1 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: I guess what will what's that man go? So in 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, this little farming village in Spain called 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 1: Sodetto was struggling and there had been this downturn in 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: the economy. There was also this massive drought and the 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: town's homeowner association was running short on cash. But for 6 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: some reason they decided to spend what was left of 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: their dues on the Christmas Lottery. I guess this is 8 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: kind of a Spanish tradition and the whole country gets 9 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: into it, but they bought tickets for the whole town. Wow, 10 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: you know, I've actually heard about the Christmas Lottery. I 11 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: think we wrote about it a while back, and of 12 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: course it being such a big deal in Spain. Actually 13 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: saw this one study where people were so optimistic around 14 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: the time and the Christmas Lottery, Like, even though they 15 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 1: know they're most likely not going to win, but that 16 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: optimism actually changes their opinions of politicians, and so whoever's 17 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: running for re election at the time, even if they're 18 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly disliked, they end up getting this big bounce because 19 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: of this. Oh that's crazy. But going back to this town, 20 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: they were actually really lucky. They played the village won 21 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: nine fifty million dollars and it got split up among 22 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: the towns seventy families. Yeah, so, like there were these 23 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: unemployed construction workers, are down on their luck farmers, and 24 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: they all walked away like millionaires or at the very 25 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: least hundred thousand airs. But everyone except one guy, that is. 26 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: And he was this Greek gentleman who was down on 27 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: his luck. He he'd moved to the town for a 28 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: woman and they'd just broken up, and I guess he 29 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: just wasn't interested in playing and losing money, So so 30 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: he didn't get to cash in. Oh man, what a bumber. 31 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: So he's the only one who didn't participate. Yeah, I mean, 32 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: things ended up kind of all right for him. Like 33 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: he'd been trying to sell his barn there, and before 34 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: the lottery, no one had money to buy it. But 35 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: once they did, suddenly everyone was clamboring to purchase his barn, 36 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: so he ended up with a real estate deal. But 37 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: today's show is all about the lottery. How does statisticians 38 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: out fox the system? And why should you care if 39 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: you find Herbert Hoover on your lotto ticket? So let's 40 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: dive in hei their podcast listeners Welcome to Part Time Genius. 41 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my 42 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: good friend MANGESHW Ticketer and on the other side of 43 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: the soundproof glass, hunched over the fattest stack of Georgia 44 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: Lotto scratchers I think I've ever seen. I feel like 45 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: he might have bought all of them, Mango, But that's 46 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. You know the other thing, 47 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: I've noticed, this guy loves scratching these things, Mango. Have 48 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: you been watching him over here? Yeah, he actually's using 49 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: this special scratch off tool. It's shaped like a little 50 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: ice craper, but it goes on your key ring. I 51 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: think you got it off, Etsy, but I think he hasn't. 52 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: Just in case of a lot of emergencies. Well, you 53 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: never know what's going to happen, and I do wish 54 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: you luck, Tristan. But the truth is, winning the lottery 55 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: is a universe accepted long shot, like it's right up 56 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: there with being struck by lightning or crushed by a meteor, 57 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: except in the case of winning the lotto, your odds 58 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: are actually much much worse, you know. Yet despite that, 59 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: despite knowing the odds are ridiculously long, millions of people 60 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: around the world will still pony up for lotteries every 61 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: single year. So with that in mind, we thought it'd 62 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: be interesting to explore the psychology behind why people play 63 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: the lottery, including how playing changes lives. Plus along the way, 64 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 1: we'll check out the stories of a few enterprising gamblers 65 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: who found pretty clever ways to game the system and 66 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: beat those odds. But before we get to that, I 67 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: know you did some digging this week into the history 68 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: of lottery, so can you fill us in just a 69 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: little bit on that before we get to anything else. Yeah, So, 70 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: what's crazy is that lotteries are basically as old as arithmetic, 71 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: and you can actually find stories of lotteries in the Bible. 72 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: In fact, the first lotteries weren't really about winning prize 73 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: money like in the Old Testament. There are all these 74 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: references to land lotteries, and Moses actually used one to 75 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: divvy up portions of the promised land along the Jordan River. 76 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: Scholars think this worked similar to how we play powerball, 77 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: Like the tribes of Israel would have each taken a 78 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: differently shaped or marked stone and dropped it into a 79 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: clay pot, or maybe wrapped it up in a piece 80 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: of cloth, and then they would have shaken up all 81 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: the stones and drawn one for each piece of land 82 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: on the docket. But ancient lotteries also had these other uses, 83 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: Like in the sixth century BC, Athenians chose most of 84 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: their government officials through sortition, which is actually a term 85 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: for when political representatives are selected at random by people 86 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: casting or drawing lots. Which seems like a weird fit 87 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: for that to have been in in Athens. I mean 88 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: what it wasn't Athens like the birthplace of democracy? Yeah, 89 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: And and that's actually the thing, Like the Athenians actually 90 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: viewed the lottery as more democratic than elections, and they're 91 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: thinking was that, you know, politicians or wealthy citizens could 92 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: easily rig the outcomes of elections, and to them, sortitition 93 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: just seemed like the safer option. So while Athens did 94 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: hold elections for a few positions, the bulk of the 95 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 1: appointments were simply left to chance. And the way it 96 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 1: worked was that any freeman over the age of eighteen 97 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,280 Speaker 1: was entered into a lottery, and if their name was drawn, 98 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: they would either be assigned a term as a juror 99 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: or as a member of the Citizen Council. I'm curious about, like, 100 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: how exactly did they run this lottery. It sounds like 101 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: they were trying to sort through and pick from a 102 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: lot of people, right, yeah, And it wasn't done powerball style. 