I highly doubt lotteries are "scouting us" here at LP. Not to say lottery officials don't ever visit (they certainly do; was in a LP chat with one a couple of years back), but likely just in passing verses collecting any meaningful research data. If lotteries were truly acting on what was posted on LP, there would be a lot more changes than there are...
Heck, there was a marketing research person seeking out people to take surveys, supposedly on behalf of the Ohio and New Mexico Lotteries, a few months back. Several posters, including myself, made direct suggestions and comments to the survey taker. While the poster was appreciative, it was clear their mission was to solicit surveys from qualified persons (ie. those in OH or NM) only. Wasn't overly interested in anything beyond what their contract required...
Point is some here are assume there are brilliant wizards seeking out information about players, including those at LP, when the reality is many are just consultants and contract workers carrying out defined tasks with little to no drive to do extra. Anyone doubting that need look no further than the following:
- Ongoing RNG problems that often players discover on their own. Topic has come up numerous times on LP and yet most lotteries continue on with RNG.
- Monopoly Millionaire game failure; faulty assumption the top prize would not be hit as often as it was. Some here pointed out the problems early on, and yet the game went on as planned.
- Texas All or Nothing when introduced had no prize liability limit. A seemingly obvious flaw, and yet wasn't addressed until there was a near miss (10 out 12 of a popular combination came up). While one might initially understand such an oversight, this one was inexcusable. The TX Lottery actually encouraged players to play pre-selected combinations (1-12, 13-24, all odd, all even, etc.) on play slips. This was an obvious fail to anyone who bothered to even give it an ounce of thought.
In short, there aren't many true wizards running lotteries nor scouting us at LP. The main competition for lotteries isn't players, but other gaming venues, such as casinos.
The law of big numbers ensures the lottery will always win. Though, a major caveat is there must be wagering on a large scale and over a diverse range of numbers. Hence, the prize liability caps; locking out highly wagered numbers. Casinos do the same thing in regards to limiting the number and size of wagers for table games.
Where things may get dicey even for popular lotteries are games with large payouts and relatively little play. In PA, Pick-5 is such a game. The law of big numbers won't protect PA Lottery as much as it would for Pick-3 and Pick-4, if there are multiple highly wagered hits (ie. 11111, 77777, 12345, etc) in a relatively short period of time.
Locking out combinations is a simple work-around, but if too strict, many won't play the game, because their desired combination will too often be sold out. PA Pick-3 basically never needs to, since there's enough play to cover the prize liability on its own. PA Pick-4 is also popular, but not quite enough to rely on play alone so lockouts kick in from time to time. For PA Pick-5, just a few to several hundred wagers on the same number could result in lockout.
Rambling on, but in general, with some limited exceptions (ie. Pick-5 games), there's enough diverse play that the law of big numbers will near certain guarantee the lottery will come out ahead. Furthermore, not just ahead, but by a very predictable margin. It's remarkable, despite all the various play styles and player strategies, seeing the actual take for a Pick-3 or Pick-4 game being very close the expected percentage, sometimes to within a fraction of a percent.
As for the Maryland Lottery assurance that it's a regulated agency held to the highest standards. My take is that's a hollow statement, the regulator for the MD Lottery like is the MD Lottery itself. Not to say a lottery can't self-regulate effectively, but for that to occur, there must be significant transparency of the organization, process, and personnel combined with strict civil and criminal penalties.
I'm not aware of any U.S. lottery that publicizes in detail how their RNG machines work along with the source code. If Maryland Lottery truly believes in high standards, they would publish such detail for all to see. All in all, lots of talk with little real assurance. It's no wonder so many are skeptical to the point of distrusting most every aspect of lottery games despite rigging being unnecessary in most instances due to the nature of statistics working the lottery's favor.