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While gambling is a poor deal (see Powerball: Threat or Menace?), what if the lottery is somehow even worse than even the millions-to-one odds that are advertised?
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- In 2003 a geological statistician cracked a lottery ticket code and reported that to the lottery, but then kept finding new ways to break other lottery games. It appears organized crime skims off winning tickets for profit and money laundering, leaving mostly the loser tickets and small winners for the public. Anomalies in prize redemption make this seem likely.
- There is always the direct approach–hacking the lottery computers, though fortunately the perpetrator was caught. The insider threat is hard to stop.
- All-in-all, there is a long history of hacked games of chance, and it seems extremely unlikely, that given the rewards available, the hacking will stop.