103 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,479 Speaker 1: They actually had a special device called Claritarian. It's to 104 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: help ensure that the draws were as random as possible. 105 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: And it was basically this massive stone slab and it 106 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: had these tiny slots in it for putting tokens in, 107 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: and each token identified a different person in the lottery. 108 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: And then they had this long tube connected to the 109 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: side of the slab, and when officials poured a bunch 110 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: of black and white pebbles into the tube, I mean, 111 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: this is ingenious. The pebbles would just scatter across the 112 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: slab and land on different tokens, and that indicated who 113 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: would receive positions and who would be dismissed. And I 114 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: don't know, it kind of feels like something out of 115 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: the Flintstones Prices, right, that's pretty right, you know. Actually, 116 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: lotteries are so much more fun when they include these 117 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: weird gadgets or honestly, these like overly complicated systems for 118 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,799 Speaker 1: choosing their winners. And just in doing your other digging, 119 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: did you find any other early examples of weirdness like this? Yeah, 120 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: I mean I think you would like the lottery style 121 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: game that they played in China during the Han dynasty. 122 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: It was typically played on I guess a white ticket 123 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,279 Speaker 1: and players would select like a series of numbers of characters, 124 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: and if their picks were chosen in the random drawing, 125 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: then they'd be senterprize. But this is where it gets special, right, 126 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: because how do you communicate the winning numbers when all 127 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: your players are spread out across a bunch of rural villages? 128 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: All right, well we're talking ancient China, So I'm gonna 129 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 1: go with I don't know, like a fireworks display or something. 130 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: I mean, that would be so fun, right to watch 131 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: these fireworks sort of reveal the answers. But fireworks were 132 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: still a few centuries away at this point, so instead, 133 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: these Chinese governments used birds to deliver the results to villages, 134 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: Like they had a whole fleet of care your pigeons 135 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: that would carry the results from village to village, and 136 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: then they'd also collect the winning tickets along the way. 137 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 1: And in fact, this is actually where the game got 138 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: its original name Bidge p O. I know I'm pronouncing 139 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: that wrong, but roughly translated, it's called white Pigeon Ticket. 140 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: I mean that's pretty cool. So do people still play 141 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: this white pigeon Ticket game today? They do, except now 142 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: the game has been rebranded as Keno. They've I guess 143 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: stripped the pigeons out of the game, which feels like 144 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: a major loss to me. But Keino is still a 145 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 1: huge money maker for Xino's. Even two thousand years ago, 146 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: the game was this big financial windfall for China. It 147 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: was supposedly invented by a warlord who's named Chung Lung. 148 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: He'd been looking for a way to get citizens to 149 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,679 Speaker 1: help fund his army, and selling those white pigeon tickets 150 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: proved a great way to do just that. Pretty soon 151 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: the game was being used to fund not just the military, 152 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: but all sorts of other public works projects, and in fact, 153 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: one version of the games supposedly help pay for the 154 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: Great Well of China. You know, that was one of 155 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: the most surprising things as we were doing our research 156 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: for this week, was realizing how many of these huge 157 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: projects were funded by lotteries. I was actually reading just 158 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: recently about colonial America and that it was largely built 159 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: using revenue from lotteries. Like apparently, lotteries had made their 160 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: way to America's shores. I think it was back in 161 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: the sixteenth century. And this was really around the same 162 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: time that they were catching on in Europe. So I 163 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: guess in places like Italy and France and England they 164 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: all borrowed a page from China's playbook because they realized 165 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: that lotteries were a smart way to raise money for 166 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: these various civic projects. And so it's kind of crazy 167 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: how early it was being used in America too. You 168 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: look back around sixteen twelve, you had the Virginia Company 169 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: of London actually held a lottery to support the struggling 170 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: Jamestown Colony and and really used it to save the 171 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,319 Speaker 1: settlers there from starvation. But it was used in these 172 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: other pittal moments to like, you know, seventeen seventy six, 173 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: you had the Constitutional Congress holding a lottery of finance 174 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: soldiers for the Revolutionary War. And then even after the 175 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: war was one, the New States relied on these lotteries 176 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: for much more of their revenue. And after all, unfair 177 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:12,839 Speaker 1: taxation had been a big part of the war, So 178 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: you can see why this alternative way to raise money 179 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: was so appealing to politicians. It was, you know, just 180 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: so much easier than creating a new tax. I mean, 181 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: it's funny because people often refer to the lottery as 182 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: I don't know, like like a voluntary tax. Yeah, and 183 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: you know, that's actually how one of the founding fathers 184 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: felt about lotteries too. And I'm talking about Thomas Jefferson here, 185 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 1: and he wrote a good bit about it. So once 186 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: he wrote about it, he said, um, far from being immoral, 187 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,440 Speaker 1: they were indispensable to the existence of man. Their attacks 188 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: laid on the willing only. Of course, Jefferson was more 189 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: than a little bit biased in this situation. I mean 190 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: that quote comes from a letter that he was writing 191 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: to the Virginia Legislature. And he was writing this because 192 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: he was looking for permission to hold his own lottery. 