NM Lottery Pick 4 computerized drawing glitch made many tickets worthless

Comment #17

Stack47 — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 05:30:36 GMT

If MM and PB are the only real lotteries, why does the pick-3 Forum have 130,194 topics/3,607,670 post discussing pick-3 games?

If MM and PB are so popular, where are the systems and playing strategies?

There are lots of MM and PB topics about claiming tickets and spending imaginary winnings and I don't see pick-3 players condemning those games. Do you personally know a MM or PB jackpot winner or even a winner of a five number match

Comment #16

Stack47 — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 05:09:48 GMT

Any state lottery make the same mistake Tennessee made 12 years ago is just plain stupid and the TN fiasco was a year after Wisconsin's RNG drew the same numbers twice in 10 days.

Comment #15

Murgatroyd — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 22:21:55 GMT

I just did the math, and this was far worse than the article makes it sound. 49.6% of purchasable combinations had no chance of winning.

Comment #14

Coin Toss — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 04:56:02 GMT

Groppo,

Why, oh why, do you assume everybody would want to play only the games you play

Comment #13

music* — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 23:27:29 GMT

I disagree with Groppo. Variety is the spice of life as my Mother used to say.

The more the merrier. I am sure that Todd is attracting more LP Members and not pushing them away.

Comment #12

lakerben — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 23:08:47 GMT

They will get it fixed. At least they are making good on their mistake. The pick 3 has been good to md and ive done good with the p4 even with the mistakes.

Comment #11

Groppo — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 22:59:17 GMT

.

This is just too much. These secondary lotteries need to go by the way of the trash can.

And Todd, as grateful as I am for being able to come to usamega.com and look up both main prizes

in an instant, I think you should just report on these two main lottos which I've been a fan of since last century.

But the dishonesty, the errors such as with New Mexico, in this case, and all other things just go to prove the

validity and longevity of ONLY the two main lottos: MM and PB.... [ More ]

Comment #10

lakerben — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 22:58:08 GMT

Wow!

Im headed over therw to be reimbursed!!!

No wonder the doubles didnt hit

Comment #9

Bleudog101 — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:59:16 GMT

Though not even remotely related to Tipton, his name came to mind. He would never waste his time on 'small time lotteries' like that if he were a free man.

At least the NM is saving face and doing the right thing by reimbursing losing tickets versus others who just say 'oh well'.

Wish that Indiana would put mechanical balls in Hoosier Lotto and Cash 5. Are they still televising the pick 3 or pick4 drawings or just live streaming like many other states do??

Good luck everyone in the... [ More ]

Comment #8

Coin Toss — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:52:09 GMT

Good point, gatorsok, but to paraphrase Field of Dreams, if you offer it they will play.

Comment #7

noise-gate — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 07:51:37 GMT

Strange isn't it? A person condemned to the gas chamber has potassium cyanide pellets dropped into a bath of sulfuric acid that generates hydrogen cyanide gas......yet an employee presses a button and numbers are displayed on a computer screen with no way of knowing what was done to generate them.

Comment #6

Tucker Black — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 02:00:33 GMT

Absolutely!

People should flat-out REFUSE to play computerized lottery games. It just makes no sense for an agency that brings in millions and millions of dollars in profits to not use ball drawings. The savings are peanuts.

Comment #5

gatorsrok — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 01:46:05 GMT

The only way states will give up computerized drawings is if players stop buying those tickets.

Comment #4

oate — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 01:18:25 GMT

These days most high-school students could write the few lines of code it takes to create a Pick 4 RNG. I'm inclined to think many of these programming errors are intentional.

Comment #3

grwurston — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 01:14:28 GMT

We already know that lotteries keep track of how many tickets are sold for each individual number before the drawings take place. This explains why there are sold out numbers.

With computer drawings how do we know for sure the computers aren't programmed to pick numbers with the fewest tickets sold? We don't. If that's the case, it's an even bigger money maker for the state lottery that uses them. Fewer winners, more money for them. That makes it pretty easy to see why they are so reluctant t... [ More ]

Comment #2

music* — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 01:14:18 GMT

Thank You, Todd Northrop and the Lottery Post Staff for holding their feet to the fire. Soon the dam will burst and change will occur. Follow the money trail.

Comment #1

TheMeatman2005 — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:50:08 GMT

Another reason that ball drawings are needed.

To err is human; to really foul things up requires a computer.

NM Lottery Pick 4 computerized drawing glitch made many tickets worthless

Lottery Post — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:25:37 GMT

Players can get a refund IF they held onto losing tickets

By Todd Northrop

When the New Mexico Lottery introduced its latest lottery draw game, Pick 4, in early February, players had no idea that many of the tickets they purchased were completely worthless with no chance of winning.

That's because the game's computerized drawings were incorrectly programmed, making combinations with repeat digits impossible to be drawn. Only combinations in which every digit was different were able to b... [ More ]