How to Hack the Lottery (from a 2600 Magazine article published in 2004)

#1

Post by patr1ck » Tue, Feb 01, 2011, 11:32 PM UTC

How to Hack the Lottery (from a 2600 Magazine article published in 2004)
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Re: How to Hack the Lottery (from a 2600 Magazine article published in 2004)

#2

Post by redthrowaway » Wed, Feb 02, 2011, 12:01 AM UTC

A "(Hint: You can't)" would have saved me, and everyone else who knows how to calculate probability, 5 minutes of reading in the hopes of finding an actual hack that was unexpected.

Re: How to Hack the Lottery (from a 2600 Magazine article published in 2004)

#3

Post by Mz » Wed, Feb 02, 2011, 12:07 AM UTC

redthrowaway wrote: post #2

A "(Hint: You can't)" would have saved me, and everyone else who knows how to calculate probability, 5 minutes of reading in the hopes of finding an actual hack that was unexpected.

I read something once where someone (I think some business) made every effort to buy all lottery tickets for a particular payout once the payout amount went high enough to make that a viable (profitable) option. It turned out they actually failed to get every single ticket for some reason, but I think they did get the winning ticket.

Re: How to Hack the Lottery (from a 2600 Magazine article published in 2004)

#4

Post by Mankhool » Wed, Feb 02, 2011, 12:31 AM UTC

Mz wrote: post #3

redthrowaway wrote: post #2

A "(Hint: You can't)" would have saved me, and everyone else who knows how to calculate probability, 5 minutes of reading in the hopes of finding an actual hack that was unexpected.

I read something once where someone (I think some business) made every effort to buy all lottery tickets for a particular payout once the payout amount went high enough to make that a viable (profitable) option. It turned out they actually failed to get every single ticket for some reason, but I think they did get the winning ticket.

That is a dangerous thing to do. If there is more than one winning ticket you lose.

Re: How to Hack the Lottery (from a 2600 Magazine article published in 2004)

#5

Post by Mz » Wed, Feb 02, 2011, 12:32 AM UTC

Mankhool wrote: post #4

Mz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read something once where someone (I think some business) made every effort to buy all lottery tickets for a particular payout once the payout amount went high enough to make that a viable (profitable) option. It turned out they actually failed to get every single ticket for some reason, but I think they did get the winning ticket.

That is a dangerous thing to do. If there is more than one winning ticket you lose.

Yup.