ARKANSAS LOTTERY DRAWINGS TO BE COMPUTERIZED

Comment #29

Litebets27 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:28:47 GMT

Arkansas should consult Maryland's lottery commission and operartors on how to operate an all ball drawing system and still bring in at the least a Billion dollars each fiscal year.

Comment #28

LckyLary — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:53:52 GMT

Don't play any Doubles or Triples at first!

Are people afraid the computerized drawings can't be systemized or that they will have programming errors that make some ticket unwinnable or that they can be more easily fixed? Would we accept computerized drawings if they could be proven to run flawlessly and fairly?

Many of the same people who are against computerized Lotteries have no problem with online casinos that are not only computerized but less regulated.

I don't like computerized a... [ More ]

Comment #27

Todd — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:32:06 GMT

I agree, and I don't actually think such a breach is intentional on the part of the people responsible for maintaining a secure drawing.

But, just like we all saw yesterday with Twitter -- a service with a multi-million-dollar IT budget -- any computer system can be hacked, and it is rarely done by someone responsible for maintaining the system.

ANY computer system can be hacked. There are fabulous techniques for maintaining security, but there has never been a security technique invented... [ More ]

Comment #26

Captain Lotto — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:16:11 GMT

I can't speak for Michigan, but I know Missouri has numerous procedures to prevent tampering. Even though employees undergo background checks, they employ security divisions to identify and eliminate new ways to cheat. The Lottery's very existence depends on maintaining integrity, which is the main reason most are state agencies in the first place. Even though you find a few bad apples, I'd say most are pretty vigilant about preventing fraud.

Comment #25

Think — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:57:35 GMT

The lotteries have all the information on how their machines operate. They know how the program works and they have all the data from the Test draws and the real draws. The Players DO NOT have all the information.

The operators certainly can put statistical filters on any or all terminals.

While the lottery itself has no reason to do this some of the people who work there may.

Do you pay close attention to where the winners in Michigan are sold?

I have noticed several str... [ More ]

Comment #24

KY Floyd — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:22:56 GMT

statisticaly winning patterns ? What patterns are those? Are you suggesting that the lottery knows that their games can be predicted, predicts them accurately, then deliberately prevents the 3rd party RNG's in ticket terminals from generating those numbers? All while nobody playing the lottery has been able to figure out these statisticaly winning patterns and predict the winning numbers?

Assuming that the lottery didn't care about the possibility of killing their giant cash cow by getting ca... [ More ]

Comment #23

Think — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:56:18 GMT

A lot of people don't stop and consider that the lottery has all the drawing and test statistics and they have people that know how to analyze them.

That information could be fed into computer filters and they could block individual terminals or geographic areas of terminals or block any terminals however they wanted from printing tickets with statisticaly winning patterns.

That could work in the other way too and they could pass only statisticaly winning patterns on one or any set o... [ More ]

Comment #22

Think — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:45:41 GMT

You're saying that Michigan raffle tickets do not have the number printed on them? I think you may be mistaken. People could not even check their tickets if that was the case.

NO, NO, NO!!!!!

You are confusing the Ticket number with the raffle number which isn't to be confused with the draw number.

The current tickets have Draw 13 printed on them and the Raffle # which IS the six digit number.

The early tickets had the six digit Ticket number and something called a

raf... [ More ]

Comment #21

Todd — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:42:12 GMT

I actually think they do not do that. I think any state that has someone purposely go in and change the drawing in order to be sure it hits (or not) would have been caught by now.

HOWEVER, I DO think that someone could have -- or could in the future -- have done that on the sly . I am telling you will the certainty of my 25 years of experience with computers that it can be done. AND it can be done such that nobody would find out.

Again, just to be clear, I do not think that any state lotte... [ More ]

Comment #20

lottocalgal — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:00:01 GMT

thanks for the info Lottomike and Todd. I only Play Superlotto and Fantasy Five. I always knew that the SLP was a true drawing. But I thought so was Fantasy 5.

The oddity here? Yes it was the Fantasy Five drawing where I won the 4 /5 for $372, last week. (my regular picks not QP)

Talk about irony!

Thanks again for the info. As much as I check the CA lotto website, I actually missed that tidbit.

So do you computer and math LP experts think that the officials (any state) ac... [ More ]

Comment #19

Captain Lotto — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:18:31 GMT

Passalaigue... he's a southern gentleman of distinction. I assume from South Carolina, but that's a Nawlins name if I ever saw one...

Comment #18

Todd — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:46:44 GMT

You're saying that Michigan raffle tickets do not have the number printed on them? I think you may be mistaken. People could not even check their tickets if that was the case.

Raffles are an example of a game in which the use of computers actually makes sense. Another example is Quick Draw type games, where a new result is available ever 5 minutes or 10 minutes. Trying to conduct all of those drawings without fail at such a high rate of frequency would not be viable with a ball-drawn method.... [ More ]

Comment #17

mikegillum — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:47:40 GMT

This is exactly why people think people from Arkansas are unintelligent, ingnorant, hillibillies. Forget what the people want deserve, it's what the fatcats, who probably get a kickback, want they shove it down your throat. I don't trust computerized drawings you shouldn't either. One wrong entry in a program your ticket could have no chance of winning. It's already happened in multiple states. You think Arkansas is intelligent enough to not make any mistakes? Also, I believe, so do others, that... [ More ]

Comment #16

Think — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:35:12 GMT

Michigan Raffles are obviously RNG. Michigan used to print raffle numbers on the tickets and told everyone to ignore them. I beleive they were like pool numbers. I wonder if tickets from some pools could never win because of some programming error like the California error.

