ARKANSAS LOTTERY DRAWINGS TO BE COMPUTERIZED

Aug 1, 2009, 1:20 am (29 comments)

Arkansas Lottery

Numerous polls show players do not trust computerized drawings

Did Arkansas Lottery Commission hire the right team?

Senator proposes bill scrapping the lottery

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Despite nearly universal player mistrust of computerized lottery drawings, the new Arkansas Lottery director made the inexplicable decision this week to forgo real mechanical lottery ball drawings, and use a computer program to select the winning numbers in the state's new lottery.

The commission met at Philander Smith College in Little Rock and approved an intent to award the contract for online draw games to Intralot, the Greek firm that was the only company to bid last week for the games.  Intralot says it could have the games up and running by Sept. 28.  Lottery director Ernie Passailaigue had set an Oct. 29 deadline to get games up and running.

Under the contract, Intralot would receive 2.45 percent of net lottery sales.

The commission considered live drawings for the games, but Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue told commissioners that while most people prefer live draws, they are expensive.  He said the commission could always switch to a live draw in the future, but if it started out with one, it would be hard to change from that format.

Passailaigue says the method saves more than $700,000, but like all states that try to justify computerized drawings, the negative impact of player mistrust was not factored in the explanation.  With states using traditional lottery drawings doing generally better in the current recession, Arkansas residents will likely demand answers.

The animated drawings would be broadcast via webcasts over the Internet.

Local media reports have pointed to Lottery Post's Petition for True Lottery Drawings and associated educational materials that foretell the difficulties to come. (www.lotterypost.com/petition-true-drawings.aspx)  Lottery Post has called on Arkansas residents to get involved and sign the petition.

In several polls conducted in the past two years, lottery players have indicated by an overwhelming 93%-7% margin that they prefer traditional ball drawings, in which the exact means of number selection can be witnessed by a layman observer.

Lottery players bemoan the fact that there is no possible means to view the means by which a computerized drawing selects the numbers.  From problems as benign as a simple programmer error to a malicious attempt to steal a jackpot by secretly rigging the computer program and then erasing the offending program, corruption of the draw results can happen without the possibility of knowing.

And if the Arkansas Lottery Commission were to investigate the incident rate of computerized drawing errors in other states, they would conclude that the Arkansas Lottery will almost certainly suffer a similar problem at some point.

In fact, errors in the computer programs in other states have caused catastrophic problems that rendered many thousands of tickets unwinnable.  In some cases, those problems silently remained in place for months, as unwitting players purchased lottery tickets with absolutely no chance of winning.

Is it possible to reverse course and convince or compel the lottery to use real lottery draw equipment?

Looking to other states such as Tennessee for examples, lottery directors — especially high-profile, highly-paid directors like Passailaigue — will practically never reverse a decision once it is made.  Whether it is their reputation at stake to justify the high salary, or simply an unwillingness to admit mistakes, the lottery tends to forge ahead with the original decision as the only option.

The only method this reporter has seen that can effect changes of this magnitude is legislation that forces the lottery's hand and compels the lottery to listen to its customer base.  Such legislative action is only effective when it is directed by lawmakers who have the determination to create legislation that forces the lottery to do the right thing, and the fortitude to push it all the way to a vote.

Senator proposes scrapping the whole thing

A state senator is proposing that that the law setting up Arkansas' lottery be repealed.

State Sen. Sue Madison of Fayetteville said Friday that she'll ask a legislative committee to study her proposal to repeal the legislation setting up the Arkansas Lottery Commission. Arkansas voters in November approved an amendment authorizing the state to set up a lottery to raise money for college scholarships.

Madison says she doesn't think lawmakers thoroughly considered the consequences of the state setting up a lottery and said she regrets signing on as a sponsor to the lottery law earlier this year. Madison says she voted against the lottery amendment in November.

Madison's proposal comes as the lottery faces criticism over the high pay its director and other top officials have received, as well as the latest decision to institute computerized drawings.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

Sad,how many lotteries have been computerized right from the start?  has that ever happened or is this the first time.what were they thinking?   its pretty much all about justifying saving money now or the budget.they dropped the ball big time on this one.i had a bad feeling once all the squabbling started here a couple weeks back over the salaries and management.

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

Ernie, please reconsider. Give the folks what they want. That's what will generate the most income.

MADDOG10's avatarMADDOG10

Just another flagerant act of  " Who cares what the people want ". I understand the fact of saving money, but when you sacrifice the public opinion for the sake of money, you only solidify the fact that you could care less about the very people that voted for a lottery.

Disrespect to the voters is not the way to start a lottery......! 

konane's avatarkonane

Quote: Originally posted by MADDOG10 on Aug 1, 2009

Just another flagerant act of  " Who cares what the people want ". I understand the fact of saving money, but when you sacrifice the public opinion for the sake of money, you only solidify the fact that you could care less about the very people that voted for a lottery.

Disrespect to the voters is not the way to start a lottery......! 

I Agree!  I Agree!  I Agree!  I Agree!  I Agree!  I Agree!  I Agree!  I Agree!

L J1's avatarL J1

It's not about saving money

It's about taking money from the little guy so these HIGH LEVEL PEOPLE in Office can sit on their *ss and justify their JOB. The news story Explains it perfectly.

Do everyone a favor.... and KEEP the Machanical drawings Mechanical.....From the start.

Wink

lottocalgal's avatarlottocalgal

Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on Aug 1, 2009

Sad,how many lotteries have been computerized right from the start?  has that ever happened or is this the first time.what were they thinking?   its pretty much all about justifying saving money now or the budget.they dropped the ball big time on this one.i had a bad feeling once all the squabbling started here a couple weeks back over the salaries and management.

