“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. Instead, it has to generate the illusion of randomness while actually being carefully determined.â€
There was a segment on "How It's Made" showing how lottery scratch-offs are made, which I must say, I didn't really pay much attention to, but they are supposedly "random." They may CALL it random--but I have noticed one thing:
Say you buy 15 tickets in a row. (together in a roll)
When you start seeing the same number (s) you are needing to win showing up--you might have a chance to win something. I think the computer's "random" placing of the numbers sort of repeats for awhile.
Me--I go with the simple odds of the stupid amount of them I buy----sooner or later I should get lucky and win more than "$25 bucks! I deserve it by now. I usually win enough with scratch-offs to buy my Powerball, Hot Lotto etc...--and I justify my spending with that.
if they were random the state wouldn't be sure that it would make more money than it would pay out.
@trav "but you'll never be able to predict which tickets are big winners from which rolls at which stores, that's the random factor"
you don't need to if you can predict which tickets are losers which the guy in this article did. You're in the money at that point, but it's not a whole lot of money as the guy points out.
of course it's predictable. all gambling, including bingo, is predictable. if it wasn't, there would be no casinos or bingo parlors. the end of the article explains why the lottery actually works. there are x number of tickets per game per week. there is y percentile of winning tickets for z amount. you can buy an entire roll of scratch off tickets, and you'll have x number of winners. but you'll never be able to predict which tickets are big winners from which rolls at which stores, that's the random factor.