Slashdot Mirror
CT Lottery to Offer PC Game
nstrom writes "The Connecticut State Lottery is giving out a PC game (for Windows, presumably) with their new scratch-off lottery tickets which offer a chance of winning $25,000 by playing. This news article from the Hartford Courant mentions that the game might be targeted at children, but there's no mention of any problems involving software cracking, which is what I immediately thought of. I'm sure there are some bored crackers out there who'd tackle this for a chance at some cash. What do you think?"
or Xbox.
Terrycloth Lobster
I think it's unconscionable that Connecticut is having a lottery offering crack for children to raise cash.
I'm going to call up my radio station immediately and express my opinion about this obscenity.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Lottery
:))
english - noun
def 1. A tax on people who suck at math.
(I admit, stolen from a bumpersticker, but I think it's funny
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god." - Thomas Jefferson
It's the government doing it, so that means there's nothing wrong with it. Quoth Reverend Lovejoy:
Once something has been approved by the Government, It's no longer immoral.
Of course, it would be wrong for private individuals to run gambling operations, just like it's wrong for individuals to steal...
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
...than hardware manufacturers.
If I *click* play enough, will I finally be able to *click* hit that *click* stupid *click* monkey.
which offer a chance of winning $25,000 by playing
Is it real money... or do they just show your character with a $25,000 cheque and some text that says "You are the winner!" with some cheesy background music?
---
Hello, Slashdot user. My name is Dr. Sbaitso. I am here to help you.
I bet if there was a game like Diablo 2 where some sort of cash reward was involved, but it was a pay to play service like EQ, many many people would get very hooked on it. HEY DON'T STEAL MY IDEA ****patent pending****
Don't swallow a little spunk, swallow a lotto!
John Carmack
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Seems like there would be some legal issues with this as CT has state laws against on-line gambling. Most states do, for that matter.
Conspiracy theory: tempt the unethical computer gurus to get themselves imprisoned before the coming new world order takes hold.
It's possible! *X-Files theme*
I seriously doubt that every cd will be "winable", more likely, they have a limited run of "winable" cd's, followed by a larger run of cd's with limited winnings (like five or ten dollars), which the majority of scratch-off "winnings" are.
They'll probably have one cd that can win the "grand prize", and that one is probably at the bottom of the St. Charles River in Quebec.
Black and grey are both shades of white.
Camel Joe shouldn't have a monopoly on inappropriate advertising aimed at children. Nice to be able to have a smoke while you are gambling, kids!
Worst. Sig. Ever.
Publishers have been selling lottery tickets to small game developers for decades now. The general public should get their shot! =)
Seriously though. They have a skill and need money, so why not combine the two and find out how to make the money.
I suppose people would look at this as stealing, but in actuality it is just survival of the fittest.
--If only there was a license required to use a computer.
What do you think?
It sounds dumb, that's what I think. But I wouldn't worry about crackers (people trying to crack the game and win the cash kind of crackers). They state the odds are 1 in 260,000. This is their business and you damn well better believe they won't be paying out more than that.
Even if they are foolish enough to let out a game that can easily be cracked (doubtful, they'll probably just put an encryped code on the winning CDs and check it when you come to redeem), they can refuse the prize at any time. So if too many people come to redeem it, "Sorry, we're paid out. Read the fine print, go home."
"When it rains, it pours." --Morton's Salt
I think my odds of cracking the software are better than winning the lottery!
Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
All you need is a dollar and a dream...
...and Window XP
DirectX 9.0
64 megs of ram
A 3D accelerated video card
A sound card
A mouse
A keyboard
We have these in Louisville. Basically you buy a scratch-off ticket with a serial number on it. You enter that into the computer game and click the shiny buttons. Then, after wasting 10 minutes, find out what your prize is. Then you take the ticket to your local gas station and tell them it's a winner. They scan it and give you $3 or so.
I suppose you could put in serial numbers until you find the $25,000 winner. You wouldn't get anything out of it.
"It's the little touches that make a future solid enough to be destroyed" --William S. Bourroughs
If there's $25k involved, I'm sure even a cracker who wasn't bored would give it a shot.
It seems like the best way to do this would be *not* having some random chance of any given game winning, but instead link in a seperate module for 1 in 260000 that has a cash redemption code at the end or some such. In other words, have a 'loser' version, and a 'winner' version, with none of the winner's code in the losing version.
My guess? I doubt that the game is issued with win encrypted. It cannot be how well you play the game, just that some games are set up to allow the player to win. Only those games will win, and they will win every time. Cracking makes no sense if all the disk has is a game that runs you around with no link to the money. Either that ot they are really looking to get hacked.
In Western Canada anyway... Western Canada Lotto Corp. It's bloody expensive for a scratch-ticket type game though. $8 to get in, and $4 for each additional ticket. Eisbar
Of course it's targeted at children. Only a child would expect to win the lottery.
