. Kevin did an excellent job writing the article, and LosingJeff certainly did his part, so I can only fault my fellow Hoosiers for stupidly failing to respond.
To all my friends in Missouri, you have my deepest and most heartfelt sympathies, as I know what you're up against. Organize. Gather in force. Visit havoc upon your public officials and express your outrage. Contact your local newspapers. Write a letter to the editor and ask your neighbor to write one as well. If that doesn't get the results you seek, write another and, this time, ask two or three of your neighbors to write, too. If it's just one or two of you trying to change things, you probably won't have much luck, but I don't think you'll have that problem in Missouri. After all, your residents know how to read a newspaper, and I'm sure they can also write.
I don't suppose a few of you would consider moving to Indiana? We could really use the help, and it would also boost Indiana's collective IQ to somewhere close to that of plant life.
Good luck, Missouri!
Jim, we are adding a midday
Jim, very good post.Thank you.
Bryan, I hadn't heard of the gas gizmo, but it just goes to show how electonic things can easily be manipulated.
Public safety officials in IL designed a system for changing stop lights to green for their progress to an emergency. Now common folks own these things just because they're in a hurry to get soewhere. Hope the poor souls needing the medical sevice don't suffer from this selfishness.
Good luck in MO, Bryan, and like Jim said, fight it tooth and nail or quit playing if it happens.
One more thing, does anyone trust pick 3 draws that are not publicly televised so the players feel some concept of honesty in the draws? It seems to me that the cost of televising a drawing is a small pittance compared to lost revenues as Jim pointed out so well what has happened in his state.
Funny thing is, most states' midday drawings generate zero revenue, and are actually loss leaders.
In Indiana, for example, the midday Pick-3 game makes only 5% of what the evening game brings in. The same figures hold true for their Daily-4 midday game vs. the evening game, so they're actually losing money on both of these midday draws, if you use the figures from their annual report.
When a state changes its drawing format, they can safely add a midday drawing since the practice draws will essentially nullify the influence of the law of averages in both the midday and evening draws. In other words, the two drawings you don't see, the ones that take place before the actual drawing to ensure that the machine is operating properly, will absorb any apparent discrepancies in the average number of times any given digit will appear within a defined period of time (Oh, yes; that's much clearer...??!).
Simply put, for each drawing, they actually perform two practice draws, the results of which you will never see. It would be like skipping two days of entering data into your system grids for, say, the evening Pick-4 game in a state that uses ping-pong balls. Do you think you could make accurate predictions by tracking only three draws a week in your state's game?
Using an RNG also cuts down severely on the number of winners. This is a principle the state lotteries just don't get; winners sell tickets. When I won $6,800 in the Pick-4, everybody in town (so it seemed) suddenly began buying tickets for a game they hadn't previously thought about twice. "But," they reasoned, "if he can do it, I can do it," and they were ostensibly correct in that assumption. These lottery commissioners act as though the prize money were coming out of their pockets, and they need to be made to understand the concept of the game: People play the lottery to win money, not to donate their disposable income to the state.
A friend of mine tells this story:
"Every year, I put $100.00 on the Cubbies to win the Superbowl. The odds are in the neighborhood of 1 in 100 billion, but if they win just once, I'll be richer than Bill Gates."
Putting a dollar on the Pick-3 or Pick-4 number in Indiana is a similar gamble, but with a considerably smaller payoff.
I guess I just don't see why any business that generates hundreds of millions of dollars per year would make it a priority to save a few thousand bucks at the expense of its own customer base. In my opinion, the Missouri legislature has just put a price on its integrity, and that price is $80,000.00.
Eventually, the state lotteries will put themselves out of business with all this money they're saving with their RNG's.
What MO wasn't telling any
Jim695,
I bet all the money I have that the Cubbies won't win the Super Bowl. Baseball teams don't play in the Super Bowl!!
Interesting the offending press release seems to have vanished off the Missouri lottery web site. They now have this which makes it sound like they are continuing regular type draws, but I suspect it's a trick to wean players off the normal draw with real balls instead of the computerized fake drawing.
"Pick 3 tickets will be in high demand starting Monday, July 26. To kick off the new midday drawings, the Missouri Lottery will run a four-week Pick 3 Midday Bonus Numbers Promotion, in which midday Pick 3 players will have an extra chance to win. After the regular midday Pick 3 drawing, Lottery personnel will draw from seven balls in a separate container; six of the balls are white and one of the balls is orange. If the orange ball is drawn, Lottery drawing officials will draw a second set of Pick 3 numbers, giving the player two chances to win. If a white ball is drawn, it will be held out of the next days drawing and remain out of the mix until the orange ball is drawn. Whenever the orange ball is drawn, all seven balls will be replaced for the next midday Pick 3 draw. The promotion will end Aug. 21.color=#0000ffPROMOTIon DETAILS "
Visit . . .
http://www.lotto-logix.com/weasels.html
BobP
Oddly enough, I can't find the promo details you are referring to. I even clicked the link you provided. It said, it was a dead link...hmmm? They have used the orange ball method to boost sales before when things got a little slow for the P3. And considering the letter MO lottery sent to me the other day they will have to use the ball machines to have a second drawing. According to that letter the programming of the new computerized drawing system only allows one draw per day per game. It is one of the security measures...hmmm?
Later,
Bryan :)
Wow...28 comments (including this one).