193 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: And I was actually looking into why he was doing this, 194 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 1: and the whole reason he wanted to do it is 195 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: to pay off some of his debts. It's pretty pretty funny, 196 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: that's pretty amazing. Yeah, But you know what's weird is 197 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: that there's this whole idea that lotteries are really kind 198 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: of this voluntary tax, right, like, it's it's only attacks 199 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: if you're willing to buy in. But there's actually pretty 200 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,160 Speaker 1: strong evidence that suggests that long time lotto players are 201 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: induced to play a game that maybe they otherwise wouldn't, 202 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: so explain that, Like, what do you mean by that? 203 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:25,719 Speaker 1: All right, well, it might be helpful just to give 204 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: a little bit of background on who's playing the lottery. 205 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: So I was looking at this information from Gallop and 206 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: it was showing that nearly half of all US adults 207 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: have played a state lottery at least once in their lives. 208 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: That's not that surprising. But then if you look a 209 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: little bit closer, the vast majority of those tickets are 210 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: bought by just twenty of the population, and as you 211 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,199 Speaker 1: might guess, most of those players who make up that 212 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: are actually among the poorest in the country. In fact, 213 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: according to a study from Duke this was done back 214 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties, the poorest third of American households 215 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: by roughly half of the lottery tickets that are sold. 216 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: But there's more recent data, and this is what's even 217 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: more disturbing, is that on average, households that make less 218 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: than twelve thousand dollars a year, spend a full five 219 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: percent of their incomes on lotteries, five pc of their 220 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 1: incomes on Matteri's it's it's it's pretty tragic to see that. 221 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: That's horrifying. So, I mean, there's so many things that 222 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: work against the poor. Like I was reading about I'm 223 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: pretty sure it was Chicago, but it was about parking tickets, 224 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:29,839 Speaker 1: where if you get a ticket and you don't pay 225 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: in time, the price automatically skyrockets, and if you can't 226 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: pay that, they boot your car or take away your license, 227 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: which then makes it harder to get to your job 228 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: to pay that ticket. And that's actually been driving a 229 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: ton of bankruptcies in the city. I mean, I guess 230 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: if you're desperate and you're looking for a fast fix 231 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: for your financial troubles, like playing the lottery seems like 232 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: the quickest way out. At least that's how I think 233 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:56,079 Speaker 1: about it. But it sounds like you're saying it's more 234 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: than that, Like these people are actually being misled or 235 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,200 Speaker 1: maybe duped or something. Yeah, and you know this, this 236 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: actually goes back to a two thousand eight study. You 237 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: like the number of studies I'm quoting today. I'm just 238 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: briefed on all these studies that came armed with them. 239 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: But this was a group of behavioral economists there at 240 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: Carnegie Mellon, and so what they were looking to is, 241 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: is it really like the reason why poor people are 242 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: so much more likely to play the lottery than those 243 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: who are better off. And what they found was that 244 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: a lot of the desire that drives these low income 245 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: players isn't so much from being poor as it is 246 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: from feeling poor. So here's how the studies authors broke 247 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 1: down their findings. That says um an experiment one, participants 248 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: were more likely to purchase lottery tickets when they were 249 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: primed to perceive that their own income was low relative 250 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,199 Speaker 1: to the implicit standard. And then an experiment to, participants 251 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 1: purchased more lottery tickets when they considered non lottery situations 252 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: in which rich people or poor people receive advantages, implicitly 253 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: highlighting the fact that everyone has an equal chance of 254 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: winning the lottery. So basically, when you make people feel poor, 255 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: they played the lottery more. And when they feel like 256 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 1: it's equal like then then they want to put money 257 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: on it because they feel like it's a fair game. 258 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of heartbreaking when you think about 259 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: how low their chances of winning actually are though, right, yeah, 260 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: And I actually found yet another study, and this comes 261 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: from the the late age studies I'm coming with, so 262 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: many of them have almost as many studies as Tristan 263 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: has scratch off tickets. Not quite. This one's a good 264 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: one too. So this was also in the late eighties, 265 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,599 Speaker 1: and the researchers discovered that lottery ticket sales in California, 266 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: they rise along with the poverty rate, but movie ticket 267 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: sales actually don't. And so what that says is that 268 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: people don't just play the lottery for fun. They're they're 269 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 1: playing it out of desperation. So, you know, all too 270 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: often the lottery becomes a way for states to shift 271 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: the cost of government services from, you know, from the 272 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:55,840 Speaker 1: wealthier citizens onto honestly like the most hopeless ones. All right, Well, 273 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: now that you've got us all righteously indignant about the lottery, 274 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: here's what I want to talk about. Nerdy geniuses who 275 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,719 Speaker 1: out fox the system and made a lot of pay 276 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 1: out big time. All right, that sounds like a good idea. 277 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:09,839 Speaker 1: But before we do that, let's take a quick break. 