"The Lottery: When You Need Millions of Dollars, Right Away!"
-kgj
There's a universe where that happens.
considering it's centered around a cartoon character. Didn't the CT lottery learn anything from Joe Camel - that cartoon characters and vices don't go together?
I've always found it ironic that gambling is so bad that it needs to be illegal in most places, yet it's OK for state governments to run lotteries - which probably offer worse odds than legal games would. Sounds like rent seeking behavior to me.
I have blog like everyone else
I'm pretty sure the element of chance is not in the game, it is in the CD. Each CD has a hardcoded id code associated with it (probably located all throughout the CD). Only way to hack it is to get the list of wining id's, crack the id coding scheme, buy $100,000 worth of professional CD equipment, and make a "corrected" id copy.
They're probably pre-determined. They state odds, 1 in 260,000. I doubt they can predict people's "skillz." You have no more chance of winning this by skill than you do playing scratch off bingo. You know, "Damn, I was so close, next time I'll scratch off the "B" column first. I can effect the outcome of a pre-printed lottery card..."
"When it rains, it pours." --Morton's Salt
That sounds rather ridiculous. There have been many Simpson's episodes in which Homer, Marge, and even Bart have gambled. Not that that makes it right, but there is quite a precedent with cartoons gambling. There are much bigger things to worry about.
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
But even sadder is that it is true. And this is being put out by the State, no less.
From the article..."There is a one-in-260,000 chance of winning $25,000 in the game"
That means each chance is "worth" about 9.6 cents. That's some pretty long odds for not-so-great money, and I'll bet it ends up costing alot more than 10 cents a try.
I would refer anyone with questions about this game's alleged (pre)pubescent target audience to the fine, upstanding American cities of Las Vegas, Reno, or Atlantic City for comparison.
Anyone who has been in a casino in the last 5 years has noticed the proliferation of colorful, fully-animated, cartoon slot machines. Almost nothing (except stuff from IGT) has mechanical reels anymore. The new machines _scream_ out "I'm like a video game! Note my humorous caricatures of rednecks, TV stars, and clowns!"
Sure, the lottery game probably appeals to a certain juvenile instinct in the players (which is what I'd personally have a bigger problem with), but I doubt that this rises to the level of a conspiracy to bilk money from players who are too young to collect the potential purse from playing. It's just a bit of Vegas seeping into the respectable, honest, dependable investm^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hlottery industry.
And besides, *$4* for one in 260 kiloChances??? Thanks, but I'll stick to baiting reckless drivers to chase me down and assault me so I can sue them.
Justin
Come play at the only online poker room with a Mac-native client
If you going to put a tax on the poor, they might as well be poor children.
Sounds like a subtle attempt to get kids good and addicted to the lottery at a early age ensuring they're future buyers of the purchasing of physical lottery tickets.
:P
Or a subtle attempt to draw out all those hackers silly enough to try their hand at the lottery, illegally of course.
So, will there be any cheat codes for this?
Are these types of stories included here soley for readers to make lame jokes about? Seriously, how is this news for nerds? How does this spark useful debate? Does anyone find this interesting? This sucks our inteliigence away. I feel dumper for even having read it.
I think you've misunderstood the theory. From what I gather in the article this isn't skill-based at all. Rather it seems that the game is linked to the lottery tickets you buy -- the game is just another (slower) way to discover if the ticket you hold is a winner or not.
apple nipple hungry
This was already done in Iowa a few years ago, so this is old news. It was big news when it first came out. But I don't think it lasted very long. It was just a big ploy to get people to put more money into it
In the new game, Treasure Tower, players may use their computer mouse to lead a cartoon character from ancient Babylonia through "a fantastic and humorous universe" of exotic Middle Eastern passageways, palaces and hidden doors in search of cash prizes
Anyone else thinks this reeks of "Find the one hidden pixel less then the size of a grain of sand?"
I am also willing to bet that they don't even have that pixel at all.
You know, "Damn, I was so close, next time I'll scratch off the "B" column first. I can effect the outcome of a pre-printed lottery card
Ah, you mean quantum mechanics...
How about bundling an X rated video game with a pack of condoms. Name of the game: 'Plan B'.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Yeah. If they have Barney or someone urging kids to buy lottery tickets ("Gosh, they help our state's senior citizens! You should always help your elders!")..
Most likely, though, this is yet another simple troll. It's like saying Quake 3 is marketed to children because "It's a game!" (Erm, no.), or Evangelion is marketed to kids because "It's a cartoon!" (Erm, no.)
It's like the bullshit they pulled with the tobacco industry. C'mon - Joe Camel being targetted at kids?