The day California utilizes computer generated lotto is the day I stop playing all together.  I in no way  trust that system.  talk about easily manipulated!  I know alot of Californians who feel the same way.  There will be such a drop in sales that the lottery headquarters wont even be able to pay even the smallest salary

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

Quote: Originally posted by lottocalgal on Aug 1, 2009

The day California utilizes computer generated lotto is the day I stop playing all together.  I in no way  trust that system.  talk about easily manipulated!  I know alot of Californians who feel the same way.  There will be such a drop in sales that the lottery headquarters wont even be able to pay even the smallest salary

this is california below lottocalgal.if you just play the state lotto you should be fine although pretty much everything else is computerized.

 

  • California (29% true lottery drawings)
    True Drawings: Mega Millions, SuperLotto Plus
    Computerized: Daily 3, Daily 4, Daily Derby, Fantasy 5, Midday 3
Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on Aug 1, 2009

this is california below lottocalgal.if you just play the state lotto you should be fine although pretty much everything else is computerized.

 

  • California (29% true lottery drawings)
    True Drawings: Mega Millions, SuperLotto Plus
    Computerized: Daily 3, Daily 4, Daily Derby, Fantasy 5, Midday 3

I Agree!

California is already computerized, with the exception of SuperLotto Plus.

California had one of the worst computerized drawing errors ever officially recorded, and sold tickets with no chance of winning for several months. 

The game was Daily Derby, and if you had certain Race Times, you could not win because the computer programming error excluded certain times from ever being "drawn".  (I use that term lightly, because in a computer there is no "drawing" -- simply a grouping of numbers that is "appointed" by a "random" number generator.) 

A lottery player figured it out eventually by noticing the odd fact that certain numbers never won, and he notified the lottery -- then finally the lottery recognized and fixed the error.  Meanwhile, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, of lottery tickets had been sold with no chance of winning.

This is the type of drawing system Arkansas lottery players can look forward to.

Great job Arkansas Lottery.  Major FAIL.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on Aug 1, 2009

Sad,how many lotteries have been computerized right from the start?  has that ever happened or is this the first time.what were they thinking?   its pretty much all about justifying saving money now or the budget.they dropped the ball big time on this one.i had a bad feeling once all the squabbling started here a couple weeks back over the salaries and management.

My state. The only game that we have here that isn't computerized is Powerball. 

It's sad that Arkansas decided to go this route. I thought they would start their lottery off in a good way. I guess I was wrong. No Nod

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

tennessee had three really great years before the nonsense started.they were right up there with the best of the state lotteries.arkansas hasn't even started up yet and they have already had struggles with how things are going to be run,financial matters and now this computer draws situation.something tells me if they don't get it together the arkansas lottery is going to be a lot worse than tennessee ever was.don't forget arkansas is smaller plus they have other forms of gambling like horse,dog racing and casino style gambling.people there won't put up with nonsense they'll just go on and play the dogs and horses or visit the casinos.powerball and scratch offs will be the bread and butter there for arkansas.i don't expect the numbers games to make much of a dent especially computerized.

dopey7719's avatardopey7719

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Aug 1, 2009

I Agree!

California is already computerized, with the exception of SuperLotto Plus.

California had one of the worst computerized drawing errors ever officially recorded, and sold tickets with no chance of winning for several months. 

The game was Daily Derby, and if you had certain Race Times, you could not win because the computer programming error excluded certain times from ever being "drawn".  (I use that term lightly, because in a computer there is no "drawing" -- simply a grouping of numbers that is "appointed" by a "random" number generator.) 

A lottery player figured it out eventually by noticing the odd fact that certain numbers never won, and he notified the lottery -- then finally the lottery recognized and fixed the error.  Meanwhile, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, of lottery tickets had been sold with no chance of winning.

This is the type of drawing system Arkansas lottery players can look forward to.

Great job Arkansas Lottery.  Major FAIL.

That is so scary!  I had no idea that computerized drawings existed.  I'm just  novice to the lottery game, so thank you Todd for this website!!!  We haven't had the lottery that long here in SC so I'm glad we're able to see the balls as they come out.  I just assumed every state was the same way. 

How could anyone EVER trust a computerized drawing?  Considering how hackers can get into highly secured government offices...manipulating the lottery would probably be a no-brainer. 

Geez!

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by dopey7719 on Aug 2, 2009

That is so scary!  I had no idea that computerized drawings existed.  I'm just  novice to the lottery game, so thank you Todd for this website!!!  We haven't had the lottery that long here in SC so I'm glad we're able to see the balls as they come out.  I just assumed every state was the same way. 

How could anyone EVER trust a computerized drawing?  Considering how hackers can get into highly secured government offices...manipulating the lottery would probably be a no-brainer. 

Geez!

That is the nearly universal reaction I have seen from lottery players, whether they are casual players or die-hard daily players.  In an industry that relies so heavily upon trust and accountability, inserting computers into the mix at the most critical point -- thereby HIDING the most critical aspect -- is wrong and inexcusable. 

I am very happy to hear that you've come across Lottery Post and found the information helpful and informative.  When I originally started the site (and USA Mega) about a decade ago (has it been that long?!) it was because I could not locate any usable and easy-to-access information about the lottery on the Web.  So that has been my goal ever since!

jarasan's avatarjarasan

Like duh.  Your tax dollars at work.  Next thing you know they'll figure out will be: "that people don't like paying taxes."  or maybe most people don't trust politicians.

No Pity!

bobby623's avatarbobby623

Passailaigue, is that a Greek name?, should observe how real drawings are conducted in Texas.

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