Randomness or pattern?
"Lottery corporations insist, that their games are safe, because they are checked by outside companies, ”says Srivastava. "Well, they had an external auditor, endorsed the game Tic-tac-toe. They said, that it cannot be hacked, but it is not so. Mohan believes, that making absolutely unapproachable tickets is extremely difficult, if not impossible. “There is nothing random about the lottery, He says. "In fact, everything in the game is carefully designed to control payments and attract customers.". Any algorithm can be reconstructed.
maybe, the most disturbing thing is, that although Srivastava had brought to the attention of the authorities information about the shortcomings in 2003, they keep appearing. In one of his last trials, conducted at the request of Wired, Srivastava identified, 6 (of 20) unopened lottery tickets as winning, wherein 4 of 6 did contain a prize (acting at random he could guess 2 ticket). Despite, that, according to statistics, such an outcome is possible with a chance 1 of 50, Srivastava repeated his result several times in a row with different Bingo and Super Bingo tickets. (Ontario Lottery officials say, what they don't know about this problem)
How did he do it? He used his old spawn rate focus trick.. Then, how many times the number appeared on the outside, was the key to numbers, hidden under a protective cover. As a result, Srivastava was able to turn the odds in his favor., as a player, casino card counting.
That fact, that these games can be manipulated, and man, good at math, can beat their algorithm, undermines the attractiveness of lotteries as such. Everybody knows, that the chances of winning big are extremely small. But we still play, because hope is an irrational guess. We suppose, that even when the odds are against us, someday we might get lucky, and when we lose our money, then we blame the inconstancy of fate. But, may be, we never win, because someone else has broken the game.
Based on materials - wired.com
