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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?"
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.
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****
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
Well, at least they understand modern kids!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
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); }
Probably better odds elsewhere. After having actually seen what passes for security in the online gambling industry all you need really is a java decompilor.
Many of the online casino games tell the server whether it won or lost. And on one particularly funny case the game connected right to the SQL server at the casino.
The first place I worked did better with a flash/php combo but theve never bothered to upgrade apache or ssl since I quit.
It's quite sad really I'm supprised these places don't get ripped off more often.
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.
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!
"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.
...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
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-
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
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.
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!
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.
I got the date from this website.
But here's also a quote from the website that gives the typical scenario:
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"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.
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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