278 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: If you're listening to part time genius. So we're talking 279 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: about some of the most brazen lottery scams in history. 280 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: All right, Mago, So let's live vicariously for a minute 281 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: through some of these lot of legends. So who do 282 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: you want to talk about first? Okay? So first I'm 283 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: gonna tell you about Moen Shivasa. He is this m 284 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: I T trained statistician who actually found a flaw in 285 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: a certain scratch off game from the Ontario Lottery and 286 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: this effectively allowed him to predict winning cards about nine 287 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: of the time. Oh wow, So what's his story? So 288 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: Moen wasn't really interested in playing a lot of much 289 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: less exploiting it. But one day, and this was back 290 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: into thousand three, he found some old scratch offs on 291 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: his desk that have been part of this gag gift 292 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: I guess someone give him, and on a whim, he 293 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: scratched off one and one three dollars. So he's walking 294 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: to cash in his ticket as lunch break, and as 295 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 1: he's thinking about it, he started thinking about how scratch 296 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: offs must be made right, and it dawned on him 297 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: that the tickets are obviously mass produced, which means that 298 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: a computer program must be involved in laying out the 299 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 1: numbers on each ticket. Yeah, I get that, But it's 300 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: all random, isn't it. Like that's probably another reason ticket 301 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: makers use a computer, because there's no way a human 302 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: could actually design that many tickets and still keep the 303 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: numbering completely random, right, Sure? But Moan realized that the 304 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: computers can't be generating truly random numbers either, Like if 305 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: they were, the mean, the lottery company had no control 306 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: over the actual number of winning tickets produced, and if 307 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: that were the case, it would mean that some ticket 308 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: packets would have very few winners or maybe even none 309 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: at all. And obviously it would be tough to get 310 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: retailers and also players to keep buying those tickets if 311 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,080 Speaker 1: so many of those cards were duds. Okay, that that 312 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: that makes sense. So if the tickets like they kind 313 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: of have to have the illusion of randomness while actually 314 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: being incredibly ordered beneath the surfaces, is that what you're 315 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: saying exactly? And once Moment figured this out, he decided 316 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: to try and crack the algorithm that generated all those numbers, 317 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: you know, just for fun, because he was from M. I. 318 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: T In a statistician, so he sat down to study 319 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: this one tic tac toe scratch off game he'd been playing, 320 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: and after just a few hours he discovered that the 321 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: visible numbers on the ticket actually dictated which digits were 322 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: hidden under the latex coding. So basically every ticket had 323 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: like eight Tic tac toe game boards on it, and 324 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: each board would contain some visible numbers. But if you 325 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: look to see how many times those numbers repeated on 326 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: the card, and mostly it was if a number was 327 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: a singleton and not repeating, you could actually tell which 328 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: cards were winners, and the prize money could be anywhere 329 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: between three dollars and fifty dollars. Okay, all right, I mean, 330 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: I know it all sounds complicated, But what I find 331 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: so fascinating about this is you're saying Momen basically found 332 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,359 Speaker 1: a way to determine if a ticket was a winner 333 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: without having to scratch anything off. And and you're saying 334 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: he got this trick to work like nine of the time, 335 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: that guy must have made a fortune. So that's the 336 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,159 Speaker 1: weirdest part. Moon really did this for the love of 337 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,640 Speaker 1: math and not money. In fact, once he was sure 338 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: his technique worked, he actually contacted the Ontario Lottery Gaming 339 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: Corporation and told him about the flaw he'd found. And 340 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: it's funny because he told NPR that he was playing 341 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: telephone tag with lottery, and when they finally got to 342 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: talk to one another, they kind of didn't believe him. 343 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,719 Speaker 1: So he sent them twenty unscratched cards and separated them 344 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: into what he thought would be winning cards and duds. 345 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: And when they scratched them off and realized he predicted correctly, 346 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: that's when they called him back. Oh man, I bet 347 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: he felt pretty awesome. That's pretty wild. Yeah, I mean, 348 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: he later discovered the problem wasn't exclusive to Ontario. I mean, 349 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: it kind of makes sense, right. It turned out the 350 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: same trick was also being employed in Colorado, though when 351 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: he analyzed those cards he could only figure them out 352 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,640 Speaker 1: with curacy. I mean, that's still pretty impressive. But I mean, 353 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: you know, it's as nice as it was for Owen 354 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: to come clean about his discovery. I feel like that's 355 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,360 Speaker 1: certainly not how most attempts to game the lottery turnout. 356 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: And I was just looking at some other cases, you know, 357 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: if you take the case of Jerry and Marge Selby, 358 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,880 Speaker 1: for instance, and this comes from this great story by 359 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: Jason Fagoni and and we actually had Jason on the 360 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,399 Speaker 1: program earlier this year to talk about his book. It 361 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,439 Speaker 1: was called The Woman Who Smashed Codes. I mean, that 362 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: was honestly one of my favorite episodes. Is so fascinating, 363 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:30,639 Speaker 1: and my mom just bought that book because she loved 364 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,640 Speaker 1: Jason so much. But to tell me about the Selby's. 365 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: All right, So they're from Michigan and they were basically 366 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:37,879 Speaker 1: among the first players to find a flaw in a 367 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,719 Speaker 1: state lottery game. The game was called Windfall, and this 368 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: was back in two thousand three, and it came down 369 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,399 Speaker 1: to this unique quirk and Windfalls rules, namely, whenever the 370 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: jackpot would rise to roughly two million dollars or so 371 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: without anybody winning it, the payoffs for smaller prizes increased dramatically. 