Lotteries are for losers, but scratch tickets are interesting crypto problems. Winning tickets are printed algorithmically and (at least around here) serial num

Lotteries are for losers, but scratch tickets are interesting crypto problems. Winning tickets are printed algorithmically and (at least around here) serial numbered. Given past winning ticket numbers (available via FOIA request, ask me how I know...) it's possible to determine winning serial numbers in the future. (At least in states that don't rotate their pseudorandom seeds, and some...don't.) Finding the winning tickets out in the world such that you can get away with buying just them is a harder problem, as they're normally sold 'in order', and going around THAT is the thing that gets your winning ticket DQ'd. There's always something nice about "free money", and it's achievable here, but an honest job is less work.