How A Criminal Won The Lottery 3 Different Times

[@dougray30]

The equivalent of playing every horse in a race and jumping around in victory when you have a winner.

[@shadesmarerik4112]

lottery is an extra tax for people too dumb for math

[@dougray30]

@@shadesmarerik4112 if you play it responsibly it's just $2 for a chance to dream a few times a year. Sadly very few people do it that way. To me the saddest are the scratch ticket addicts.

[@shadesmarerik4112]

@@dougray30 u dont need 2$ to dream. But whatever floats ur boat...

[@dougray30]

@@shadesmarerik4112 you do for that dream. Not for most.

[@Ironclad17]

@@dougray30 Get a donut at the gas station. The high will last longer.

[@vitast2000]

Like my coworker who came into work overjoyed that he won $8000 at the casino. Later that day while he was paying for all of our drinks, I asked him how much money he thinks he has loss over the years at that same casino. He said Hundreds of thousands of dollars, but his biggest loss was his now ex-wife, and the respect of his kids. What I meant as a joke, turned really, really sad.

[@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24]

What a loser

[@cwill2127]

Yeah gambling addiction is very real. Just because it’s not a physical addition like with cigarettes it’s still very real

[@brandon0981]

That didn't happen

[@AfricanLionBat]

@@brandon0981 you're an idiot. Gambling addiction is a very real thing and that type of thing happens all the time. I've even seen it myself. Before you say something stupid like that again you should actually know what you're talking about.

[@AfricanLionBat]

@@cwill2127 I've never quite understood gambling addiction. I understand addiction because I've experienced it. I guess I just don't understand the feeling of wanting to gamble even when you're losing everything. I'm not huge on gambling though. All in all it's like a chemical addiction. Rather than a drug releasing dopamine and norepinephrine, the act of gambling does it.

[@RalphieMuskinyaar]

Gambling is the worst addiction you can have. I’ve not gambled a dollar in almost 3 years. I went from losing all my paycheck in an hour to gambling $0. I’m always very proud of myself for making that decision to stop and sticking to it.

[@dickpoopers7833]

@@user-lg6zm5bz7l uh i really dont think so, just go to the gym if you eat too much what

[@3ountyhunter]

You should be proud! It's incredible how deep it's hooks can be in you. From one internet stranger to another, I'm proud of you. :)

[@Syd448]

@@user-lg6zm5bz7ldude shut up, this isn’t a pissing contest. Get over yourself

[@SurroundedSita]

no addiction is better or worse than another. Addiction itself is the name that all of the different types have in common. Ive been in recovery since 2008 and its been a steadily better 15 year road. Always be proud of yourself!

[@mohammednovsarka4021]

Well done man smashed it! That's why is not allowed in Islam, pure evil.

[@eskil54]

The worst thing about gambling is that sometimes you win.

[@herculesbrofister265]

Or even someone else. I'll be prepaying my gas and be behind someone buying scratch offs, "i know this guy that won $500"

[@wpasieczny]

Intermittent reinforcement is a hell of a drug.

[@kempolar9768]

​@@herculesbrofister265 oh and the likelyhood that that person you overheard talking about someone else who won...that person might not have even won and was just saying it to feel better.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

I cant even cross a dark street at 3 AM without a car showing up a EXACTLY the wrong time and almost hitting me. This is why I never gamble

[@nadinesmith-jensen7732]

I found out that the part that actually hooks a gambling addict isn’t the Win. It’s the loss. When they lose that is what makes them enjoy it.

[@krompirusa100]

My cousin worked like security guard in casino. One day olderly couple approach to him and ask him to throw young Man out. Why ? asked my cousin.He did nothing wrong. They said to him: We are his parents He gambled away 2 flats, money,car. Some people are beyond help

[@bigp6725]

Madness🤯😱 thank you for sharing

[@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24]

That's cool

[@boat6float]

That's sad. In the US it is actually possible for some gambling addicts to ultimately be banned from a specific casino company or every casino in a state.

[@richsackett3423]

@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 too bad you aren't

[@overlordmae9090]

And remember lootboxes "are actually quite ethical and quite fun, quite enjoyable to people" -EA

[@boozypixels]

Surprise mechanics are the best mechanics

[@pirateizzy]

Also Nexon

[@ageoflove1980]

And its all about providing gamers with a choice.

