How the lottery generates the ticket numbers

Reply #8

Tialuvslotto — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 13:32:58 GMT

It really isn't in the interests of the Lottery to prevent repeat tickets from being sold. The possibility of repeats is what keeps a syndicate from buying all possible tickets when a large JP is available. Well, that and the gargantuan nature of the task

Reply #7

KY Floyd — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 07:15:35 GMT

The story referenced by JadeLottery is almost certainly in error. Assuming it is, it's a safe bet that the reporter got accurate info from the lottery spokesman and then screwed it up. Just about every reliable source says that the terminal generates the numbers, and the job of the central computer is to create a record of each play and after that record is created authorize the terminal to generate the ticket.

I'm not sure what you think is difficult to prevent. If you think it would be diff... [ More ]

Reply #6

dddwww — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 06:08:23 GMT

Gail Howard's books are full of incorrect statements, including the oft repeated claims that some combinations of numbers are more likely to come up than others.

I doubt she said that quick pick has chosen one particular combination thousands of times in an a single drawing. It is true that that combination is chosen by people quite frequently because people are lousy at choosing random numbers as well as lazy so they check off the first 6 numbers and submit it.

I do give her credit for us... [ More ]

Reply #5

MillionsWanted — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 21:49:01 GMT

I remember reading in one of Gail Howard's books several thousand lottery tickets with the 1-2-3-4-5-6 combination was created as quick picks in every draw in New York state.

The jackpot would only be a few hundred dollars if this combination won.

Reply #4

destinycreation — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:39:39 GMT

Two people can have the same numbers on a Quick Pick, even in the same state. That's how you end up with multiple Jackpot or 5/5 winners.

Reply #3

JADELottery — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:13:05 GMT

Hotbits would be a better way to generate random numbers.

It's based on radioactive decay.

Reply #2

jlambj — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:09:20 GMT

OK, that surprises me but preventing it also seemed like a formidable task. A Pseudorandom number generator has a cycle before it repeats, so I assumed they had used some variant of this and had them synced to a central computer.

Reply #1

JADELottery — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:23:33 GMT

There is Absolutely No Guarantee all Quick Picks (Easy Picks) will be absolutely different from each other, meaning two or more are not the same combination.

In California, as far as we know, the Quick Picks are generated at a central computer.

Ref. Lottery Post News topic: California Lottery computer glitch shuts down terminals

...

Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso says there was a loss of signal that prevented the terminals from connecting to the system that generates the numbers.

How the lottery generates the ticket numbers

jlambj — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:11:35 GMT

I imagine this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find the answer. Mainly, I am wondering if its method insures that no two identical easy picks can be generated before all numbers are covered. In other words, if less than 272M are bought in powerball, can we assume that no more than 1 winning ticket will be by easy-pick?

I have never seen the actual algorithm for generating these tickets discussed. Psuedo Random Number Generator