Arizona lottery glitch

[phnxnmartini]

Makes you wonder how random the RNG is or isn't:
The Arizona Lottery is offering losing ticket refunds or exchanges from four games held over a recent six-day period because a machine used for the drawings generated the same winning numbers in consecutive games.

The games affected are Fantasy 5, Pick 3, All or Nothing, and 5 Card Cash, played from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3, Arizona Lottery officials said.

The Arizona Lottery uses three machines called Random Number Generators, or RNGs, to generate the winning numbers for the games, said Nikki O'Shea, state lottery spokeswoman.

The machines are stand-alone units that are not connected to a network or online system, she said. Two of the machines are managed by Iowa-based Multi State Lottery, which works with Arizona's lottery. The third, which is in Phoenix, is used as a backup, O'Shea said.

Multi State Lottery randomly selects which machines will be used for a game's number draw. The machine that caused the problem was selected for the morning draw Sept. 28 and Sept. 30, and evening draw Sept. 29 and Oct. 3, O'Shea said.

The machine, which lottery officials referred to as RNG2, produced the numbers for one game and then generated the exact same numbers in a subsequent game. This happened several times with different games.

For example, in a Fantasy 5 game Sept. 29, the numbers drawn were 1-4-8-12-28. The same numbers were generated by the machine when it was used again in the game on Oct. 3.

Duplicate numbers were generated in All or Nothing on Sept. 28 and Sept. 30, and on Sept. 29 and Oct. 3. Pick 3 duplicates were generated Sept. 29 and Oct. 3. 5 Card Cash also was affected during the time period, officials said.

O'Shea said the matter still was being investigated, but the machine has been taken out of use and the other two machines will be used going forward. Additional draw audits also have been added before winning numbers are certified, she said.

Powerball, Mega Millions and the Pick were not affected.

"The integrity of our games is paramount to Arizona Lottery. We have incredible players at Arizona Lottery and we appreciate their patience and support," she said.

Winning tickets that bear the duplicate numbers are being honored. But players who hung on to their losing tickets for the four games affected from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3 can exchange their ticket for a new one or get a refund by mail or in person at one of three Arizona Lottery locations:

[DaBurglar]

great post.....thanks for sharing such an enlightening piece of information.....This proves to all the people with total blind faith in the integrity of casinos (or any establishment that utilizes rng technology)  that stuff can and does go wrong, things can become warped and distorted, and that the technology and operations within casinos (or lotteries or anything) is only as good and effective as the people operating and overseeing things.....the human element can never be totally eliminated or discounted.