To the players of the Pick 3 and 4 numbers:
My being in my 80's have seen quite a bit of changes in New York City and I don't think Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia would have permitted the lottery in New York duing his time in office I still remember his attending fires and using a sledge hammer to break up slot machines in what would be mom and pops stores, the scratch off games duing his time was punch cards all against the law when he was in office.
I've asked this question of the NY State Lottery many times and never got an answer to it other than an offer to view the drawing with free tickets to the drawing in Schnectady, NY. The Pick 3-4 Drawing shows on TV a far view in the beginning, then switches to a closer view, leaving the bottom of the machine with the balls out of sight. I've seen the hesitation of balls coming up to the top, but not seeing the full view of the machines, what was the reason for the delay in the ball rising. Of course my speculation is at this point the ball is handpicked, and unless shown, gives me no reason to believe otherwise. Now, If all the Lottery games, Mega, Sweet Million, Take Five and Powerball, show the complete view of the machines while the balls are being picked, why can't the Pick 3 and 4 numbers be viewed the same way?
If a statitician calculated the odds of a number repeating within a certain time would he come up with the same number or repeats which come with the so-called randomnes of the pick 3-4 numbers.
The illegal numbers that was supposed to be displaced by the NY State Lottery had less control of the outcome of what the number will be picked, because the results of the pari mutual racing dollar payoff was the source of the number picked for the day not drawn by balls supposedy equal in size and circumference (And you don't need Price Waterhouse to monitor the drawing). Then which game is fairer to the public.
If I play a pick 3 number 1 out of 1000 numbers and the payoff is 500 to 1 is that the proper odds for such a payoff.
Which has the greater payoff to the player between casino gambling, horse racing and number playing. In other words what percentage does the State keep and what does it pay the player compared to these other gambling enterprises.