You ever look at Joe Camel? He was ugly as shit, and dressed funny. If they were marketting to kids (Thoughts of idiots in marketting departments aside), they would've had a purple dinosaur lighting up every five minutes.
"Kids love cowboys! Thus, CowboyNeal is marketted to kids! Oh, someone, think of the children!"
Dear Connecticut State Lottery,
I would like to sincerely thank you. For quite some time now, I've wanted to hone my reverse engineering skills to a very fine edge. Lately, though, I have lacked motivation.
For a while, I dabbled in reverse engineering on-line gambling software. However, depositing money in some shady off-shore bank first really put a wet blanket on my enthusiasm.
This announcement has rekindled my desire to expand my reverse engineering capabilities. I look forward to practicing on your software.
Thank you.
-spoonist
Been there done that, played the card games... There is no chance of cheating, since the card is verified just like any other lottery card. The key determines how the games plays and shows you what you win (or not win). Even if you don't enter the correct key while playing the game and win the 25k on your computer, you are never going to collect it...
You're supposed to offer $12,500......
Well, at least they understand modern kids!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
From the article:
"You cannot say it is not related to children when you use cartoon figures. It's obvious children will gamble with this product," Steinberg said. "There should be no cartoon figures in any form of gambling."
I guess slots are improper, then. Can't have those cartoony-looking fruits. Hey! Fruits! I betcha someone's gonna say slots are gay now...
This is the real signature
(Beats those shadows on the cave wall, don't it?)
By the description of the game it seems pretty much like the one available here in Quebec. Here the two games are a Mah-Jongg type and a mini-putt type of games. The basic point is that they are not casino-type games, so as such would not encourage per-se children to become money-playing addicts.
What is more, the games have parental control protection in case you think playing too much golf is dangerous to your 4-year-old.
I understand that the point is that children are attracted to computer games, put believe me, these are well executed but lame games... And at some point, you have to take responsibility as a parent to control what your child does.
Finally, the games are certainly easily crackable. The catch is that "winning" the game has no value. As the article points out, its the ticket that has the value, protected by a zillion digits control number. So it is on the same level as other scratch-and-win games.
Actually, states would do well to partner with banks to put the lottery in bank ATM machines. When you go to withdraw cash, you have the option to buy so many lottery tickets, using funds from your account. If you lose, too bad. But if you win, instant payout.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
each winning disk will likely have some unique number identifying it as a winner. The best you could do would be to duplicate someone's winning disk, and then they would just be confused as to who actually won (you could do the same with a winning scratch ticket). I'm sure it won't be crackable-- as if they would have something like:
if winning_disk:
allow_winning_door_to_open = true
else:
allow_winning_door_to_open = false
What is the Simpson's audience? Un supervixed kids, or the older than 18 crowd. With all the political satire, in jokes, and social comentary the Simpson's is hardly a kid show.
The comparison doesn't hold that some cartoons talk about gambling so it must be ok for all to do so. Think target audience.
robi
http://192.197.135.2/produits/prod10.htm
:-( )
sorry but the link is in french...
In Quebec, the loto society is offering a similar product, with a comparable range of prize (well, the prize are in canadian buck, so they worth almost nothing...
The concept is that they give you a cd for free (I think that you can also download the program from their site), then you buy a ticket, scratch and enter the number at the begining of the program, and let play the game...
Whatewer you're doing during this ten minutes of dreaming does'nt mind, and the program tell you that you hav'nt won anything at all...
so it is impossible to crack as an usual lotery ticket...
"I'm sure there are some bored crackers out there who'd tackle this for a chance at some cash. What do you think?"
I'm sure other people besides white people would want to try this too.
Hopefully they have a clause like that, otherwise theyre gonna loose tons of money on this.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
I work for a company that produces scratch and win lottery tickets, this is actually old news. Many countries/companies have produced such a game
The game (of which I haven't played) has nothing to do with skill, it only depends upon the numbers that are under the scratch off material on the physical ticket. so even if you could "crack" the game it wouldn't do anything for you because to clain the prize you need the physical ticket.
The game is nothing but a formality if you didn't have a PC you could just simply turn the ticket in and the retailer would tell you if you've won/loose and for how much.
if winning_disk:
allow_winning_door_to_open = true
else:
allow_winning_door_to_open = false
Right?
Well it doesn't take a FREAKIN' GENIUS to "swap" these....
If someone is lame enought to code this, then a jnz/jz or jne/je swap will be enough. *smug grin*
Peace out.. l337phr33
The government wipes out the 'numbers' games as illegal, then turns around and comes up with lotto.
Then they come up with these scratch off games, which can be played and redeemed instantly, the odds are determined and printed in advance so the house NEVER loses. Then they throw in small ($5, $10) wins so people can win, redeem and buy MORE tickets...
Scratch off and Keno are a hundred times worse than the old numbers rackets, and run by your government. They're a tax on the stupid.