372 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: So basically, if a player waited until this so called 373 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: rolldown period, which typically lasted for a few days every 374 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 1: three months or so, they would stand to win more 375 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,880 Speaker 1: than they lost. And of course this is on average, 376 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: and so if they were to buy an especially high 377 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: number of tickets during that rolldown, say like you know, 378 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,360 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars worth, and they would be practically 379 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: guaranteed to turn a ten to fifteen percent profit. Okay, 380 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 1: so the more tickets of player buys during the special period, 381 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:22,640 Speaker 1: the more money they're kind of a short to win. 382 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: So I'm curious how many tickets did Jerry and March 383 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: go in on. It was unbelievable, the number of tickets. 384 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,640 Speaker 1: I mean, they basically treated Windfall like their retirement plan, 385 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: and they played for the better part of a decade. 386 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 1: In fact, Michigan retired the game only from Massachusetts to 387 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: roll out their own versions soon after, and so the 388 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: Selby's actually took their ticket buying operation on the road. 389 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: What they would do is they just pile into their truck, 390 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: they drive the twelve hours or so to Massachusetts, and 391 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,479 Speaker 1: then they'd set up shop in two separate convenience stores, 392 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: printing ream after ream of tickets for honestly, for hours 393 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: at a time. So I've been sucking bodegos behind people 394 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 1: playing the lotto, and it's so frustrating, Like you can 395 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: be there for like ten minutes or fifteen minutes. You 396 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 1: can take forever when you're in a rush. But how 397 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,400 Speaker 1: many tickets are we actually talking about here? You are 398 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: not going to believe this. So at the height of 399 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,400 Speaker 1: their scheme, the couple was spending over six hundred thousand 400 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: dollars on a single play of windfall. Keep this in mind, 401 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: we're talking two dollars of pop here, so that means 402 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: they had more than three hundred thousand tickets that week. 403 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,120 Speaker 1: That's insane. So I'm always nervous when I see people 404 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 1: gambling and gambling with such ridiculous amounts of money, like, 405 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: I'm so afraid they're gonna lose it. And you know, 406 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do in Las Vegas is to 407 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: go up to an a t M and act like 408 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: I've one when it spits out cash, because I do 409 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: not want to get ripped off five machines. But obviously 410 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: these people are made of much stronger stuff than I am. 411 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: So how much did they end up making? Well, the 412 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: Selbies actually didn't play alone, at least not the whole time. 413 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: There was one point where they started this company called 414 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: GS Investment Strategies. I love at that's the name of 415 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: their company for some reason, and investing firm I know. 416 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: So basically it was a betting group that consisted of 417 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,919 Speaker 1: the Selby's and their extended family and friends. And just 418 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,159 Speaker 1: looking at the you know, the list of people in 419 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: this it's pretty funny it to included a state trooper, 420 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: a parole officer, three lawyers, among all these others that 421 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: were playing. And at their final tally, they managed to 422 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: get almost eight million dollars. It was just shy of 423 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,439 Speaker 1: eight million dollars before taxes, and of course all that 424 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: was divvied up among the company's twenty five players. So 425 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: really not a bad hale for nine years of printing 426 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: out these slips of paper. But you know it, actually 427 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: it was a little bit short of what this small 428 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,920 Speaker 1: group of M I T students managed to win. And 429 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,879 Speaker 1: this was off the very same game. This was between 430 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: two thousand four and two thousand and ten. The students 431 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: made actually just a little bit over eight million dollars 432 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: in profit. So I'm still kind of blown away that 433 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: this happened. I mean, like, why didn't the lottery commissions 434 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: of these states wise up to what was happening. You've 435 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: got these multiple groups of people pulling off the same 436 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: scheme for like a decade and obviously buying massive amounts 437 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: of tickets. Well, I mean, this may be the weirdest 438 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: part of all of this is that somebody did notice, 439 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,959 Speaker 1: and this was in two thousand twelve. There was an 440 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: investigation into the Windfall Game, and and that investigation revealed 441 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 1: that the Massachusetts Lottery had known all about the M 442 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,040 Speaker 1: I T students and the Selby's for years, but had 443 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:25,239 Speaker 1: actually done nothing to stop them. Apparently, lottery officials had 444 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: been the rules so that the high stakes players could 445 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: buy hundreds of thousands of tickets because you know, the 446 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: added revenue and the success this brought to the lottery 447 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: and of course by extension to the state, they just 448 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,360 Speaker 1: considered it worth it. But you know, in the end, 449 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: even though none of this was technically illegal, the state Treasurer, 450 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: who oversees the lottery, they officially shut down the Windfall 451 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: game in two thousand twelve, and of course this put 452 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: an end to the player's long winning streak at that point. Yeah, 453 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: I mean, they made eight million dollars offense. It's not 454 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,920 Speaker 1: that bad. It is staying that they figured this out. 455 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:00,639 Speaker 1: But it also seems to suggest that like once you 456 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: find a game that's beatable, you need lots of money 457 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: to win, right, Like these M I T students, the Celbes, 458 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: they all had the resources to buy up hundreds of 459 