William Sommerwerck wrote:
Average Joe public does not understand how easy it is to
construct an apparently random ball selector using OCR
or embedded RFID.

In the US, the ball selectors are wholly mechanical -- you can see their
operation through the clear walls. There is no place to hide sensors or
electro-mechanical devices.


While there's no such thing as a 'United States' lottery, many of the
various states have initiated such a contest. Each administers its own
system as it sees fit. I personally am ambiguous about the idea of
government getting into the gambling business. The tickets are sold
mostly in convenience stores, which often takes the 'convenience' out of
them, when you get in line behind someone substituting the State for his
dream trip to Vegas. OTOH, my own daughter is going to college with
some of the funds thus generated.

In Tennessee, the numbers were originally generated by mechanical means,
but last year they went to a system of computer-generation. I expect a
little research would reveal several different systems.

jak