Questions for Lottery Official

Reply #27

Todd — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 00:23:41 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by kbcherokee on February 15, 2004 Todd:How does this seed work? And what are you calling a seed. ?ChiefChief,Computers cannot do thinking on their own, they only carry out specific instructions that are given to them. Kind of like a calculator on steroids.Because of this, there is no truly random number generated by a computer. A Random Number Generator (RNG) is really just an extremely complex formula that starts with a particular number, performs a ton of differe... [ More ]

Reply #26

LottoBuddy — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 05:17:17 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by Jake649 on February 15, 2004 There is a new prize category of $5 for a 2 number match plus bonus number. If the odds of matching two numbers is:P(2 winning numbers) = (6 2) x (43 4) / (49 6) = 1,851,150 / 13,983,816 = 0.13237803, or 1 in 7.55,what are the odds of matching two plus the bonus number? Is it 1,851,150 possibilities times the 1 in 43 chance of matching the bonus number, or43,050 / 13,983,816 = 0.00307856, or 1 in 324.83

Reply #25

LottoBuddy — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 03:53:12 GMT

Quote

Reply #24

kbcherokee — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 21:20:12 GMT

Todd:How does this seed work? And what are you calling a seed. ?Chief

Reply #23

Todd — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 18:06:18 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by JAP69 on February 15, 2004 Todd,The way I understand what you said about the Lottery Post generator is that every time it is used it will generate a more mixed combination of numbers.I play Carolina five with quick picks from the store. If I were to use the lottery post generator and have it pull 3 combinations each separate time for say 21 lines I will have a more mixed bag of combinations. Is it reset every time I punch create 3 more or do I need to go back to the b... [ More ]

Reply #22

Jake649 — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:26:04 GMT

Todd,We did not discuss how often the seed number changes at each terminal. Only that each terminal uses (and changes) their own seed number and do not use a seed number from the central system.Jake

Reply #21

golotto — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:17:28 GMT

Extremely interesting and informative especially that info. on the quick-picks and rngs. Thanks again Jake, for doing this

Reply #20

JAP69 — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:17:25 GMT

Todd,The way I understand what you said about the Lottery Post generator is that every time it is used it will generate a more mixed combination of numbers.I play Carolina five with quick picks from the store. If I were to use the lottery post generator and have it pull 3 combinations each separate time for say 21 lines I will have a more mixed bag of combinations. Is it reset every time I punch create 3 more or do I need to go back to the beginning

Reply #19

Todd — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:02:31 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by Jake649 on February 15, 2004

....Each terminal in fact uses a different seed number in their random number generator.....

That is actually interesting news. In order to be truly random, a RNG should constantly change its seed number. Otherwise a RNG will develop patterns, and will heavily favor the production of certain numbers.

The bottom line is this means that if you go to one store, you are likely to get numbers weighted towards a certain

Reply #18

Jake649 — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 14:54:04 GMT

The following is another interesting discussion we had dealing with quick picks.Quick picks are generted by the terminal. There is no communication back to the central computer in order to generate the quick pick. Once the random quick pick is created, then the ticket contents are sent to the central system to be recorded and then the ticket is printed.There has been talk (I think on this site) that the system picks quick picks to help generate jackpot roll overs. He reported as fact that this i... [ More ]

Reply #17

Jake649 — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 14:00:58 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on February 14, 2004 Very interesting on the upcoming changes to the 6/49 game. Did he give you any more details on the specific changes? Also, does he visit Lottery Post? Does he know about other industry people that visit Lottery Post? (That's a question from another thread.)Todd,I believe the changes to the Lotto 649 game were discussed here before. Essentially the ticket price goes from $1 to $2. There is a new prize category of $5 for a 2 number match plu... [ More ]

Reply #16

fja — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 01:52:55 GMT

Thanks for the info jake, It does help clarify somethings

Reply #15

Todd — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 22:21:19 GMT

Wow Jake, that was a really

Reply #14

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:48:24 GMT

Those are all the questions from the forum. When I get more time later, I will report the replies to my questions.Good luck,Jake