It's a state lottery. They don't lose money. No matter what.
"When it rains, it pours." --Morton's Salt
if winning_disk:
allow_winning_door_to_open = true
else:
allow_winning_door_to_open = false
Right?
If someone is lame enought to code this, then a jnz/jz or jne/je swap will be enough. *smug grin*
Sure looks "uncrackable" to me, L0L...
Peace out... l337phr33
Just like it is moral to steal bread to feed a starving family, but not if you put anything on it like jelly.
robi
By any chance was this program released as open source?
This is attrocious, lotteries are basically gambling. (I know, don't buy it or use it, but it's often not that easy for someone who is addicted) This is like targeting kids with cigarettes, get them hooked young and you have a customers for life. I know some might argue that lotteries contribute to worthy state programs but I think the longterm consequences (yet another addiction) should seriously be considered. If they do produce a game don't target it at kids and make it obvious what it is -- a vehicle to get you to play the lottery more often!
... posted the binary and some access codes for d/l? I think a lot of /. folks would like to take a look at it.
"Life is not magic." Dr. Ron Weiss - "If we don't play God, who will?" Dr. James Watson
I'll bet you $50,000 that I can crack it.
"I'm sure there are some bored crackers out there who'd tackle this for a chance at some cash"
From the article it sounds like the ticket determins if you win money and the game is just window dressing.
From the Courant:
"Customers may choose to forgo the CD and just scratch and turn in their ticket to see if it's a winner"
They sent out a DVD-ROM game you could play, which was basically a Macromedia choose-your-own-path game with Quicktime movies. Highest three scores would win an Escalade, powerboat, or motorcycle. They tried to make you play it while you were online, the idea being that only your first reported score mattered. That was easy to circumvent though (thank to plaintext registry keys), so you could play as many times as you wanted to find the optimal solution (skill was not a factor, though finding the highest valid score was a tiny bit tricky). Needless to say, my friend and I both got into the final round (along with 100 or so other fellow cheate...I mean, very lucky players), from which the winner was selected by a lame 50 word essay. We tried to "hack" that too by making a funny video presentation and web site, and including the urls in our essays. But we didn't win...some lame limmerick and word play essays were the winners...bastards! But if the lotto game was anything like that, you can bet their first winner will be mere hours after they release the game. It's probably linked to a ticket number, though, like someone else said. That's the easiest way for them to render hacking attempts useless.
A person with no lottery tickets has already won.
"You get four tickets for $15. Where could you buy a video game for 15 bucks? You can't," said Derevensky, co-director of the McGill University Youth Gambling Research and Treatment Clinic in Montreal. "You wouldn't give your 9-year-old a drink of alcohol because you know it is not appropriate. Most parents are totally unaware that gambling is a problem among youth."
Derevensky may be missing many of the items that make good games (and even crappy new games) cost more than $15. I am betting that this game does not have great graphics, fluid gameplay, engaging story line, or even cool weapons and gor ydeath scenes. What kid is going to want to play it.
You can go to Walmart and get tons of totally crappy games for $15.
robi
Is it real money... or do they just show your character with a $25,000 cheque and some text that says "You are the winner!" with some cheesy background music?
The computer game is only there to tell you if you have a winning ticket and no matter how well or how bad you play the game, you'll get the prize if your ticket is a winning one, skill is not a factor, the computer game is not a factor, the only thing that is a factor is the number on the ticket you buy, and that number can only be seen by scratching the ticket so hacking the game to see what all the winning numbers are is useless.
It's a dressed up instant lottery.
and a get into Jail free card!
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
...wanna look at a statistical distribution of who plays the lottery? Wanna look at what types of TV shows they advertise during, and when they air? Your average lottery player is generally not all that bright, usually quite poor, and frequently un/under-employed. Particularly those people who play it with any regularity (ie, not for the occasional novelty). There's a reason they advertise during those inane judge shows that air during working hours.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Heck, why not have an option to receive your Income Tax refund in lottery tickets?
Or maybe a certain percentage of your paycheck? Wait -- they call that stock options.
-dwd-
*hack hack hack* Hey look, I won! *hack hack hack* Heh! I won AGAIN! Gee, what are the odds ;)
What is music when you despise all sound?
Unfortunately, you need to have a winning ticked to claim any prize. Each ticket you buy will get you a different "code" to play the game (the code determines if you're going to win and what the prize will be).
mod parent up
Unfortunately, you need to have a winning ticket to claim any prize. Each ticket you buy will get you a different "code" to play the game (the code determines if you're going to win and what the prize will be).
They were talking about the Lottery. Winston looked back when he had gone thirty metres. They were still arguing, with vivid, passionate faces. The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made a living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the running of the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary.
