A geological statistican who determines how much gold is in the ground breaks the algorithm of the scratch lottery: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/ff_lottery/all/1
That afternoon, he went back to work. The thrill of winning had worn off; he forgot about his lunchtime adventure. But then, as he walked by the gas station later that evening, something strange happened. “I swear I’m not the kind of guy who hears voices,” Srivastava says. “But that night, as I passed the station, I heard a little voice coming from the back of my head. I’ll never forget what it said: ‘If you do it that way, if you use that algorithm, there will be a flaw. The game will be flawed. You will be able to crack the ticket. You will be able to plunder the lottery.’” That was the ferkin' devil. Some kind of mathematical devil. On average, households that make less than $12,400 a year spend 5 percent of their income on lotteries—a source of hope for just a few bucks a throw. That is sad. I wonder how much money Obama and Bush spend on the lottery. Could it be 0%? Discovering the algorithm to break a lottery that exploits the poor of America. Not exactly as commendable as discovering Penicillin, is it?
I like to watch "Lottery changed my life". Only a few of them actually using the money wisely, aka, not buying a shitload of cars and such....
TRUE STORY: I was working at a local mexican fast-food restaurant in high school and early college. They had a scratch-off game promotion where they would hand out tickets and you would have to reveal 2 prizes of your choosing from 25 available and, if they matched, you would win that prize (which could be anything from a taco to a nacho to $20 or even $100). The game ticket designers were fatally incompetent. First of all, they ran a insufficient number of card permutations (less than, say, 50). Secondly, they would print them in batches and then failed to completely shuffle them! Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but when you and 5 friends went there for lunch and you all get a game card on your tray...the odds were pretty good that they would be the same card! You can imagine the problem this caused. The FIRST issue, though, was only exploited by myself (as far as I know). Since I worked there I would be responsible for clearing tables. In a very short time I had collected every possible game piece because people would leave their losers behind. After that it was a trivial task to analyze which box was the optimum game spot to scratch off and, after identifying which game piece I was holding, scratch off the second box which would make me a winner..! Looking back...not a horribly ethical thing to do. But free nachos over lunch break was about the coolest thing a high schooler could ask for! BTW, the fallout of the botched promotion was pretty hilarious. They suspected that just a handful of kids had stolen boxes of game cards and were responsible for all of the freebies that were being handed out. The store managers started taking "congratulatory pictures" of winners and posting them on the walls... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
According to the article, not much changed, so most likely it is still possible to identify winners. The best way is I guess if you have a friend or relative who sells those, so you can examine a batch without buying them first...
Any paint removal area game, with 50% chance of winning, and the "loser area" is detectable with just a tiny needle spot removed, could easily be covered with a dab of paint of the same color. But eating all those free fries...who was the real loser?
Erm, was this directed at me? It wasn't fries dude. It was nachos. FREE nachos. There is nothing more awesome than FREE NACHOS in high school so stop your hatin'. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It was free hamburgers and fries with us. I bet Kroeger still hasn't figured out where their lost inventory is going. The last item self-scanned is placed in the bag without scanning. Before the screen starts whining, one swipes their credit card, and everybody's happy. (to Kroeger security: I never tried this)
They could let you put some of the tickets towards a liposuction operation. Or how about. Save 10,000 Macdonald wrappers. Get a stomach band operation for half price. I think it could be a winner.
Ronald and Nurse McFries stomp on Mayor McCheese's chest to breakup the valve blockage. There. All better. Have another Baked-Apple Macstrudel.
You are a genius at Marketing! How about this: Buy 1000 McStrudels, get a free stent valve. Who needs Healthcare?