Reply #13

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:46:31 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by fja on February 03, 2004 along the same lines as the chiefs question, Do they alter the conditions of the: drum, ball sequence (in regards to the drop), time (before they pull the balls), air pressure. If they do, is it precautionary, or is it cause their is merit to the same numbers comming out if they use the same conditions every time. As I mentioned earlier, he is not involved in the draw process. He did have this to report. The machines and draw results are tes... [ More ]

Reply #12

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:35:55 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on February 03, 2004 Are they in any talks with US lotteries about an international game? If so, which states? There was a report that was circulated a couple of years ago about a concept for an international lottery with the US and other countries. It never got past the concept stage. He is not sure why because he was not directly involved. He speculated it could have been a number of reasons (political, currancy differences, taxes, trusting other jurisdictions... [ More ]

Reply #11

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:26:12 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by Calscorp on February 03, 2004 How about the big question on scratchers. Do they which stores are getting the big winning tickets? No, they do not know which stores get the winning tickets. They do not know which bundle holds which winning ticket. This would be a huge problem if someone could track which store had the winning tickets.Jake

Reply #10

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:23:48 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by golotto on February 03, 2004 i realize that lottery officials probably aren't allowed to play the jackpot games to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest...but hypothetically, if he won...would he take cash or annuity? just wondering what his thought are about how lottery issued annuities are really set up and handled. after all, 25 or 30 years is a long time. it would be nice to know his general views and if he would ever consider the annuity route. thanks. Int... [ More ]

Reply #9

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:15:52 GMT

Quote: Originally posted by luckycat on February 03, 2004 is there any real way of win the daily there? how many machines do they use and rotate for the 6/49He replied, yes you can win the daily. But in his opinion, there is no system that can make that game profitible on the long term.He was not familiar for the draw procedures. That is not his area. He did mention that BC Lottery performs only the draws for their provincial games. The draws for 6/49 and Super 7 (national games) are conducted i... [ More ]

Reply #8

Jake649 — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 21:11:09 GMT

I am back and I did get a chance to speak with the lottery guy. The discussion was informal and I did not take notes, so I am relying on my memory. He also did not want to be quoted directly since he is not an official spokesperson for the lottery. Those kind of comments can only come from their public relations department.I will try to answer each question based upon his responses. I will also try to differeniate what I feel was his opinion and what was reported as fact.It was an interesting

Reply #7

fja — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:00:02 GMT

along the same lines as the chiefs question, Do they alter the conditions of the: drum, ball sequence (in regards to the drop), time (before they pull the balls), air pressure. If they do, is it precautionary, or is it cause their is merit to the same numbers comming out if they use the same conditions every time.

Reply #6

kbcherokee — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 17:19:26 GMT

jake649:One question. How often do they change out the balls in the Drum. Or how long are they used before they are changed?Chief

Reply #5

Todd — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 16:43:36 GMT

Are they in any talks with US lotteries about an international game? If so, which states

Reply #4

Calscorp — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 15:31:18 GMT

How about the big question on scratchers. Do they which stores are getting the big winning tickets

Reply #3

Lightning — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 15:29:21 GMT

BCLC web site states that they deliver fun etc with a HIGH degree of integrity, why not Total or Complete integrity? maybe leaving room for accidents

Reply #2

golotto — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 15:14:21 GMT

i realize that lottery officials probably aren't allowed to play the jackpot games to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest...but hypothetically, if he won...would he take cash or annuity? just wondering what his thought are about how lottery issued annuities are really set up and handled. after all, 25 or 30 years is a long time. it would be nice to know his general views and if he would ever consider the annuity route. thanks.

Reply #1

luckycat — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 14:47:18 GMT

is there any real way of win the daily there?how many machines do they use and rotate for the 6/49

Questions for Lottery Official

Jake649 — Mon, 02 Feb 2004 01:33:19 GMT

I will be travelling to British Columbia, Canada, in a couple of days for a week of vacation (downhill skiing). A friend of mine out there knows a lottery official (works in the audit department of the BC lottery). I will probably get a chance to meet him (may also be skiing) and will hopefully be able to ask him all kinds of lottery related questions. He probably knows a lot of the inside scoop.Post your questions here. I will collect them all before I leave and hopefully will return with some