[@wrmusic8736]

they are totally OPTIONAL!!1

[@XpeHushka]

Gameforge will bankrupt

[@ZorotheGallade]

Viktor: "Where did I go wrong" Me: "The moment you decided you somehow had the power to spend $1000 to win $500 and still call that a profit"

[@astralguardian5930]

Yeah, if he kept up the pattern he learned from the one app he could've slowly made a profit from their pattern based system. However...I assume even then the people that created that app wouldn't be happy to know that one man keeps winning over and over and it's hurting their own profits, thus they would probably do something in return, be it shutting his device down from getting onto said app, or even just the simpler option of actually making a random system, rather then a pattern.

[@KnakuanaRka]

@@astralguardian5930 Yeah, assuming that he was actually on to something, they could have easily screwed him over by switching to a different RNG.

[@lawjef]

His flaw was using “reversion to the mean” theory with a random number generator. And there is no reason on heaven or earth to believe that there is reversion to the mean unless your time horizon is unbelievably long. You can only play that game if you have massive liquidity to get you through the inevitable. But then why would you ever engage in that kind of risk reward setup when there are less risky alternatives?

[@willnestor6422]

The funny thing is I actually have a friend like this. Plays the slots on her phone and gets exited when she wins £5. She spent £10 to win the £5 but she counts it as winnings as she technically won £5 playing the slots

[@chriswilson1968]

He wasn't focused on making profit he was focused on figuring out the system. Profit was secondary. He was obsessed with trying to crack the code. It was worth it to him to lose money if it meant he was closer to figuring it out. He probably though of it as an investment and when he figured it out then he would win it all back. Kinda like billionaires spending ridiculous amounts of money on anti aging research and other ways to prolong life or prevent death. The potential payoff is worth blowing all that money trying to beat the inevitable.

[@alyssafaden9443]

A considerably smaller sum, but I had TWO friends like this when I was living in the south and there were river-boat-casinos available to the town. They'd go off and spend hundreds every night, losing it all. EVery night. Cards were maxed, bank accounts completely dry. They lived paycheck to paycheck. Then once every couple of weeks or so they'd strike "it big" ... like a few grand ... and would swan around like they'd just hit the jackpot. I'd just be sitting there thinking "yeah, but what about the 6k it just cost you?" they never, ever, made the connection.

[@TikkiNikki]

I can't imagine that. I went to a casino twice. I won $200 on a $20 from just randomly playing a slot and immediately left because I've heard horror stories like yours before

[@alyssafaden9443]

@@TikkiNikki I swear, out of all of my friends, MOST had a gambling problem of some sort or another. Having gambling boats in town (and now there is a land-based casino as well, I can only imagine it is worse) had everyone get their checks ... and go straight into the casinos. This is where they would 'relax' and chill. every day. Every single one of them filed for bankruptcy at one juncture or another ... and everyone kept up the same habits. They just could not see the connection between their financial state and casino habits. It was NUTS.

[@TikkiNikki]

@@alyssafaden9443 I find it weird that some people's definition of "chilling" is actively watching you sirens your last dime lol the same people who then go on to live with roommates until their old into their adult life despite having a considerable salary. I'm glad you didn't get sick in that life. Hope you're doing well, stranger!

[@alyssafaden9443]

@@TikkiNikki right back at you!

[@CyVinci]

I’m sure they’ve made the connection, as opiate addicts know the thing that makes them feel so good is what will deliver them to death’s door. Gambling is an addiction like any other. They feel on top of the world when they hit that jackpot, they feel like winners. Addiction changes the way you think. It might not be rational to you or I but someone who gets a large dopamine response from gambling/drugs will have their thought and behaviors molded to accommodate the addiction. It’s sad and unfortunately some people are more predisposed to addiction through genetics and environmental factors.

[@koppsr]

A guy who had it all set and in his favor. I honestly pity him and his family. It's definitely a gold standard example, how dangerous gambling addiction really is.

[@jerryboics9550]

"plz get prepared because the feds will probably come after our stuff" This POS actually thinks the proceeds of his fraud is rightfully his. Was he even a gambling addict? Gambling isn't winning by force. Sounds more like narcissism

[@resentfuldragon]

How sad, if he kept the lottery money while he was ahead or actually made the investments he promised he would be rich and in a good position.

[@johnsmith-fz5pz]

? why. he was envious and never content with what he had. always wanting more. and it is not a gambling addiction. it is 1. a choice. (because they can stop) and 2. a money addiction a pride issue and not appreciating the things you have disease.

