New Jersey Adds Absolutely Useless Internet Component To Lottery

from the um.--but-why? dept

You may remember the New Jersey Lottery website because of their slightly disturbing practice of requiring your mother's maiden name to sign up for a "VIP membership" online. Now, however, they've gone a bit further in misunderstanding the point of the internet. Apparently, after reading all the stories about how online gambling is the big thing these days, someone at the NJ Lottery decided it was time to add an "online component" to their offerings. Of course, whoever decided to do so didn't seem to spend much time figuring out what that internet component should be. If you buy a certain instant lottery ticket in New Jersey, you get a "second chance to win!" by going online and playing a silly game that isn't a game at all, because the results are predetermined. Even better: you don't have to go online at all. You can just ask the guy who sold you the ticket to scan it and see if you're a winner. Also, you can't buy the tickets online, or claim your winnings online - you have to go back to the store for that. In other words, the online component is completely meaningless. It's just there so you can go online and watch a little game blip across your screen. Of course, for the privilege of nothing in particular, the tickets cost $4, which seems a bit steep.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    David Wertheimer, 23 Dec 2003 @ 6:56am

    Scratch and

    Actually, Mike, *all* instant-win lottery tickets are predetermined. There's nothing stopping the lottery stand operator from scanning a ticket without scratching and telling a buyer at the point of purchase if it's a winner.
    The online component sounds to me like an identical copy of the scratch-off ticket placed in a secondary location. It gives NJ two things: one, something else to hype; and two, the chance that some folks won't go online to check their winnings, reducing the redemption rate.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2003 @ 11:31am

      Re: Scratch and

      The computer, even if picking randomly when you start the game, has pre-determined if you will win. The problem is how far in advance the computer should be determining this.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Rick Colosimo, 24 Dec 2003 @ 10:33pm

        Re: Scratch and

        David's comment is correct. The "instant win" tickets are sold in batches of, say, 100 tickets. Among those 100 tickets are about $80-$90 of winners (depending on your state, etc.). The net effect is that the retailer is GUARANTEED a $10 return on that $90 investment. For some games, there is also a chance of the larger winners ($50 or $1000), for which the retailer will be reimbursed if you're not forced to mail the ticket in to redeem it.

        What this means for some players is that when the retailer gets toward the end of a roll, a savvy fellow will compare the KNOWN (not expected) return on the remaining tickets with the face value of the tickets and, in appropriate circumstances, buy all the remaining tickets for an even greater guaranteed return.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      fklaopper, 12 Aug 2009 @ 11:23am

      Re: Scratch and

      WRONG, the ticket must be scratched, bar code scan then last 4 digits from the scratch area's id number entered in order to confirm a winning ticket. If all you has to do was scan the ticket the lottery would be a scam and no one would play it. OPEN YOUR EYES THEN YOU WILL SEE

      Your GOVERNMENT is under the control of JEWS trying to destroy this great country.

      STOP the JEWS save AMERICA

      link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.