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Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

wired.com

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Re: Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

#101

Post by alttab »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #92
patio11 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right: that is the perfect target for the math abilities of the average lottery player. Do a controlled loss on one game, receive PR bonanza and watch as millions of lottery winners learn how to "outsmart" the lottery, introduce Game 2 with the same mechanic and cards which are countable in a fashion which is not exploitable, and watch as ticket sales soar. This would be evil, of course, but if you're running a lotte…

Not just poor people. The stoopid as well.

Now maybe smart poor people. This vision doesn't inspire.

Re: Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

#102

Post by alttab »

jshen wrote: post #82
patio11 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cynical bastard in me thinks that There Is A Chance To Beat The Lottery is the best headline a lottery PR team could ever hope for. It is like card counting in Vegas: a problem if and only if you can do it well .

or people well assume it's an inside job from the start. That the majority of winning tickets are snatched up before they ever show up at the gas station.

buy a corner store or gas station with other clean(er) money, and become a lottery ticket merchant. place winners on your customers to keep people coming back.

the hunch is that it will pay out, but not how much. what if this woman in texas had 5 marked "winners" from a dirty merchant "placed" on her when she bought it to avoid a misplaced accusation?

Re: Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

#103

Post by RobertKohr »

_cbsz wrote: post #81
Xk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find irony in the fact that if the populous were better educated, the state would get less money. While not strictly true (a better educated populous would probably earn more, and give more taxes to the state, among other reasons), I find the idea on this small scale amusing.

Given the nature of this comment, I feel that I am justified in commenting to inform you that the word you are looking for is "populace."

He probably learned the spelling based upon the old video game. I wouldn't fault him for that.

Re: Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

#104

Post by dennisgorelik »

patio11 wrote: post #80
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except "counting the cards" in the lottery version is trivial compared to doing it for real. Like the article said, he taught it to his eight year old daughter.

Right: that is the perfect target for the math abilities of the average lottery player. Do a controlled loss on one game, receive PR bonanza and watch as millions of lottery winners learn how to "outsmart" the lottery, introduce Game 2 with the same mechanic and cards which are countable in a fashion which is not exploitable, and watch as ticket sales soar. This would be evil, of course, but if you're running a lotte…

Not "stealing" from people, but "milking" them.

Re: Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

#106

Post by iwwr »

rtghnyhjm wrote: post #53
nagrom wrote: post #3

My favourite line in the whole article was about the way he alerted the lottery board: "The package was sent at 10 am. Two hours later, he received a call from Zufelt. Srivastava had correctly predicted 19 out of the 20 tickets. The next day, the tic-tac-toe game was pulled from stores." I know that we're supposed to be fascinated by the statistical work done cracking the code, but my real sympathy is for the head of…

I'm very surprised that he wasn't arrested, prosecuted, served with an injunction not to talk about this and have all his computers confiscated. The lottery commission in BC is on it's Nth major criminal investigation - but the trick here seems to be the simpler method of the shop stealing winning tickets from customers.

I would suspect the mafia connection runs a little deeper.
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