Arizona Lottery director not embarrassed about computerized drawing fiasco

Oct 17, 2017, 8:51 am (38 comments)

Arizona Lottery

PHOENIX — The head of the Arizona Lottery says he's not embarrassed that his department overlooked a potentially costly failure of its computerized drawings.

Over a six-day period starting Sept. 28, lottery machines spit out the same numbers in consecutive games.

(See Arizona Lottery computerized drawing machine generated identical winning numbers, Lottery Post, Oct. 6, 2017.)

The Lottery is now offering refunds or exchanges for anyone who played the Pick 3, Fantasy 5, All or Nothing, and 5 Card Cash from Sept. 28 through Oct 3.

The total sale during that time, including winning tickets, is $575,000, according to lottery officials.

The glitch, however, was discovered by an observant player while it was overlooked by officials with the Arizona Lottery.

Asked if he was embarrassed about missing the glitch, Gregg Edgar, the executive director for the Arizona Lottery, said he wasn't.

"What I'll tell you, our players are extremely intelligent people and they know what they're doing when they play these games," he said.

The malfunctioning machine is now undergoing a forensic audit.

It is still unknown what caused the error, which took place amidst new allegations that the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) knew of similar computerized drawing issues in the past, and did not publicly disclose the problems.

(See Lottery rigger warned officials about computerized drawing machines years agoLottery Post, Oct. 15, 2017.)

Since the discovery, Edgar said his team has taken precautions to make sure they catch similar errors in the future.

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Comments

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

"team has taken precautions to make sure they catch similar errors in the future".

Kinda like locking the barn door after the horse gets away.

And he says they want to catch similar errors in the future? That's reassuring. So they expect more errors in their RNG in the future?

JADELottery's avatarJADELottery

The only take away we get from this is, it appears they are desperately trying to avoid the demon that lurks within computer generated numbers.

We have our own take as to why this happened, however, it's just speculation.

In the meantime, as long as this problem is not seriously addressed, it will happen again.

Like all things these days, it will be handled by alleviating the symptoms.

At this point, word marking are the words of the day.

Everyone should Watch for it and Profit from it.

Good Luck.

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

"What I'll tell you, our players are extremely intelligent people and they know what they're doing when they play these games"

 

You see, this is what they do...compliment the victims to try and disarm their anger.

It's all psychological !

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Oct 17, 2017

"team has taken precautions to make sure they catch similar errors in the future".

Kinda like locking the barn door after the horse gets away.

And he says they want to catch similar errors in the future? That's reassuring. So they expect more errors in their RNG in the future?

Exactly.  Seems to me if they wanted to really solve the problem they would switch back to real lottery drawings and punt the computers.  People act as if it would be an enormous undertaking, but Indiana did it, and got a lot of positive press from it.  Ball drawings are a nightly event that give the lottery an opportunity to market directly to its players base.  They inspire trust and confidence.

Ron5995

Not surprised AZ Lottery is going on as usual. However, I'm a bit surprised that the AZ Lottery director has such a lackadaisical attitude regarding the situation. As if it's no big deal, RNG glitches happen. Not reassuring at all.

One would have thought with the Hot Lotto scandal that lotteries would be switching away from RNG, but most aren't. I believe it's for two main reasons:

  1. Most players will play, regardless.
  2. No legislation requiring ball draw.

What makes matters worse is most lotteries, by and large, oversee themselves. In contrast, big name physical casinos, in particular, outside of Indian reservations, are overseen by somewhat independent regulators. That makes a difference. Sure, abuses can happen, but the bar is higher and there's a dispute process for players. In short, the lottery is often its own regulator. That's a recipe for abuse along with lack of care in protecting players.

Lotteries rely in large part on ignorance. Regardless of one's education level, background, etc, most players seemingly know little about how the lottery works, the games, etc. Unlike with casinos, there's often nowhere for a concerned player to turn other the lottery itself, which often won't answer most questions with any real detail; one is left wondering.

Lotteries often explain in some detail how ball machine draws work. Yet, RNG is clouded in mystery. Does any U.S. lottery disclose in detail how its RNG machines work? And publish the source code? Not aware of any that do. Without seeing the details, one should assume RNG is potentially rigged and wager accordingly.

lejardin's avatarlejardin

The glitch, however, was discovered by an observant player while it was overlooked by officials with the Arizona Lottery.

But he isnt embarrassed by this?  Shame on him.

tnwinner

Wink The Arizona Lottery is a scam joke. The RNG is used to screw players. The computer purposely picks numbers that very few have played to insure low payouts and make the lottery more money. Boycott the games until the lottery is forced to return to the ball draw. Quit letting them screw you ..

noise-gate

Edgar was never going to apologize, to do so would be admitting guilt, making him look weak. Notice how he deflected the question, and came out with " our players are extremely intelligent "

 l looked up Edgar, and what do you know. He is the founder of Edgar Strategic Communications- a PR firm. If the press thinks they will " corner" Edgar with questions, they have a thing or two to learn. Edgar is soaked in the deflecting game. 

Stack47

"What I'll tell you, our players are extremely intelligent people and they know what they're doing when they play these games," he said.

I wonder if Edgar's "extremely intelligent people" will figure out  the problem with "the malfunctioning machine undergoing a forensic audit." is the same RNG program he is using in his other machines?

Artist77's avatarArtist77

I think people in AZ need to start exploiting these errors.  The director did not even give the standard go to answer "we are taking steps to make certain this does not happen again."

OneTrickpony's avatarOneTrickpony

"What I'll tell you, our players are extremely intelligent people and they know what they're doing when they play these games," he said.

He's right.  We are intelligent.  But that is also not an answer.  It's pandering, and I find it insulting.

 

The malfunctioning machine is now undergoing a forensic audit.

I hope it's audited by an independent third party and not the contractors who set up the system in the first place.  That would be like sending the fox in to inspect the hen house.

TnTicketlosers's avatarTnTicketlosers

Of people were strong enough like me they would stop being scammers like Tennessee,If people lived here they would see how depressing it is.Cant win grocery money in this state.

TnTicketlosers's avatarTnTicketlosers

IF

grwurston's avatargrwurston

I posted this earlier as a response in another thread but it applies here too.

Here is a comment from the Md lottery website.  Note the contradictions. Games of chance, the House will always win, virtually impossible to "rig" a drawing. 

Question- If it's a game of chance and it's virtually impossible to rig, then why does the house always win?

Answer- Because it's rigged in the house's favor.

Note the hi-lited comments.

mdlottery mike • 7 years ago
mike: Thank you for your message. Please understand that lotteries are games of chance – or luck. A player can play the same number once or every day for 20 years and they have the same chance of winning a prize.

It truly is a gamble. Just as with any gambling establishment, the “house” will always win and it is no different with the Maryland Lottery. The Maryland Lottery is a state agency and the bulk of its proceeds go right back to citizens – just last year the Lottery contributed paid $1.03 billion dollars in prizes to players and $510.6 million dollars to state-funded programs. Click HERE to see a breakdown of Maryland Lottery revenue.

Also, the Maryland Lottery is a regulated state agency that is held to the highest standards. All Lottery drawings are audited on a regular basis by independent companies and it would be virtually impossible to “rig” or predetermine a drawing.

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