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
DirectX 9.0
64 megs of ram
The odds of getting Windows XP to run smoothly with 64MB of RAM are now greater than winning the actual lottery.
"All art is quite useless." -- Oscar Wilde
I doubt its possible.
Most likely winning the video game alone does not automatically land 25k. I would assume that if/when you win the video game, it will give you some way to enter into a lottery draw.
Win a chance to win 25k
yay
States should offer a lottery subscription: You sign up for one or more numbers to play every week, and the state deducts the ticket price from each paycheck. If your number comes up, you win. No more slips of paper! And lots of revenue for the state. It'd be like signing up for extra taxes.
You get four tickets for $15. Where could you buy a video game for 15 bucks? You can't...
Uhh, last time I checked, if you already have a computer TO RUN THE GAME, there are alot of games that cost less than $15.
Go back to watching little kiddies play inside your office - you might learn something.
These have been around for some time. Lotto Quebec has been offering a PC video game lottery for about a year, and I believe the province of Ontario is now as well.
I don't think they offer much fodder for crackers. The worst you can do is bypass the silly video game thing to get your name in a standard drawing.
What taxes?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
after the first week the winning numbers will be known and people will be killing each other, stealing lottery tickets, etc..to find the winning numbers!
It's not just the level of skill involved. Let's have a look.
What exactly is the difference? As was mentioned elsewhere, Reverend Lovejoy said it best:
Once something has been approved by the Government, it's no longer immoral.
yo.
Iowa was the first to offer this Treasue Tower game. The story on this page from 11/16/00:
Lottery's Treasure Tower Sales Going Well
Iowa is the first state in the nation to offer an instant-ticket lottery game that can be played on a home computer. Sales of the game began in October, and have gradually been introduced to all of the game at select shopping malls. As of November 14th, the Iowa Lottery has collected approximately $187,456 in sales from the game.
Treasure Tower is a unique combination of a scratch game and CD-ROM technology, with the security of built-in parental control. The Treasure Tower CD cannot be activated without a code from a scratch ticket, which must be purchased at an Iowa retailer by someone age 21 or older.
Players initially buy a Treasure Tower pack containing a CD and three scratch tickets for $12. After the game is installed, future tickets can be bought for $4 per ticket.
Recommended minimum computer re-quirements for the game:
Pentium® 166 MHz compatible
Windows® 95, Windows® 98 or Windows® 2000
32 MB main memory
20 MB available on hard disk
CD-ROM player 8X
Sound card (compatible with DirectSound®)
SVGA Graphics card (640 x 480 pixels in 16-bit mode)
The game will not operate on Windows NT, Mac or Linux systems. Players experiencing difficulty playing the game can call 1-888-852-5558 for assistance from 8 a.m. to midnight.
The game will automatically install itself when inserted into the computer. Treasure Tower then asks for an access code, which is found on scratch tickets in the game. Each ticket contains a single access code good for one adventure. Once installed, the game can be played again and again with different tickets granting access to different adventures.
Expansion of Gambling?
Critics contend that Treasure Tower is an ex-pansion of gambling, and is a form of video gam-bling at home. They are also concerned that the game, with cartoon characters, targets kids. The Iowa Lottery is emphasizing the parental control features of the game that allow adults to block access to the game by those under the age of 21. By entering their own password in the game, players can block anyone else from playing the game.
Set in the Babylonian era, Treasure Tower takes players with a character known as "the Traveler" as he explores the Treasure Tower, a desert castle. The tower has 100 rooms and the code on each ticket gives the player 10 lucky stones that grant access to at least 10 of the rooms. As the traveler searches the tower, the player helps him find objects and symbols in each room. Finding three identical symbols wins a prize. Prizes start at $4, and reaching room 100 at the top of the tower wins the top prize of $10,000.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
$$$$$exyGal's obsession with fans (scroll down to the end of the porn links):
http://slashdot.org/~$$$$$exyGal/journal
Ekrout's obsession with fans:
http://slashdot.org/~ekrout/journal
Notice that Eric Krout compares his # of fans to the same type of people in both cases!
The store I work at got in one of the demos for this game, and since I'm the "resident computer geek", they had me test it out. The CD part of the game is just a complete gimmick. You buy a ticket, which has some long number you type into the program. You watch it go through some corny animation sequences, where you click on every damn thing on the screen, then afterwards, it shows if you won anything. The CD itself doesn't do anything, you need the $4 ticket to claim the prize.
Personally, I think it's going to flop. A lot of the people that I see who buy lotto tickets either go immediately scratch them, then return five minutes later to cash them and buy more, or they just purchase occasionally. This won't appeal to either group; the occasional buyer won't want to drop $25 for the "starter kit" with CD, and the addicts want their money right away, and won't buy it.
parental keys only work after it's installed. I just don't like the idea of kids randomly getting ahold of this.