[@cc-dtv]

something seems wrong with this guy neurologically. 53 months in prison, ugh

[@FaithandNova]

@@cc-dtv yes I've seen what excessive gambling like this can do to a family

[@JW-vi2nh]

That US lottery spending statistic is embarrassing. I've hated the lottery ever since my college days of working at two different gas stations. The way people can behave when their lottery tickets are at stake is insane. I had one well-respected school employee who had to be thrown out of our store one day after he lost his mind that he couldn't cut the line during the lunch rush because he "forgot to get a few of the numbers he wanted." There was one woman who came in almost daily and would spend at least $100 on scratch off tickets, usually closer to $200 on most days. She would hold up the line because she insisted on standing at the register to scratch them off, have them scanned to see if she'd "won" anything, then buy more if she happened to get $2 back. The mess she made with that nasty silver scratch off dust was ridiculous and of course she left it for us to clean up. The most disgusting part of her story though is that, after spending a few hundred dollars on worthless scratch off tickets, she'd waddle around the store picking up another $100 or so worth of chips, candy bars, pop, snack cakes, etc., then pay for them with food stamps. So she wasted her entire paycheck on scratch tickets and paid for her "food" with government assistance. Finally, I stopped at a gas station one day to fill up my car and the cashier asked if I'd "bought my Powerball ticket yet." I told her no, that I didn't play the lottery and that I disliked the entire concept. She had the audacity to act offended and say "Don't you know that the lottery funds our schools?!" Huh, you don't say? So do the taxes taken out of my paycheck every week. And it seems that if people actually cared about school funding, they could give money directly rather than feeding into a system that sells itself as some benevolent school charity and maker-of-dreams. I still get angry remembering that encounter.

[@camilohiche4475]

I bet that if the food stamp lady had hit the jackpot, she would have spent her fortune poorly, gotten ruined and would have very quickly gone back to square 1 anyway.

[@flashypork]

I had similar experiences working at a liquor store. The hardcore lottery addicts were far more annoying than the alcoholics for the reason that as a cashier you were expected to participate in all their little rituals they thought would bring them a win. Some of their orders were insane and very difficult to ring up correctly. They'd rattle off something like "Give me five quick picks for today and run the numbers12 22 54 76 82 three times a day for five days and then give me one quick pick run five days" and if you screwed up they would berate you for throwing off their "system." Some of them were so difficult we had to call over an employee who had worked there long enough that she was the only person who understood how to handle their orders properly. The alcoholics who came to our store were generally ashamed of their addictions and would come up with excuses for buying so much if they talked to us at all, but the gambling addicts were braggarts who acted like they had figured out life by gambling every cent they had. The way they could turn from bravado to rage at a moment's notice made me feel on eggshells whenever anyone asked me to "ring up a few numbers." And you could never tell how bad an addict was just by looking at them, as you could usually guess with an alcoholic. Even little old ladies might fly off the handle at you if they felt you messed up their "luck." Such an insidious addiction.

[@JW-vi2nh]

@@flashypork OMFG you know! There was this one couple that drove me absolute insane. They each played their own numbers and categorically refused to use the Scantron tickets that would make my job easier and would allow them to get exactly what they wanted quickly and take their time making sure they didn't "forget" anything. So the man would come up, hold up the line for 5+ minutes with "Give me a Pick 3, Straight Box, 5 times with numbers 345. Pick 4, Box, 5 times with numbers 123." He'd usually end up with about 50 tickets, insisted on standing there slowly thumbing through each one, and then start rattling off even MORE. And the whole time, the line is growing and people are getting impatient. And then his wife would take her turn doing the exact same BS. AHHHHH. Still to this day, 15+ years later, every time I see someone with a lottery ticket at a gas station I become irrationally furious LOL. I can't help myself. I did, and still do, call them "Lottery Losers" in my head. It just never fails, it'll be 10 degrees and pouring freezing rain outside and I will get stuck behind someone picking out stupid scratch tickets or cashing in their whopping $1 winning tickets. I don't know if this is just local or a national thing, but they started allowing CARDS to be used to pay for lottery tickets! At least before, once you ran out of cash you were done. Now people can just charge up their credit cards, drain their debit cards, use cash advances on credit cards, etc., to fuel their never-ending losing streaks. It makes me sick.

[@Skoopyghost]

I wish there was a blood test for addiction. Addiction is so sad. Robs people off everything.

[@TeemoTemosson]

School funding is a joke. The worst schools in the country are also the most well-funded.

[@PropaneWP]

The house always wins. This is tragic, but it's also kind of surprising to see how mild the consequences of financial crime are.

