# explain the lottery scam that's in the news. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510 "2015-10-13T02:42:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/1 "2015-10-13T02:42:12Z")
[Here’s the apparent backstory](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/07/inside-the-biggest-lottery-scam-ever.html) regarding the lottery fraud that’s in the news this week. The short version is that a lottery official participated in a scheme to make the computer system print the winning ticket for someone - either himself, or a co-conspirator, it’s all bit confusing. The _really_ confusing thing for me is this: how can the computer print the winning ticket before the drawing has taken place? Isn’t the drawing done by physically pulling numbered balls from a tumbler? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/2 "2015-10-13T03:09:35Z")
Apparently they don’t use those numbered balls anymore but instead a random number generator. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/3 "2015-10-13T03:17:35Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [Here’s the apparent backstory](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/07/inside-the-biggest-lottery-scam-ever.html) regarding the lottery fraud that’s in the news this week. The short version is that a lottery official participated in a scheme to make the computer system print the winning ticket for someone - either himself, or a co-conspirator, it’s all bit confusing. > > The _really_ confusing thing for me is this: how can the computer print the winning ticket before the drawing has taken place? Isn’t the drawing done by physically pulling numbered balls from a tumbler? More details [here](http://www.businessinsider.com/iowa-lottery-hack-2015-4): > [@](#): > > To do this, Tipton had to gain access into the Lottery’s Draw Room where a non-internet connected computer uses random number-generating software to pick the day’s numbers ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/4 "2015-10-13T10:16:50Z")
Well anyway he had to produce a fake ticket. But as the only strong evidence is that he changed the security system to only record at one minute intervals, the only reason to do that would be to get at the random number generator, he made it generate his numbers… but he couldn’t cash the ticket since he is an employee. No one else wanted to get involved since they thought they’d get busted… how did they buy the ticket, where ? What if the vendor listed on the ticket gives it away… Surely the tickets and payments for them are audited ? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/5 "2015-10-13T12:55:13Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > how did they buy the ticket, where ? What if the vendor listed on the ticket gives it away… Surely the tickets and payments for them are audited ? You get to choose your own numbers if you want. Just fill out the form with the numbers you know are going to win. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/6 "2015-10-13T13:19:42Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The _really_ confusing thing for me is this: how can the computer print the winning ticket before the drawing has taken place? Isn’t the drawing done by physically pulling numbered balls from a tumbler? I believe the accusation is that he purchased a ticket normally, then rigged the computer to draw the numbers on his existing ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/7 "2015-10-13T13:40:18Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > Apparently they don’t use those numbered balls anymore but instead a random number generator. What was the rationale for this? It seems like the physical ball drop/draw event is virtually all of the drama of the lottery, and would also make cheating of this sort all but impossible. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/8 "2015-10-13T14:02:31Z")
They allege that he went into the room with the pseudorandom number generator and messed with the video camera so it only recorded one second every minute. He then uploaded some software into the computer off a flash drive that allowed him to calculate/set a future lottery number. After the software runs it deletes itself off the computer. He then goes to a convenience store and buys a ticket with that number while wearing a fake beard. He can’t cash it himself though, so he tries to get a guy to cash it for him and that’s where the whole scheme starts to unravel. Serves them right for using a pseudorandom number generator. That’s just asking for trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/9 "2015-10-13T15:26:50Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > What was the rationale for this? It seems like the physical ball drop/draw event is virtually all of the drama of the lottery, and would also make cheating of this sort all but impossible. I think there was a case of cheating involving weighting the balls. \ Here we are: [1980 Pennsylvania Lottery scandal - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Pennsylvania_Lottery_scandal) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/10 "2015-10-13T15:27:17Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > What was the rationale for this? It seems like the physical ball drop/draw event is virtually all of the drama of the lottery, and would also make cheating of this sort all but impossible. [Not at all impossible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Pennsylvania_Lottery_scandal): > [@](#): > > All of the balls in the three machines, except those numbered 4 and 6, were weighted, meaning that the drawing was almost sure to be a combination of those digits. The scheme was successful in that 666 (one of the eight combinations that the “fixers” were hoping for) was drawn on April 24, 1980 Conspirators were caught because the pattern was detected by suspicious officials, but the tampering did work and did yield a winning ticket. Has it ever succeeded? Who knows? If it succeeded, it would have been undetected and therefor outside of our knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![storyguide3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@storyguide3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyguide3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-lottery-scam-thats-in-the-news/734510/11 "2015-10-15T18:25:02Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > Apparently they don’t use those numbered balls anymore but instead a random number generator. Some lotteries still use the balls, for at least the main draws. In Canada, the Lotto 6/49 and Lotto MAX main draws are still done with balls, though other parts of those games are done using a random number generator. Ontario Lotto has an [FAQ](http://www.olg.ca/lotteries/draws_faq.jsp)on the subject.