My wife is horrible about gambling! I have a stuffed dog from the fair that cost $50! We just kept on playin' until she won something and in the end we ended up owing the guy like $30 cause we weren't payin' before each shot. Since then, I don't let her out of my sight at the fair, or at least hand her a budget and cut her off! the dog serves as a visual reminder! If she ever walked in a casino, I'd be bankrupt!
They say people should stop themselves, but I'll tell you that certian personalities just can't stop hoping for the big score! Putting this in any form where kids can get it unattended is just wrong and should be stopped! The people planning this should be booted from office or fired, whichever applies! If your Legislative critters get ideas like this--boot 'um!
You may find your misconceptions destroyed!
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
THey had 911 come up in a pick 3 a few days after it happened, and one time a planes flight number came up. ALthough over the course of the year they come out way the hell ahead.
ANd how morbid do you have to be to play the numbers of a downed plane.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
NOT... XDDDDD
1) The state lottery is not going to send out its goons to kill you if you get too far in the hole.
2) It's better for the stupid to be paying their stupid tax to a fund for roads/education/etc so that my taxes are lower than for them to be paying their stupid tax to the mob. That doesn't help keep my taxes down.
Although I don't necessarily agree with the assessment that the lottery is merely a tax on the stupid. The lottery is entertainment. Spending $36 on lottery tickets isn't any worse than spending $36 on Quake CDXVII. In fact, wasting your $36 on the lottery may even be preferable, as at least you still have the hours of time you saved by NOT playing Quake left to do something constructive.
If people want to spend $5 for a day or even a few minutes of wondering if they've won, what makes them any worse than someone who spends $40/month and wastes hours on end playing Everquest? The consumer is entertained for some amount of time, and when that time is over, they're left with nothing of value.
Gambling is only "bad" because it's entertainment where the people who REALLY like it can very easily entertain themselves into bankruptcy and other bad things - the ratio of dollars consumed to time required to consume it is high. Hell, I bet I know more people who are broke because they play paintball too much than who are broke because they gamble too much. *ANY* form of expensive entertainment will mess up your life if you do it too much.
paintball
And in other news, a local hacker was arrested today for hacking into a pigly-wiggly lotto machine. Other local hackers in hysterics.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Wow, I live in CT, this could be sweet. I've been thinking about hacking the lottery for awhile. I mean ever look at those lottery machines that convenience stores have? They are pretty much big dial up network appliances. They connect to the lottery database and keep track of everything. That's how they know which store sold which winning ticket at what time. It is a computer network, and is therefore not 100% secure. If there was some way to root it you could counterfeit a ticket. Then trick the lottery database into thinking that that ticket was actually sold at a particular store at a particular time and date. And if you go to the store and actually buy a ticket, and just change the numbers in the database, the security camera in the store will verify the validity. Now they've got a game where you can win 25 gs online! I gotta find a way to win, just once.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
The adding convience for gambling addicted lemings is applaudable. But why stop thier? Why not create an entire online lottery site, call it casino.ct.us .
my understanding that teh 1 in 26,000 or whatever it ism is just the odds of winning any prize like say your doller back.
"Dad! Nooo! I can't go to bed yet! Blinkyboo423 didn't get to shake the Money Tree yet!"
Yeah, a cash reward in Diablo. I can imagine how that'd be:
The same group of 10-20 people would get the prize. Why? Because it'd be the ones with plenty free time to play, who are addicted and have no social life. There'd be some competition between them of course. If you limited it to one win per person all that would result is the same person getting another account to get yet another price. And the average player would have about the same chances of winning something as of getting struck by lightning.
What do I think? 25,000 isn't really enough to upgrade my town so that I can produce a third champion. The Night Elves are so gonna kick my butt...
Share and Enjoy!
As far as hacking the program is involved... sure, someone will waste their time with this. But there are really smart criminals out there who can do the same amount of work and steal millions upon millions of dollars... Why risk about the same length of time in prison for "just" $25,000.00?!?!?! It's like jackasses who rob banks, or even worse, convenience stores... What do they get? $200? And for this, they'll end up in jail for 20 years for armed robbery... Why fsck around with this shit when they can push a few buttons on a computer and jack 8 billion bucks like that hot actress did in that movie with Sean Connery a few years ago? Man, she is so hot! I have a feeling she really likes me. I mean, fuck, the justice system is all fscked up... You put the F-word on someone's website and go to prison for 100 years... but you build nucular weapons and all you get is a piece of paper from the U.N. politely asking you to throw it in the garbage, and if you don't, well, then they'll talk about it on the news until they get blue in the face and in the meantime, you're continuing to prepare yourself for a world-class war of biblical proportions. Why not do shit the smart way? The flippin government should say, "We're gonna blast you to the stone age, and then we're gonna send you a bill to cover our expenses in doing so." But I digress... I don't think that ain't nobody gonna mess with this program to jack 25000 bucks... Cuz the state of conneticut is a lot smarter than that... They'll use unbreakable rot-13 encryption.
