Some public records like drivers licences are covered under the full faith and credit clause in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution; for instance a valid New York drivers license allows New York residences to legally drive in California. State licenses like hunting or fishing are not covered under Article IV because they are designed to do specific things within that state. A New York hunting or fishing license is not valid in California but a New Yorker can purchase a license in California to hunt or fish in California.
I don't know how Congress could Constitutionally create a Federal gaming commission to oversee state lotteries because Federal regulations are usually for things done interstate and lottery ticket sales and payoffs are confined within each state with a lottery. Mega Millions and Powerball are multi state lotteries but all winning tickets, including the jackpot can only be validated by the state lottery selling the ticket.
"Do you question if the games are really being operated fairly?"
When I buy a lottery ticket, I'm choosing to play by their rules and regulations. If I believed the 50 cent on the dollar payoff is grossly unfair, I'd be stupid to buy a ticket. As long as a large number of people are playing these games and the games are showing a profit, my opinion on fairness is irreverent because nobody is holding a gun to my head and forcing me to buy a lottery ticket.
"Isn't the amount of money at stake by driving up Lottery jackpots a motive for manipulation."
It's a given that more people will buy tickets when the jackpots are higher and that's why multi state lottery games were created. On Tuesday MM's jackpot was $12 million and had all the $14 million tickets sold had different combinations, it only represented about 8% of all the possible combination so the percentages alone means it's more likely the jackpot will grow without any manipulation. When the jackpot was at $196 million and $59 million were sold, it still only 1/3 of all possible combinations.
MM sold over 83 million tickets from September 19 when the jackpot was $12 million until October 3 when the $42 million jackpot was hit, but the cash value actually determines what percentage they "keep" and it's clearly over 50%. With those percentages in their favor, why would they even think about manipulating the game?
"Is there an abnormal amount of low percentage picks, statistically speaking, happening in your state?"
At 7:29 PM tonight I can watch a live pick-3 drawing and see 10 numbered balls from 0 to 9 mixing in one container and two other same sets being mixed in two other containers. If all the balls have an equal chance of reaching the top of the tube in each container when the lever closes, statistically speaking each ball has the same percentage. Some people believe statistics from past drawings somehow have an affect on future drawings. However until it can be proven the balls have memories and take turns, I'll have to rely on the 10% statistic each ball will have tonight, tomorrow night, and in future nights.
Statistically speaking we have overall odds of 1 in 40 of winning any prize playing MM, but that doesn't mean we are guaranteed to win a prize when we buy 40 tickets.
"Do any of the states take the space on there websites to show you their security methods to insure fairness?"
Most state lottery websites show odds and payoffs for all their games and many have live drawing that I can watch and determine if its fair. Do I really need to know all the security methods used for a drawing that certainly looks fair to me?
Zeta Reticuli Star System
