Hum Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 The random winning numbers on lottery tickets aren't exactly random at all. Mohan Srivastava is the man who figured out how to beat a scratch lottery game -- and he didn?t even profit from it. Srivastava, who was featured in this month?s Wired magazine, is a geological statistician by trade and is naturally adept at analyzing numbers and realizing patterns. His day job involves scoping out potential gold mines and determining the how much gold they might contain. Cracking the lottery wasn?t all that different. Srivastava, using the same math, was able to predict winning tickets for a Canadian Tic-Tac-Toe scratch lottery game 9 out of 10 times. The method is surprisingly simple but his road to discovery involved a bit of chance. Holding degrees from MIT and Stanford, Srivastava was never drawn to the allure of the lottery -- given the inherent propensity to lose long term. When a friend gave him a couple of cheap scratch games as a joke, he didn?t think much of it. But one of the tickets turned out to be a winner. Srivastava was intrigued. ?On my way [to the cash station to cash my ticket], I start looking at the tic-tac-toe game, and I begin to wonder how they make these things,? Srivastava said in an interview with Wired Magazine. ?The tickets are clearly mass-produced, which means there must be some computer program that lays down the numbers. Of course, it would be really nice if the computer could just spit out random digits.? ?But that?s not possible, since the lottery corporation needs to control the number of winning tickets. The game can?t be truly random,? he concluded. ?Instead, it has to generate the illusion of randomness while actually being carefully determined.? Powered with this knowledge, Srivastava realized the game was flawed -- that you could indeed, crack the lottery. The ultimate solution would allow him to determine a winning ticket with 90% accuracy. ?The numbers themselves couldn?t have been more meaningless,? he told Wired Magazine. ?But whether or not they were repeated told me nearly everything I needed to know.? Srivastava was looking for numbers that never repeated, or singletons, raising the probability that the numbers would repeat under the latex coating that must be scratched off. If three singletons appeared in a row, he knew he most likely had a winner. Since it was never his main goal to scam the lottery, Srivastava duly reported his findings to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, which pulled the flawed game the next day. But variations of his trick have been shown to increase odds of winning on various other scratch tickets. The larger significance of Srivastava?s winning hack, though, is the confirmation that the lottery is often more contrived than spontaneous. ?There is nothing random about the lottery,? he said. ?In reality, everything about the game has been carefully designed to control payouts and entice the consumer.? source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XIII Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Another John Nash in the making. Hopefully this guy doesn't turn to insanity like Mr. Nash... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekTwo Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I'm impressed he didn't just keep quiet and use this as a secondary source of income, I guess the knowledge was worth more than the cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted February 3, 2011 Supervisor Share Posted February 3, 2011 I'm impressed he didn't just keep quiet and use this as a secondary source of income. I know I'd have done that a couple of times. But I think after winning a third time in a row or something the authorities would have been alerted and you'd be accused of cheating. Even though there is no cheating going on, it's just maths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Xinok Subscriber² Posted February 3, 2011 Subscriber² Share Posted February 3, 2011 ?People often assume that I must be some extremely moral person because I didn?t take advantage of the lottery,? he says. ?I can assure you that that?s not the case. I?d simply done the math and concluded that beating the game wasn?t worth my time.?:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I read that yesterday on Reddit.... pretty cool story, very smart guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tha Bloo Monkee Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 This raises the question: what is the actual legality of using algorithms like this to win? I mean, surely the lottery companies wouldn't let you take all their money, but at the same time, why is it illegal to use the algorithm to your advantage? It's like Blizzard saying you shouldn't use a certain strategy in Starcraft because it will make you win - it doesn't make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR_Candyman Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 What numbers was he looking for to never repeat? If it's to do with the code on the back of the ticket, generally stores won't let you look at the back of the ticket before purchase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 In PA at least, I believe lottery officials make sure most winning scratch-offs, are distributed to large cities. A big ticket win = more publicity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 What numbers was he looking for to never repeat? If it's to do with the code on the back of the ticket, generally stores won't let you look at the back of the ticket before purchase No, it was the numbers printed on the latex covering of the tickets (the part you scratch off) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acnpt Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Don't the scratchcards come in rolls? So you would need to be able to tell if the batch contains a winner to take advantage of it. Although its cool to have worked out the algorithm for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Xinok Subscriber² Posted February 3, 2011 Subscriber² Share Posted February 3, 2011 The exploit is pretty straight forward - http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/ff_lottery/3/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Don't the scratchcards come in rolls? So you would need to be able to tell if the batch contains a winner to take advantage of it. Although its cool to have worked out the algorithm for it. They usually come in "books" (it's just a big stack) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Derf Veteran Posted February 3, 2011 Veteran Share Posted February 3, 2011 Even if you know the secret to identifying a winning ticket before you purchase it, the process is time intensive enough to not be worth the bother (at least with this Tac-Tac-Toe version that only pays out a maximum of $100 from a $3 ticket). Presumably you'd need to go from store to store to store until you finally find a ticket that would net you $97. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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