I read a lot of things about conspiracies or thoughts that lottery's are fixed etc etc . I have been playing for a very long time. I have dealt with the NYS lottery and I have to say that in all the years I have never really had a problem with the way the scratch off's are printed. I have won quite a lot of money. I also have sent in numerous F.O.I.L. requests and they have all been responded to quickly and thoroughly.
But I have also learned some things about the lottery.
First of all, if the winner of a scratch off does not cash it in it is not included in the instant report of what is remaining. For instance we won 50 grand but have not cashed it in yet so the report does not reflect the fact that we won and the number is still 1 higher than it should be until we actually present it to the lottery. Until I do so the report will show 1 more than what is reality.
The lottery, distributes the tickets on a whichever store request them and how many they want. A store can order 10 books of a single scratch game and does not have to pay for the book until it is opened and than they have 45 days to pay Lottery for the book. But only after they open it. So closed books can stay in a store for a long time until they actually open it. Lottery does not limit books for retailers. They are distributed through out NYS by UPS when they are ordered.
There is one thing about NYS Lottery and how they operate and that is the way the law is written,. The law is written so that when a business goes under, closes, changes ownership, goes bankrupt, or the store sends back a book because they cannot sell the book in 45 days ALL open books of tickets are destroyed. This is not fair but is the law in NYS.
But all in all I do not think that lottery is a conspiracy to hurt consumers they want people to win and actually do go out seeking winners in order to get them to present winning tickets. They want people to win because it generates more sales. In the end they have to make money in order to support the system and the education system and help with generating more sales.