That's what I always thought. Bought a ticket on odd occasions. Then, a month ago....
*****WINNER*****
it changed my life. my advice? have a flutter every now and then.
I did some research, here's how it works:
You get a CD-ROM with 4 scratch-off tickets. You can throw the CD-ROM away and scratch off the tickets and win your prizes. If you want, you can install the software on the CD-ROM and enter in a code on the back of the ticket. You play the game, and eventually it'll tell you if your ticket won.
I'm going to reverse-engineer the winning number verification routine and write a winning number generator, then print my own tickets and make thousands of dollars. I can't wait, it's going to rule.
Game Info
I think it's a good idea that its now being bundled with lottery tickets. If you're playing the lottery, you'll undoubtedly find this game both entertaining and highly educational.
What has *science* done?!? -- Dr. Weird (ATHF)
Lottery computer games have existed for some time now.
t ml
At least here in Canada.
Actually, the Connecticut game in question was already deployed around here for quite some time. And it is not the only one...
http://www.ingenio.ca/ang-content-realisation.h
My reply was intended to anthony dipierro... Sorry...
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
struct Client2ServerInternetLottoMessage {
short numBytes;
bool wonTheLotto;
double numDollarsWon;
bool hasToPayTaxes;
char [] internationalBankAccountIDToTransferCashTo;
};
Nah, no problems here.
"Has [being a kidnapped teenage girl, raped repeatedly for months] changed you?" - Katie Couric to Elizabeth Smart
If this game is based on the serial number of a lottery ticket, and the game can figure out if the number is a winner, then all that needs to be done is figure out the algorithm to figure the dollar amount a number is worth. (Since the game can do it without an internet connection then it must be predetermined)
At that point you would have to go around and buy a ticket here and a ticket there until you find one that has a serial number near one of the winners you have discovered.
Then just buy enough tickets so that you get your winning serial number.
Boom! Instant $25,000.00
I remember a couple years ago, you but two tickets at $4 each, and it comes with the CD. after you enter then numbers, it goes through a certain sequence in the game to get to your prize. It always ends the same way with the same ticket. You redeem the ticket just like any other scratch off game.
I still have the CD here, because I wanted to crack it to see what kind of purty animation it shows if you are the grand prize winner, but I'm too lazy and haven't got to it.
If you want an ISO of the CD to crack, just say so, I'd be glad to send it to you, I'd love to see it cracked.
Seems to be exacly the same thing. But the thing is that the code you buy is already winning or not. The game has *nothing* to do with the fact of winning or loosing. Personnaly I'm against it; Some people will think that they can "beat" the game, or that they have to get a better score... But no. Here a link to those games:
You could, however, compose a list of winning numbers.
As stated in other posts, loto-quebec has been doing this for years. Heres more info
s ht ml
http://www.loto-quebec.com/web/html/60112_06_e.
Says here that the first one was launched in february of 2000! Over 3 years ago.
http://192.197.135.2/produits/prod10a.htm
They currently have 3 different CD ROM games...
However, more games have been distributed in the past but were taken out after a while.
So this isnt exactly news!
Ingenio , a subsidiary of Loto Quebec makes the software for Quebec and has exported it to at least the Iowa State Lottery and the Belgian National Lottery. Conneticut will be buying the same program. http://www.ingenio-quebec.com/ang-content-realisat ion.html
When this thing first came out in Quebec, in 2000, I was part of the team who did phone support for this thing.
Those of you concerned with needing a bomb of a machine need not worry, as it's only a sprite based game that ran just fine on 3 year old hardware.
As for having kids play, or that being an issue, I don't remember that being a problem either. They did tell us to report any kids or stuff like that, but frankly, this was too dull for kids to get interested in.
The people who did get interested though (especially around the first of the month), were the same people who live big for that first week of the month (beer and casino), and have to eat kd and grilled cheese sandwiches the rest of the month. For the most part, these were not nobel price recipients.
You try to get some illiterate to understand that his video card is in fact not a "Circus Logistic", but a Cirrus Logic, and that he needs to gout and download drivers for it....
At least it payed...
Here in Hong Kong the game parlour machines are roughly 50% street-fighter style,and 50% Mahjong or card games. All use cartoons. Many of the games have a femal opponent who disrobes as you progress... I'm pretty sure some parlours pay off in cash, though it's illegal.
I got the date from this website.