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars worth of tickets, which is what allowed 460 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: them to win as often as they did. Meanwhile, you know, 461 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: the people who couldn't afford enough tickets to gain that 462 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: statistical advantage, they're kind of shut out. And not only that, 463 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 1: but it's really the poor folks money that's going to 464 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: all the payouts. You know that said, I mean, I 465 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: don't want to give the impression that lotteries are zero 466 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,879 Speaker 1: sum game for society, Like like we were saying at 467 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: the top of the show. You know, countries have been 468 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: putting lottery revenue to good use for centuries, and that's 469 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: still true today. So even if you feel squeamish about 470 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 1: who these games might be targeting, like I do, it's 471 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:46,879 Speaker 1: still worth taking a look at the benefits that come 472 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: from them. Yeah, I agree with that. But but before 473 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: we get to that, let's take one more quick break. 474 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,439 Speaker 1: All right, Mango, so Cluisson, where exactly does all this 475 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: lottery money go? Well, first, let's clarify how much money 476 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,719 Speaker 1: we're talking about here. So when you actually add up 477 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: all the revenue from the modern US lottery industry, all 478 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: the sales you know, from cash drawings, the instant win 479 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:24,480 Speaker 1: scratch as video lottery games, Keno like, you wind up 480 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:29,479 Speaker 1: with a yearly total of eighty billion dollars. That's stunning. 481 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: And and just to put that in perspective, movie ticket 482 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,440 Speaker 1: sales in the US add up to only about eleven 483 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,120 Speaker 1: billion dollars annually. In fact, that eight billion is more 484 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: than Americans spend every year, not only on movie tickets, 485 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: but also on sports tickets, books, video games, music sales, 486 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: all of that combined. That's crazy, all right. So obviously 487 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: we love to gamble, and that must mean that we're 488 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 1: getting something out of the deal, right though, So how 489 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,800 Speaker 1: much of that eight billion ends up in the player's pockets. 490 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: It's way more than you think. Like, I was actually 491 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: surprised to hear this, but over fifty billion of that 492 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: total goes to players in the former prizes. Oh yeah, 493 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 1: I wouldn't have guessed that. Yeah, And then another eight 494 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: billion is used to cover the cost of the lotteries themselves, 495 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: So like this is the boring stuff like printing, advertising, design, 496 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 1: employee salaries, vendor fees. But the remaining twenty two billion, 497 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,679 Speaker 1: which you know is still a ton of money, is 498 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,120 Speaker 1: funneled into public programs, and that includes everything from education 499 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: and land conservation to senior assistance and even pension funds. Well, 500 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,880 Speaker 1: and obviously different states will claim different amounts of that 501 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 1: profit depending on their individual sales numbers. But but it's 502 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 1: up to each state to decide what to do with 503 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: their profits. Yeah, that's right. So there are currently lotteries 504 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: and forty seven different u S jurisdictions, which includes forty 505 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,240 Speaker 1: four states plus m d c Is on their Puerto 506 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: Rico the virgin Islands, and they each get to use 507 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: their money for whatever they want. So education budgets are 508 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: probably the most popular choice, Like the Virginia lottery for example, 509 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: it actually puts all of profits into a cad to 510 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: twelve education fund. And last year our lottery right here 511 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: in Georgia actually gave out a billion dollars in profits 512 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,879 Speaker 1: to education programs compared to the two point seven billion 513 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: to gave out in prizes to players. Wow. I mean, 514 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 1: you know, there's no denying that state run lotteries can 515 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,160 Speaker 1: deliver pretty big benefits to their citizens, at at least 516 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: generally speaking. And and again it's easy to see why 517 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: most politicians would want to keep that easy money flowing 518 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 1: through their states. Sure, But on a different note, one 519 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: of the things that's really fun to hear about is 520 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: the individual lottery winners who actually share their wealth. And 521 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,360 Speaker 1: I was reading about this guy named John Coody who 522 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: split a three twenty million dollar payout with six other 523 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 1: I T specialists and this was back in two thousand eleven. 524 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,399 Speaker 1: I mean, that sounds nice, but you're saying seven I 525 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:48,879 Speaker 1: T guys won the jack. But I feel like that 526 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: has to be some kind of fits, like with the 527 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: m I T students, Right, Yeah, I mean that's possible. 528 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,680 Speaker 1: But considering what Coody did with his money, like I 529 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't hold it against him. He and his wife actually 530 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: decided to use a good chunk of their innings to 531 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: build this massive water park for the community. And this 532 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,640 Speaker 1: was in Green Island, New York. They called it Spray Park, 533 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,119 Speaker 1: and it's dedicated to Cootie's parents who apparently used to 534 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: take their kids into this. Uh, I guess outdated water 535 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: park in the community, and that's the one he helped replace. 536 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,679 Speaker 1: That's pretty sweet, and I do love these kinds of stories. 537 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:21,640 Speaker 1: I was actually reading about another lot of winning couple. 