Slashdot Mirror
Ex-Lottery Worker Convicted of Programming System To Win $14M
An anonymous reader sends news that Eddie Tipton, a man who worked for the Multi-State Lottery Association, has been convicted of rigging a computerized lottery game so he could win the $14 million jackpot. Tipton wrote a computer program that would ensure certain numbers were picked in the lottery game, and ran it on lottery system machines. He then deleted it and bought a ticket from a convenience store. Lottery employees are forbidden to play, so he tried to get acquaintances to cash the winning ticket for him. Unfortunately for him, Iowa law requires the original ticket buyer's name to be divulged before any money can be paid out.
>> he tried to get acquaintances to cash the winning ticket for him
He should have looked into how insiders scammed McDonald's Monopoly contests for about $13M first.
http://lubbockonline.com/stori...
Hi user:sexconker (1179573), we know it's you, you forgot to check the "Post Anonymously" box earlier:
http://news.slashdot.org/comme...
John Olivier did a wonderful piece explaining this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
In short, despite what they tell you, the money is fungible. Not because they actually take the money from the lottery and use it for something else, but because it doesn't stop them from cutting OTHER funding for the schools. So say they previously spent $500 million on the schools each year. The lottery brings in $150 million, so that should mean the schools get $650m, right? Nope, because they just cut the school budget by $300 million, meaning the schools are now only getting $350 million, of which $150 million is from the lottery.
Or any banking or other financial system.
Your money isn't stored in a big container with your name on it. It's bits in the banks systems. Relatively speaking, it's trivial to move the bits from your account to someone else's account. Practically speaking, there are safeguards in place to ensure this doesn't happen in an unauthorized manner and to track all transactions that happen, but at the core this is a computer system and someone could theoretically hack the system to increase their funds and decrease yours.
Keeping your money off of all electronic systems would mean stuffing piles of bills into your mattress.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Look, sorry if I offended you but you didn't read my whole post...
The only valid reason to play, IMHO, is for entertainment value, which is pretty limited. If you want to bet for entertainment, hit the blackjack tables after you learn the rules of how you play. Blackjack is a better deal because the entertainment lasts longer for the same cost, on average.
IF you get enjoyment out of playing the lottery and have money to spend on such entertainment, have fun, buy your tickets. You know what the odds mean and that you won't win but you enjoy the thrill making sure and finding that if you had matched ONE more number, they would have paid you $5.
However, you are not the target audience of lotteries. People like you don't buy that many tickets. People who are poor, don't have disposable income, who are inclined to make stupid financial decisions are the same folks who more often buying lottery tickets. It amounts to a tax on foolishness and stupidity.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101