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View Full Version : Genius Gold Miner Cracked the Code to Scratch-Lottery Tickets




teacherone
02-07-2011, 07:45 AM
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/933200--toronto-man-cracked-the-code-to-scratch-lottery-tickets?bn=1

After receiving degrees from MIT and Stanford University, Srivastava began a career as a geostatistical consultant, helping international mining companies determine where to point their drills.

His job entails using data to extrapolate how much wealth might be buried underground.

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All these factors came into play in June 2003, when Srivastava scratched his first lottery ticket, given to him as a gag gift.

He won $3. After a momentary wave of “child-like joy” subsided, the gears in his brain began to click.

“I started wondering how they’re produced,” he said. “By the time I got to the Petro-Canada (to redeem the prize), I knew how I would write the computer program.”

Srivastava thought this was the end to his ponderings. But later, walking past the same Petro-Canada, he heard a voice in his head:


long article well worth the read

sparebulb
02-07-2011, 09:13 AM
Very good article.

The part about money laundering is VERY interesting.

brandon
02-07-2011, 09:23 AM
How do you go about picking which lottery tickets you get though? Where I live you don't get to select a specific card in a pile, you just ask for one and they rip off the top one and give it to you.

Chester Copperpot
02-07-2011, 09:25 AM
Very good article.

The part about money laundering is VERY interesting.

YEah thats the best part of the whole article... in fact its the only best part of the article IMO.

Chester Copperpot
02-07-2011, 09:26 AM
How do you go about picking which lottery tickets you get though? Where I live you don't get to select a specific card in a pile, you just ask for one and they rip off the top one and give it to you.

Thats why it wasnt worth his time because it wasnt a profitable flaw for the avg person to use.. But someone on the inside however who could pre-select a bunch of tickets ahead of time.. well thats why he talked about the money laundering aspect. Very interesting

akforme
02-07-2011, 09:34 AM
naturally, srivastava spent some time at this point determining how he could profit from his newfound insight. A quick calculation showed this would be more hassle than it was worth.

“i realized this wasn’t going to be a big payout,” he said. “once i realized that this wasn’t a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, i was like, ‘who do i report this too?’ ”

lol

MRK
02-07-2011, 10:04 AM
Thats why it wasnt worth his time because it wasnt a profitable flaw for the avg person to use.. But someone on the inside however who could pre-select a bunch of tickets ahead of time.. well thats why he talked about the money laundering aspect. Very interesting

There's a chance he's only seeing part of the algorithm for the right answer, which would explain why he can't guarantee it every time but can greatly increase his chances.

The $1 million McDonalds Monopoly prize was stacked for years until it was found out a friend or relative of the prize distributors had won each pulloff five years in a row. After that point McDonalds gave out five $1 million prizes a day after one another in order to save face.