538 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: They were named Allen and Violet Large, and they want 539 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,120 Speaker 1: about eleven million dollars back in two thousand and ten, 540 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: and they ended up giving away nine eight percent of it. 541 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: Within the first year. Is that not crazy? Yeah, I 542 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: mean is a lot of percent. So where did the 543 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 1: money go? Well, according to an article in the Toronto Star, 544 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: the couple donated nearly all of their winnings to the 545 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,440 Speaker 1: Red Cross, to their local churches, fire departments, and even 546 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: the hospitals where Violet had undergone cancer treatment, and of 547 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 1: course will while parting with that much low it is 548 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 1: painful for you know, so many of us to even 549 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,840 Speaker 1: think about. It was apparently pretty easy for the largest 550 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,119 Speaker 1: There was this interview I was looking at where Violet 551 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: told reporters what you've never ever had, you never miss 552 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: I mean, it really is amazing to see people react 553 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: and new found wealth so humbly like that. Um, speaking 554 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 1: of humility, did did you hear about this homeless guy 555 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 1: in Illinois who won fifty on a scratcher? Apparently he 556 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: lived in a tent in homeless community for like thirty 557 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,719 Speaker 1: five years at this point, and that's when he won 558 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: the money. But rather than leave his friends for a 559 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: comfy home of his own, he decided to stay right 560 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: where he was. Wait, so he just stayed in his tent. Yeah. 561 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: He told reporters that he planned to use the money 562 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: for an overdue trip to the dentist, and he also 563 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: wanted to use some of the money to visit his son. 564 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: But then he gave a hundred dollars to every homeless 565 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: person he knew, and I'm guessing he knew a lot 566 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,680 Speaker 1: of them. Wow. All right, so this is kind of 567 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: a tangent, but you made me think of it when 568 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: you brought up scratchers again. And we've been talking about 569 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: the bright side of playing the lottery throughout this segment. 570 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: But there's actually a way to get enjoyment from lotteries 571 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 1: without playing them, and the best part is it won't 572 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: cost you a dime. So what's the catch, Actually, there's 573 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: no catch. All you have to do has become a latologist. 574 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: And if by some chance you don't already know what 575 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: a latologist is, I can tell you that it's a 576 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: person who collects lottery tickets. So how does that cost 577 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: no money? Well, because it's a collecting hobby, it's not 578 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 1: a gambling hobby. So most latologists don't collect fresh or 579 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: unused scratch cards. They're actually collecting losing tickets or maybe 580 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: even winners tickets that have already been redeemed by the customers. 581 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: So how many latologists are there? I feel like you 582 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: keep saying they, but to me it feels like one 583 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: person in his parent's basement. Well, according to the Global 584 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: Lottery Collectors Society. You may not have been familiar with 585 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: the Global Lottery Collectors Society, there's a group of a 586 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: few hundred passionate collectors who trade and catalog all these 587 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: various scratch off games released in the US. And this 588 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: one guy in particular, his name is Arthur Rain, and 589 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 1: he has one of the biggest collections in the world. 590 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: He's got over fifty seven thousand different scratchers in his collection, 591 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: so that's pretty crazy. But I did notice you had 592 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: one of the biggest, So what's that mean exactly? Well, 593 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: apparently there are one or two other people in the 594 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: society with bigger collections, which I know is pretty hard 595 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: to believe. So I'm curious now, like, is there a 596 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: holy grail for lata just like, is there one special 597 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: scratch off that everyone would spend money on? Yeah, there 598 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: definitely is. According to Rain, the most sought after scratcher 599 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: is this nineteen seventies six card and it was from 600 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: Illinois and it has Herbert Hoover's picture on it. Apparently 601 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: it was part of a promotion where each ticket featured 602 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: a different president, and once the game was over, the 603 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: lottery picked one president, and anybody who submitted a losing 604 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,960 Speaker 1: ticket with that president's face on it would be entered 605 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: to win a consolation prize. Well, Herbert Hoover ended up 606 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: as the lucky President, and because so many players mailed 607 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,440 Speaker 1: him in, there aren't many Hoover's left in circulation. In fact, 608 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: if you're lucky to find one of the three or 609 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: four copies known to exist and you want to add 610 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: it to your collection, it'll set you back about five 611 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: hundred bucks to do so. Of that it's only worth five. 612 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: But I mean it is a four year old losing 613 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: lottery tickets. But I am curious, though, if the Hoover 614 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: card is this exception to the rule, how are lithologious 615 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 1: getting the bulk of their collections. I mean, I get 616 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 1: that they trade with each other, but they've got to 617 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 1: start out with something to trade, right, Yeah, of course 618 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: that's true. I mean, so so many collectors actually have 619 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: deals with a whole network of stores, so they'll you know, 620 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: make their rounds once a week or so, and they'll 621 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: collect all the used tickets, that is, stores customers just 622 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: left behind. It's such a specific hobby. It's amazing, you know. 623 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: It kind of reminds me of our friends Sarah, who 624 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: used to find business cards on sidewalks or I guess 625 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: that convention floors and and collect them. And I think 626 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:46,360 Speaker 1: her big idea was that someday she was going to 627 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: throw a party for all these people who wanted a 628 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 1: network and get their name out there. But I mean, 629 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: it's I know, I think it's great. Like I love 630 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: to I should start leaving my business card places. But 631 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: I mean, at least like a business card has value. 632 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: I can't actual keeping fifty of anything in my house. 633 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 1: You know, where do you even find the room for that? Well, 634 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: that's what's funny about I read this interview with Rain 635 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: from Alice Obscura and and and he says, I gotta 636 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: beg my wife every day not to throw me out 637 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: of the house. So I mean, i'd say the fact 638 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: that it hasn't happened already makes them pretty lucky. And 639 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: speaking of lucky, well, what do you say we get 640 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: a little fact off going? I've got a can't lose 641 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: feeling today? All right, Well, let's see what you got? 642 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 1: So well, did you know that pigeons love to gamble? 