5 ms·

In Canada, are you able to say, "I don't want this one" until you get a potential winner? Here in Texas, you cannot pick your ticket. When you buy a ticket, you

by golgo13 16y ago

In Canada, are you able to say, "I don't want this one" until you get a potential winner? Here in Texas, you cannot pick your ticket. When you buy a ticket, you get whatever the cashier gives you or whatever the machine spits out. Or is the guy simply not wasting time scratching off the losers? I still don't see how this could be profitable since most games have 1:5 odds, including break even prizes.

alokt_ 16y ago
yes, but if you work at/own a gas station, you can pretty much pick the winners and sell the losing tickets.
- eftpotrm 16y ago
  Not in the UK lottery; all the tickets get dispensed from clear containers and have to be the next one on the roll (which comes out at the back so you can't see what the next one will be). They've tried educating their customers* about not buying tickets that aren't on the roll. This to me seemed to be the core of the problem; not that the cards were crackable, but that it was possible for a user to select what card to purchase rather than just what game to play. Remove that and the problem largely goes away through simple education about valid play procedures as I suggested. (* I say educated, but there's the infamous 'Winter temperatures' scratchcard which rather undermines that concept - http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1022757_cool_cash_card_confusion http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1022757_c...)
  - dhyasama 16y ago
    Exactly. Force players to buy the next ticket on the roll (without seeing it) and don't allow unused tickets to be returned. Problem solved. I grew up in Maine and tickets are dispensed this way. Not sure about returning tickets, but knowing Mainers, I'd be surprised if they would take them back. It doesn't pass the straight-face test.
    - BrandonM 16y ago
      Problem not solved. A savvy attendant just checks the tickets on the end of each roll. If it's a winner, go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, wait until a customer buys the loser first.
      - Luyt 16y ago
        Disallow attendants to buy tickets while they're on the job. [However, they could signal accomplices to buy it for them. It would take a team, then.]
        rtghnyhjm 16y ago
        Most lottery tickets are sold from small convenience stores, either family owned or with just a couple of staff - hard to enforce this. There is a crackdown on relatives of store owners winning the lottery - but is normally them defrauding winners who come in to check the ticket.
callahad 16y ago
This is directly addressed in the article: “Lots of people buy lottery tickets in bulk to give away as prizes for contests,” he says. He asked several Toronto retailers if they would object to him buying tickets and then exchanging the unused, unscratched tickets. “Everybody said that would be totally fine. Nobody was even a tiny bit suspicious,” he says. “Why not? Because they all assumed the games are unbreakable. So what I would try to do is buy up lots of tickets, run them through my scanning machine, and then try to return the unscratched losers. Of course, you could also just find a retailer willing to cooperate or take a bribe. That might be easier.”
ergo98 16y ago
For this sort of ticket the buyer selects from a display of, I would say, several dozen.
djb_hackernews 16y ago
I once bought a brick of scratch tickets, the only way I see this working is buying the brick, going through them and pulling out the winners and then selling the unscratched ones back to your friend convenience store clerk. There should be lots of tickets still attached to eachother, so they can be placed back into the hopper and removed as usual. When a "broken link" is encountered, it'll just look like the end of a brick.
amalcon 16y ago
It would not work, except that some lotteries have been trying to get creative with marketing. They want to give people an illusion of control, hence letting them choose between several "different" tickets. This is the "baited hook" they mention. In theory, the tickets are not actually visibly different. In practice, apparently they are, just not in entirely obvious ways.
ultrasaurus 16y ago
I just bought 3 Ontario Lottery Corp bingo cards to see if the pattern held and he gave me my pick and told me to take my time.

by golgo13 16y ago

alokt_ 16y ago

yes, but if you work at/own a gas station, you can pretty much pick the winners and sell the losing tickets.

eftpotrm 16y ago
Not in the UK lottery; all the tickets get dispensed from clear containers and have to be the next one on the roll (which comes out at the back so you can't see what the next one will be). They've tried educating their customers* about not buying tickets that aren't on the roll. This to me seemed to be the core of the problem; not that the cards were crackable, but that it was possible for a user to select what card to purchase rather than just what game to play. Remove that and the problem largely goes away through simple education about valid play procedures as I suggested. (* I say educated, but there's the infamous 'Winter temperatures' scratchcard which rather undermines that concept - http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1022757_cool_cash_card_confusion http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1022757_c...)
- dhyasama 16y ago
  Exactly. Force players to buy the next ticket on the roll (without seeing it) and don't allow unused tickets to be returned. Problem solved. I grew up in Maine and tickets are dispensed this way. Not sure about returning tickets, but knowing Mainers, I'd be surprised if they would take them back. It doesn't pass the straight-face test.
  - BrandonM 16y ago
    Problem not solved. A savvy attendant just checks the tickets on the end of each roll. If it's a winner, go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, wait until a customer buys the loser first.
    - Luyt 16y ago
      Disallow attendants to buy tickets while they're on the job. [However, they could signal accomplices to buy it for them. It would take a team, then.]
      - rtghnyhjm 16y ago
        Most lottery tickets are sold from small convenience stores, either family owned or with just a couple of staff - hard to enforce this. There is a crackdown on relatives of store owners winning the lottery - but is normally them defrauding winners who come in to check the ticket.

callahad 16y ago

This is directly addressed in the article: “Lots of people buy lottery tickets in bulk to give away as prizes for contests,” he says. He asked several Toronto retailers if they would object to him buying tickets and then exchanging the unused, unscratched tickets. “Everybody said that would be totally fine. Nobody was even a tiny bit suspicious,” he says. “Why not? Because they all assumed the games are unbreakable. So what I would try to do is buy up lots of tickets, run them through my scanning machine, and then try to return the unscratched losers. Of course, you could also just find a retailer willing to cooperate or take a bribe. That might be easier.”

ergo98 16y ago

For this sort of ticket the buyer selects from a display of, I would say, several dozen.

djb_hackernews 16y ago

I once bought a brick of scratch tickets, the only way I see this working is buying the brick, going through them and pulling out the winners and then selling the unscratched ones back to your friend convenience store clerk. There should be lots of tickets still attached to eachother, so they can be placed back into the hopper and removed as usual. When a "broken link" is encountered, it'll just look like the end of a brick.

amalcon 16y ago

It would not work, except that some lotteries have been trying to get creative with marketing. They want to give people an illusion of control, hence letting them choose between several "different" tickets. This is the "baited hook" they mention. In theory, the tickets are not actually visibly different. In practice, apparently they are, just not in entirely obvious ways.

ultrasaurus 16y ago

I just bought 3 Ontario Lottery Corp bingo cards to see if the pattern held and he gave me my pick and told me to take my time.