I don't know if they still account for the tickets that way but the raffle number is no longer printed on the ticket so we will never know.

Comment #15

Grovel — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:17:45 GMT

Well, I guess I am just going to be playing powerball than.

Comment #14

bobby623 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:32:46 GMT

Passailaigue, is that a Greek name?, should observe how real drawings are conducted in Texas.

Comment #13

jarasan — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:18:18 GMT

Like duh. Your tax dollars at work. Next thing you know they'll figure out will be: that people don't like paying taxes. or maybe most people don't trust politicians.

Comment #12

Todd — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:06:15 GMT

That is the nearly universal reaction I have seen from lottery players, whether they are casual players or die-hard daily players. In an industry that relies so heavily upon trust and accountability, inserting computers into the mix at the most critical point -- thereby HIDING the most critical aspect -- is wrong and inexcusable.

I am very happy to hear that you've come across Lottery Post and found the information helpful and informative. When I originally started the site (and USA Mega) ab... [ More ]

Comment #11

dopey7719 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:23:35 GMT

That is so scary! I had no idea that computerized drawings existed. I'm just novice to the lottery game, so thank you Todd for this website!!! We haven't had the lottery that long here in SC so I'm glad we're able to see the balls as they come out. I just assumed every state was the same way.

How could anyone EVER trust a computerized drawing? Considering how hackers can get into highly secured government offices...manipulating the lottery would probably be a no-brainer.

Geez... [ More ]

Comment #10

LOTTOMIKE — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:52:34 GMT

tennessee had three really great years before the nonsense started.they were right up there with the best of the state lotteries.arkansas hasn't even started up yet and they have already had struggles with how things are going to be run,financial matters and now this computer draws situation.something tells me if they don't get it together the arkansas lottery is going to be a lot worse than tennessee ever was.don't forget arkansas is smaller plus they have other forms of gambling like horse,dog... [ More ]

Comment #9

ThatScaryChick — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:09:20 GMT

My state. The only game that we have here that isn't computerized is Powerball.

It's sad that Arkansas decided to go this route. I thought they would start their lottery off in a good way. I guess I was wrong.

Comment #8

Todd — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:49:46 GMT

California is already computerized, with the exception of SuperLotto Plus.

California had one of the worst computerized drawing errors ever officially recorded, and sold tickets with no chance of winning for several months.

The game was Daily Derby, and if you had certain Race Times, you could not win because the computer programming error excluded certain times from ever being drawn . (I use that term lightly, because in a computer there is no drawing -- simply a grouping of numbers that... [ More ]

Comment #7

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:22:40 GMT

this is california below lottocalgal.if you just play the state lotto you should be fine although pretty much everything else is computerized.

California (29% true lottery drawings)

True Drawings: Mega Millions, SuperLotto Plus

Computerized: Daily 3, Daily 4, Daily Derby, Fantasy 5, Midday 3

Comment #6

lottocalgal — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:14:54 GMT

The day California utilizes computer generated lotto is the day I stop playing all together. I in no way trust that system. talk about easily manipulated! I know alot of Californians who feel the same way. There will be such a drop in sales that the lottery headquarters wont even be able to pay even the smallest salary

Comment #5

L J1 — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:42:43 GMT

It's not about saving money

It's about taking money from the little guy so these HIGH LEVEL PEOPLE in Office can sit on their *ss and justify their JOB. The news story Explains it perfectly.

Do everyone a favor.... and KEEP the Machanical drawings Mechanical.....From the start.

Comment #4

konane — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:05:00 GMT

Comment #3

MADDOG10 — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:06:16 GMT

Just another flagerant act of Who cares what the people want . I understand the fact of saving money, but when you sacrifice the public opinion for the sake of money, you only solidify the fact that you could care less about the very people that voted for a lottery.

Disrespect to the voters is not the way to start a lottery......

Comment #2

wizeguy — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:11:39 GMT

Ernie, please reconsider. Give the folks what they want. That's what will generate the most income.

Comment #1

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 06:18:36 GMT

,how many lotteries have been computerized right from the start? has that ever happened or is this the first time.what were they thinking? its pretty much all about justifying saving money now or the budget.they dropped the ball big time on this one.i had a bad feeling once all the squabbling started here a couple weeks back over the salaries and management.

ARKANSAS LOTTERY DRAWINGS TO BE COMPUTERIZED

Lottery Post — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:20:46 GMT

Numerous polls show players do not trust computerized drawings

Did Arkansas Lottery Commission hire the right team?

Senator proposes bill scrapping the lottery

Despite nearly universal player mistrust of computerized lottery drawings, the new Arkansas Lottery director made the inexplicable decision this week to forgo real mechanical lottery ball drawings, and use a computer program to select the winning numbers in the state's new lottery.

The commission met at Philander Smith College... [ More ]