How was the lottery like back in the day?Prev TopicNext Topic

• SmoothJuice

  

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  Oct 10, 2007, 1:41 am

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  I know in the 1970's and 80's they didn't have computers.  how did they find out about winners, drawings, etc etc?  I couldnt' imagine doing everything without a computer.
• four4me

  

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  Oct 10, 2007, 1:52 am

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  IBM had computers since 1951 but by 1970 the 360 came out and it has grown ever since.

  http://www.beagle-ears.com/lars/engineer/comphist/ibm360.htm#gener
• jarasan

  

  Harbinger

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  Oct 10, 2007, 7:20 am

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  There was things called newspapers and telephones.  The newspapers had sections with the results I think they still do, USA Today has an all states section.  You could also call in a get results which I think you still can. As far as winners as stories go you only heard of the state of the winner of large jackpots but that was about it, something to be said about the good old days, it was more local.

  FJB
• Big Hitter

  

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  Oct 10, 2007, 7:56 am

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  In the 70's and 80's people tracked the numbers via pencil and paper just as now. My old neighborhood had a older woman who had a super hot rundown she had copied at the stationery store and handed out to her fellow 'players'. Most winners came from talking to your friends and playing off the calandar. You would be amazed at how many repeat winners hit within in a day or two of the day they were drawn in the previous month or previous year.

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• Stack47

  

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  Oct 10, 2007, 7:37 pm

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  In response to SmoothJuice

  Quote: Originally posted by SmoothJuice on Oct 10, 2007

  I know in the 1970's and 80's they didn't have computers.  how did they find out about winners, drawings, etc etc?  I couldnt' imagine doing everything without a computer.

  It wasn't exactly like the Stone Age. LOL!

  The Ohio Pick-3 started in 1979 but most race tracks has gone to computerize tot machines and the lottery terminals were similar to them. The lottery had a toll free number (and still does) that you could call and get the results if you missed the live drawing. Newspapers published the results, money wagered, and money paid out the next day. Some papers gave 6 weeks or more worth of results in their Sunday editions too.

  As the number of lottery agents grew, some of them sold publications giving most of the same information the computer programs we now use. And some them offered pencil and paper systems. I bought a Tandy Color computer in the middle 80s that used Desk Mate which was a very early version of Windows. It didn't have very much memory, using one 5 1/2 floppy disk drive so I had to copy the spread sheet on another disk just to run it.

  Z-Ways Publications had a Pick-3 program that was similar to the program they use for the Bible Codes. By the time PCs became less expensive and had much more memory, the lotteries started Pick-6 Lotto's and Pick-5 games. Lottery Expert for Windows was on a 3 1/2 floppy, very inexpensive and was easy to copy. The difference between then and now is that you had to enter the results because they had no website to update your data base.

  Gail Howard, Robert Serotic, and others published books with wheeling methods. Gail had a clear plastic device where you could use a pencil to put in your numbers and erase them for the next draw; Serotic sold a similar device.

  I wonder how many people bought computers just to play lottery games?
• justxploring

  

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  Oct 12, 2007, 2:58 am

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  Stack, I've never met anyone who told me he purchased a computer just to play lottery games!  Anyway, I chuckled when I saw the topic, since we did have hot & cold running water, indoor plumbing and even electricity!  As far as "It wasn't exactly like the Stone Age" is concerned, that's not how I remember the 60s and 70s. LOL 

   
• Stack47

  

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  Oct 12, 2007, 10:24 am

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  In response to justxploring

  Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Oct 12, 2007

  Stack, I've never met anyone who told me he purchased a computer just to play lottery games!  Anyway, I chuckled when I saw the topic, since we did have hot & cold running water, indoor plumbing and even electricity!  As far as "It wasn't exactly like the Stone Age" is concerned, that's not how I remember the 60s and 70s. LOL 

   

  "Stack, I've never met anyone who told me he purchased a computer just to play lottery games!"

  That might be an interesting topic; "What was the first thing you did after you set up your first computer?" or "What was the first website you visited when you first logged on the Internet?".

  I believe radio-teletype was use in the 50s because I was trained to use it in the 60s. It was a primitive form of the Internet. That's about all I can remember about the 60s (grin).