Individuals purchase lottery tickets at a store in Jongno District, Seoul, generally known as a „Lotto hotspot,“ Jan. 30. Yonhap
On-line communities are as soon as once more buzzing with conspiracy theories after two first-prize successful Lotto tickets — each bought by way of automated choice — have been offered on the identical retail retailer. Skeptics argue that the chances of such an prevalence are extraordinarily low, fueling hypothesis about potential manipulation within the lottery system.
In line with Donghaeng Lottery, the official operator of Korea’s Lotto, 16 folks received the primary prize within the 1,161st drawing on March 1, accurately matching all six numbers. Every winner will obtain 1.79 billion received ($1.34 million).
Of the 16 winners, 10 had bought their tickets utilizing the automated choice technique. Notably, two of those tickets have been purchased from the identical retailer, a lottery store in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.
The revelation shortly sparked debate in numerous on-line communities. Whereas manually chosen successful tickets have beforehand been offered in multiples at a single retailer, customers identified that a number of first-prize winners rising from automated choice on the identical retailer is a particularly uncommon prevalence.
One netizen, posting in a serious on-line discussion board below the title “Two automated Lotto jackpot winners from one place?” questioned the statistical probability of such an occasion.
“This doesn’t make sense,” the put up learn. “How is it potential for 2 folks to win the jackpot on the identical retailer with automated choice? Is that this mathematically or probabilistically possible?”
The person additional argued that transparency measures must be strengthened, citing the U.S. lottery programs, Powerball and Mega Hundreds of thousands, the place jackpot winners‘ identities are sometimes disclosed.
“The federal government ought to examine and make clear whether or not extra first-prize winners are being inserted into the system after the drawing,” the put up mentioned. The put up attracted tons of of feedback, with customers debating each side of the problem.
This isn’t the primary time lottery manipulation theories have surfaced. Up to now, related suspicions arose when an unusually excessive variety of first-prize winners have been introduced.
An official from Donghaeng Lottery explains throughout a dwell Lotto drawing program, the place the lottery operator invited over 150 journalists and odd residents in June 2023. Captured from YouTube
In response, the Ministry of Financial system and Finance’s Lottery Fee commissioned a research in 2023 by two knowledgeable establishments, together with Seoul Nationwide College’s Statistical Analysis Institute, to look at whether or not manipulation was potential.
The research concluded that lottery outcomes couldn’t be tampered with and that a number of simultaneous winners have been statistically inside the realm of chance.
To additional guarantee transparency, Donghaeng Lottery invited over 150 journalists and members of the general public to watch a dwell drawing in June 2023. An analogous occasion befell in November, with 100 normal contributors witnessing the attract actual time.
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Instances, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Instances.