643 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: According to scientific American scientists at the University of Kentucky 644 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: set up these Avian gambling parlors where pigeons could pick 645 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: at one symbol and reliably get a single food pellet, 646 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: and this happened every single time. Or they had the 647 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: option to peck at a second symbol, and this was 648 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: a wild card, and most of the times they get nothing, 649 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 1: but every once in a while they'd hit the jackpot 650 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: and they'd get ten food pellets. But that big payout 651 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,719 Speaker 1: was actually way too much for them to resist. So 652 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: whenever they were given a choice, the pigeons chose to gamble. 653 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: And this was more than eighty percent of a time, 654 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,520 Speaker 1: even though the winnings were way less when you average 655 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: them out, that's pretty good, all right. Well, in Europe 656 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: and particularly Italy, there's a tradition where the lottery is 657 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 1: drawn by blindfolded kids, which seems like kind of a 658 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:28,040 Speaker 1: weird tradition. And the idea here is that children are innocent, 659 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: so this is a game you can supposedly trust, although 660 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: I feel like there have been so many studies showing 661 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,080 Speaker 1: that children are not at all honest on this kind 662 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,800 Speaker 1: of thing. But anyway, but this was before things were automated, 663 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: back in the two thousands, and as it turns out, 664 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: not surprisingly, the kids were part of a massive scam. 665 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 1: They had actually been trained to feel for these roughed 666 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 1: up lottery balls, and when the journalists who broke the 667 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: scandal started looking into this, they found that the kids 668 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: were being paid in toy So I love the idea that, like, 669 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: you can actually fix a more t million lottery with 670 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: I don't know, like some teddy bears and the director 671 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: sets that's all it takes. Did you realize that it's 672 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: way harder to win McDonald's monopoly game than it is 673 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: to win an actual lottery And apparently the odds of 674 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: winning Powerball are one in a hundred seventy five million, 675 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: So already you're more likely to die on the way 676 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: to playing a lot of than you are to winning it. 677 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,840 Speaker 1: But that one in a hundred seventy five million is 678 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: great odds compared to the odds of finding a boardwalk piece, 679 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,759 Speaker 1: which is one in six hundred million. And when you 680 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: factor in also finding a park place, your odds of 681 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 1: winning go down to one in three billion. Isn't that 682 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 1: the same? Wow, that's pretty great, all right. Well, in 683 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve, Popular Mechanics reported that a hospital in Paris 684 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,879 Speaker 1: had held a lottery, but they actually were giving out 685 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,760 Speaker 1: something a little different than money. They were giving out babies. 686 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,400 Speaker 1: Like if you won, you won a baby, which is 687 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: I don't know. It feels like kind of a dubious 688 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,280 Speaker 1: prize for a lot of people, but it's the only 689 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 1: time we know of that this has happened. But the hospital, 690 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:00,919 Speaker 1: they're not only consulted authorities, but they actually made sure 691 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: to research whether a winning couple was actually good to 692 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: be foster parents before they handed them a baby. I 693 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 1: guess that sounds smart. So this feels like such luck. 694 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: But when Zimbabwe ran a lottery in two thousand, the 695 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,280 Speaker 1: dictator and president of Zimbabwe at the time, Robert Mugabe, 696 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 1: just happened to win it, Like he won the grand 697 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,279 Speaker 1: prize of a hundred thousand dollars in the state run lottery. 698 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,799 Speaker 1: And it's kind of amazing how that happened. Yeah, just 699 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,279 Speaker 1: such a lucky guy, I guess. All right, all right, 700 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,400 Speaker 1: so I've got one more fun one. So you remember 701 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 1: how they were all those Volkswagen commercials that we're trying 702 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 1: to gamify good behavior a while back, right, yeah, and 703 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,919 Speaker 1: the two Yeah, yeah, like they you know, they made 704 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: those trash cans that would blink and flash whenever you 705 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,000 Speaker 1: put your litter in them, and I remember one of 706 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: the others they had those musical steps that made sounds 707 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: when you use them instead of the elevator, And it 708 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: was all these little bits of joy that were there 709 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: to encourage you to do good things, either for you 710 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: or for society. One of the ideas that actually got 711 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: implemented in Sweden was when they set up the lottery 712 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 1: at traffic lights. So you know when you run a 713 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,240 Speaker 1: red light, there all these places where cameras will catch 714 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: you and then send you a ticket in the mail. Well, 715 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:11,080 Speaker 1: well they actually turn that into a lottery for good drivers. 716 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:14,760 Speaker 1: So whenever you slowed down and stopped, you were automatically 717 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,680 Speaker 1: put into a lottery, and then the winners were paid 718 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,279 Speaker 1: out with money that came from speeding fines. Isn't that 719 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:23,080 Speaker 1: a great idea? I love it, you know, for all 720 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: my hubers going into this, I I do think you 721 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,480 Speaker 1: get to walk away with the prize this week. Well, 722 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,280 Speaker 1: thank you very much, and uh, I'm sure we forgot 723 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,799 Speaker 1: some great facts about lotteries over the years and we 724 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: would love to hear those from. You can always email 725 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,719 Speaker 1: us part Time Genius and How Stuff Works dot com. 726 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,399 Speaker 1: You can also call us on fact hot line that's 727 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: eight six six pt Genius, or as always, you can 728 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:45,360 Speaker 1: hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. But thanks so 729 00:36:45,440 --> 00:37:01,880 Speaker 1: much for listening. Thanks again for listening. 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