So Srivastava could determine a winning-vs-losing ticket by looking at it. What lottery out there lets you examine and play with tickets before purchasing them? Are you allowed to return an unscratched ticket for a refund?
The articles linked to in the OP (both of which have been discussed on HN before) provide a lot more detail.
To answer your specific question, Srivastava called the provincial lottery agency (iirc - it was Canadian) and asked 1) Would they send him a large number of tickets to use for a promotion / fundraiser, and 2) Would they "buy back" at face value any unused tickets. They said they would gladly do both - meaning he could examine before scratching, return unscratched, and also avoid lining up at the drug store to buy 10,000 tic-tac-toe tickets at once!
And it wasn't suspicious when the lottery got back a large number of unsold tickets broken off the reel?
I give Srivastava credit for finding and exploiting the loophole, but they also seem to be easily closable. So the scratchoff is vulnerable. Future ones might be as well. A little common sense and better security could avoid another mishap.
Comments
So Srivastava could determine a winning-vs-losing ticket by looking at it. What lottery out there lets you examine and play with tickets before purchasing them? Are you allowed to return an unscratched ticket for a refund?
The articles linked to in the OP (both of which have been discussed on HN before) provide a lot more detail.
To answer your specific question, Srivastava called the provincial lottery agency (iirc - it was Canadian) and asked 1) Would they send him a large number of tickets to use for a promotion / fundraiser, and 2) Would they "buy back" at face value any unused tickets. They said they would gladly do both - meaning he could examine before scratching, return unscratched, and also avoid lining up at the drug store to buy 10,000 tic-tac-toe tickets at once!
Edit: Previous discussions
Srivastava - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2166555 Cash WinFall - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2828122
And it wasn't suspicious when the lottery got back a large number of unsold tickets broken off the reel?
I give Srivastava credit for finding and exploiting the loophole, but they also seem to be easily closable. So the scratchoff is vulnerable. Future ones might be as well. A little common sense and better security could avoid another mishap.