But here's also a quote from the website that gives the typical scenario:
------
"Paul McNabb was Maryland's first $1-million lottery winner 20 years ago. He has now seen his last check, the final $50,000 on his two-decade splurge. He now faces life after lottery. Has the money changed him for better or worse? The story is told by the Washington Post.21
"Today McNabb lives in a rented two-bedroom apartment near Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, where he drives taxi on the night shift. He doesn't own a car or any property. The lottery experience has ruined his ability to trust his fellow humanity.
"For a year after his award, his story appeared in dozens of papers, on radio and television, including those in Canada, Britain, and Australia. He received thousands of letters from people wanting money. Religious groups, travel agents, investment counselors, budding film producers, literary groups, poor people all wanted a part of McNabb's good fortune.
"One letter-writer threatened McNabb's two daughters, whose pictures had appeared in newspapers and on television, unless money was forthcoming. He turned the letters over to the FBI. He feared for himself, his daughters, his wife. His house in the Owings Mills area, near Baltimore, was broken into three times, presumably by people who thought $1 million might be lying around, he said. People came to the door, called on the phone, accosted him everywhere. Rather than to continue enjoying this limelight, he ran for cover, to the shores of Lake Mead, where he joined the military.
"'If you had gone through what I went through that first year, you wouldn't have trusted your own mother,' he said. 'Do you realize I've lost 20 years of social life, of being human? I never got over the point that I always had to be on my guard.'
"Stories like this, with variations, can be told about many instant millionaires. Many of gambling's big winners have had their lives turned topsy-turvy. They bear the scars for life.
------
The real losers are the winners. But also losing are the losers. And the people who are taking something [state services] for nothing [lottery-style theft], since they are undermining their own society.
In line with fasting, people just might try giving up their little personal evils, and maybe we could all live with a little less government, a little less war, ... I dunno.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
We have a solitare cdrom game - you put in the cdrom, get a ticket, scratch to reveal your number and enter it into the game. It lets you play the soliatre game and If you can finish the game, you win. Now - here's the catch. You still have to take the ticket in to 7-11 to get it "validated" so really - all the outcomes are predetermined. There's no cracking to be done as you could just buy the ticket, scratch it.. and have the clerk validate it for you.
The same math that shows lotteries to be bad economics also shows that insurance is bad economics. Yes, the insurance companies have to collect more money than they pay out. Hence, assuming the actuaries do their jobs right, the insured (on average) would be better-off investing their premiums.
For the record, I don't gamble but I do carry insurance. Obviously, this is an emotional choice rather than a strictly "rational" one. The moderate cost of insurance allows me to not worry about catastrophic (although rare) events. For some people, the minor cost of a weekly lottery ticket allows them to dream of really wonderful events (even though it is a very remote possibility).
One thing I would be very worried about is the potential of government sponsored software to abuse my box. I can think up a number of nasty scenerios. I can already hear the tech support call: "I installed your lottery software on my machine and none of my applications run anymore, I keep getting these advertisements for the lottery when I try to access my system folder, and worst of all the uninstall program won't even run at all." Then the single tech support person says: "Oh that is no problem, just format your hard drive and call Microsoft for support after that"
We had the same game in Belgium about 2 years ago. It was called Cybero. It lasted a few month but people didn't liked it. It was a mess for the National Lottery. I've heard this kind of game is pretty well implemented in Canada. Well, that's what the belgian lottery told us ...
When you add something as simple as the standard logarithmic utility function (which basically means that if you have $1.000.000, your utility/happiness/survival will go down more from losing $1.000.000, than it will go up from gaining another $1.000.000), a rational agent becomes risk averse and can thus theoretically benefit from insurance. Lotteries become even more of a sucker deal when you involve the utility function.
BTW, IANAE.
Opinions stated are mine and do not reflect those of the Illuminati
Laziness is a virtue, anyone who bothers to tell you otherwise, is clearly lacking it.
Just cut 'em right the fuck off; let the worthless old looters freeze in the dark!
HAND.
Try reading the morons histrory some time.
Iowa is not exactly the first since treasure tower (and most of these CD based lottery games) was made by Ingenio, on of Loto-Quebec subsidiaries.
This game was used in loto quebec lotteries.
Heres how it works.
You buy a scratch ticket.. if you dont have the cd, it will be more expensive.
You install the game and load it up.. ooh pre rendered 3d.
You scratch your ticket, there is a code.. Enter the code into the game and you will play a predetermined game where what you win depends on the code you enter. If you win, you take the ticket and bring it to a lotto terminal and claim your prize.
As you can see, there is zero possibility for cracking.
Loto Quebec has other games to, check it out!
http://192.197.135.2/produits/prod10a.htm
...that's the very definition of underemployed. ;)
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
American business long ago gave up on demanding that prospective employees
be honest and hardworking. It has even stopped hoping for employees who are
educated enough that they can tell the difference between the men's room and
the women's room without having little pictures on the doors.
-- Dave Barry, "Urine Trouble, Mister"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...