Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison • Hacker News Board

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#71

Post by gnopgnip » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:16 PM UTC

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #38

rdtsc wrote: post #7

> "It's difficult even saying that with all the people that I know behind me that I hurt." It is interesting to think about who he considers he hurt. The potential winners who relied on lottery winning to secure a future for their families? The lottery workers? He is a criminal surely, but isn't the whole lottery system a tax on lack of education and it just gives false hope to people and encourages gambling. He redu…

While I support the idea that lottery and gambling is for 'entertainment purposes only', if one never buys into the lottery, they can never obtain the winnings. Buying exactly one ticket per drawing at least places one in the pool of potential winners, despite the odds being rather long. Although the expected value is still minuscule, it's an unquantifiable improvement (since we can't divide by zero). And before you…

It is a negative expected value. You can go below zero. There is no situation where buying lottery tickets is a good way to diversify your portfolio

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#72

Post by pseingatl » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:18 PM UTC

notfromhere wrote: post #68

arcanus wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also always wondered this. But people seldom run. I think Snowden had seen enough of the sausage being made to realize that hiding in the USA was impossible, given the security apparatus' capabilities.

Given that he defected to Moscow, staying in the US wasn't an option

Snowden didn't defect. He was on his way to Venezuela, which had granted him asylum. The US canceled his passport, stranding him in Russia. Even though the Venezuelan Air Force has an Airbus, flying to Russia non-stop was not feasible--Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, had his plane forced down on the suspicion that Snowden was aboard. Still, if Putin wanted to get Snowden to Venezuela, all he had to do was put him aboard a Russian nuclear submarine. In ten days, Snowden would be in Maiquetia with no risk of interference. As it turns out, Russia is probably a safer place for Snowden than today's Venezuela.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#73

Post by bigleagueposter » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:19 PM UTC

mrighele wrote: post #47

hamandcheese wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most the people I see buying lottery tickets are in no position to throw money away on anything .

My guess is that when you are that much poor, you don't just buy the chance of winning, but also a little amount of hope that helps to get through the dull (or even awful) life. Even if you don't win you get something back for that money.

Is hope of buying a bunch of things you will never be able to afford really a good thing?

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#74

Post by wolco » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:22 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #34

akulbe wrote: post #13

.

Reading the title I agreed, but consider that his lawyer says he expects him to serve only three or four years, so it's not that bad.

A lot can happen. If the punishment should be 5 years give him five years why the 25 years / life sentence

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#75

Post by kibwen » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:24 PM UTC

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #38

rdtsc wrote: post #7

> "It's difficult even saying that with all the people that I know behind me that I hurt." It is interesting to think about who he considers he hurt. The potential winners who relied on lottery winning to secure a future for their families? The lottery workers? He is a criminal surely, but isn't the whole lottery system a tax on lack of education and it just gives false hope to people and encourages gambling. He redu…

While I support the idea that lottery and gambling is for 'entertainment purposes only', if one never buys into the lottery, they can never obtain the winnings. Buying exactly one ticket per drawing at least places one in the pool of potential winners, despite the odds being rather long. Although the expected value is still minuscule, it's an unquantifiable improvement (since we can't divide by zero). And before you…

> Although the expected value is still minuscule, it's an unquantifiable improvement (since we can't divide by zero).

This isn't how it works, because the expected value, in monetary terms, is negative once you factor in the cost of the tickets. Statistically, it is a quantifiable unimprovement.

That said, lots of activities have negative expected monetary value, like going to the movies, or going bowling. And it is theoretically possible that you will find an envelope in the bowling alley parking lot containing a million dollars, but let's not pretend that both bowling and playing the lottery are anything other than entertainment products at the end of the day.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#76

Post by jmharvey » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:24 PM UTC

upofadown wrote: post #30

Anyone know why these lotteries stopped using the traditional bingo ball machines in favour of a black box?

It's a cost reduction measure. Maintaining a physical machine and conducting drawings of balls takes a fair amount of labor.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#77

Post by Mz » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:24 PM UTC

So, have they not watched Die Hard? The point made in that movie is that when you steal this many millions, they will find you -- unless they think you are already dead (thus, the plot to blow the building and look like they all died in the process).

What were these fools thinking?

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#78

Post by AcerbicZero » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:25 PM UTC

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #38

rdtsc wrote: post #7

> "It's difficult even saying that with all the people that I know behind me that I hurt." It is interesting to think about who he considers he hurt. The potential winners who relied on lottery winning to secure a future for their families? The lottery workers? He is a criminal surely, but isn't the whole lottery system a tax on lack of education and it just gives false hope to people and encourages gambling. He redu…

While I support the idea that lottery and gambling is for 'entertainment purposes only', if one never buys into the lottery, they can never obtain the winnings. Buying exactly one ticket per drawing at least places one in the pool of potential winners, despite the odds being rather long. Although the expected value is still minuscule, it's an unquantifiable improvement (since we can't divide by zero). And before you…

I think the problem people have with the lottery isn't directed at the middle class person buying a lottery ticket here and there. It's more that the whole system is designed to encourage already vulnerable people to risk somewhat significant portions of their weekly take home on the extremely unlikely chance of winning, and then doing this week in and week out. $2/$3 for a Powerball, maybe a state lotto ticket, then a few scratch offs, and ATM fees to get the cash for all this, and poof you've spent $10-$20+, when you're living on less than $300 a week.

I'm not saying don't buy a lottery ticket here and there if you truly get some enjoyment out of it, but the lottery system as it is now seems to encourage borderline gambling addiction behaviors in people who are the least likely to be able to resist them.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#79

Post by hkmurakami » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:25 PM UTC

ransom1538 wrote: post #53

Ok. Do these guys that commit white collar crime not know how a passport works? If you have millions of dollars stashed in bank accounts WHY are you in the US? Why are you buying estates and testing out a new bmwI8 and spilling champagne all over? Why not get on a plane go to Morocco (a country with an extremely complex extradition process)? wtf. Even the guy running silk road was hanging out in SF now lives in a 4x6…

I'll take the simple answer here, that you're giving these folks too much credit wrt to knowing how "the system" works.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#80

Post by defen » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 9:28 PM UTC

crb002 wrote: post #4

socalnate1 wrote: post #2

How could you possibly believe you would get away with something like this.

The Iowa Attorney General was so incompetent in the digital forensics they barely convicted him the first trial. Only after did they figure out how he did it.

Is there an explanation somewhere of the technical details of how he did it?