[@zilesis1]

do you mean the 53-month sentence? it kind of makes sense, i suppose. the guy already turned himself in and was clearly remorseful, plus the root of it all was an gambling addition, not just general greed. him taking money because he was convinced he would pay it all back when he won, isn't the same situation as someone taking money with no intention to pay it back and running away. i'm pretty sure previous cases of ponzi schemes where the intent was to take the money and run, the organisers went to jail for serious time. but this dude is unlikely to re-offend with proper treatment

[@PropaneWP]

@@zilesis1 He stole a shitload of money. People have gone to jail for way longer for way less. Hoping that this guy is remorseful and won't repeat sounds like wishful thinking, tbh. He didn't turn himself in because he regretted his actions. He turned himself in because he thought his life was in danger.

[@NaifDread]

yup, turned himself in because he was at the end of the line and then regret hit him since he was left fucked and with nothing left. His brain tricked itself into justifying all the bad in any way possible (because of the benefits (specifically to my understanding constant the dopamine high)) until that just wasnt an option. -Sucks but i believe the brain "loves drugs" not in a literal sense tho drugs do the same to ur brain chemically. Atleast mine sure as hell does. Working on following the drug of personal happiness. It's not easy but wishing whoever reads this the best on your journey :), whatever it was don't hesitate and do it!

[@WitchMedusa]

This guy is clearly mentally ill, that's why he isn't in jail for a long time. I work in the financial sector, financial crimes are no joke, but fact still is that financial crimes normally don't involve violence unlike regular crimes. There is a big moral difference between the willingness to fudge some numbers & to point a gun at someone for a couple bucks. Street thugs are much worse people which is why they go away for longer.

[@theduplicator3270]

It's only a crime if you get caught.

[@MyPhobo]

Imagine being behind this dude in line when he is buying lottery tickets lol.

[@josephcerrera8299]

Yup and all you want is 20 on pump 5

[@mattcolver1]

Yeah; You run into a store to buy a coke or a pack of cigarettes and there's a guy buying 1000 lottery tickets in front of you in line. Brutal.

[@trickyrichard]

When I worked at a gas station I had a guy come in once to buy 160 individual daily 3 tickets and it took a solid 5 minutes to print all of them. So it had to have taken a good 30-45 minutes to print all of this guys tickets.

[@joeshittheragman6252]

Id tell the cashier "20$ on pump 5", leave it on the counter then leave

[@emmemaile5531]

I work at a gas station and trust me I despise lottery players. It's usually older people, usually women, you can usually tell that they could not really afford to spend so much money on nonsense, and then I've got to spend like 15 to 30 minutes scanning dozens of cards to tell them that they won $3, and then of course they almost always disagree with me and say that the other cards were winners too. So I simply turn around slap the stack down in front of them and tell them to go scan them or redeem them somewhere else and I hand them their 3 measly dollars

[@divanvanzyl7545]

He was so addicted, he completely lost his ability to calculate basic probability

[@MushookieMan]

He never had it

[@Skoopyghost]

I have gambling addiction, and I barely escaped drug addiction. His tail is a causery tale for me. Thank God I got sober just in time.

[@KN-hg2nv]

​@@Skoopyghost Please get well soon dude if you can get therapy and find supportive people

[@Skoopyghost]

@@KN-hg2nv I'm well.

[@suz702]

He won more than one major jackpot that would have set most people up for life…he snatched defeat from the hands of victory.

[@LividRich]

Would set you, me or most other people up for life. But a 10mil win doesn't mean the same of you spent 15mil on entry tickets lol

[@trippymchippy8586]

When I was about 19 years old, back in the nearly 90's, I was on the dole. On the bi-monthly pay-day, I would hit the pub and often put the whole lot in the fruit machine, probably about £35. I would feel completely crushed. I soon thereafter realised that gambling is a mugs game.

[@trod5902]

everything in moderation. if I gamble i go in with an amount im okay with losing, or i might buy a scratcher a couple times a year. and never break the golden rule: do not hit the ATM if you run out of cash in the casino

[@KiraTV1]

One of my best friends did this, every friday afternoon. Either slots or online poker. Couple years later, in his early 20s, hung himself.v

[@Redbeardian]

@@KiraTV1 Sorry to hear that, man. My dad's a gambling addict, mostly scratchers and lotto and casino. He gaslighted us our whole lives into believing it was because of us kids that we could only just scrape by with the bare minimum. Addictions are horrible. I often wish it was heroin, or something, because it would have been FAR less expensive and worked itself out by destroying him.

[@IndicatedGoodLife]

@@KiraTV1 Thats very fucked. I lost alot of money gambling when I had enough to spare. Weird thing is, I lost interest at some point and almost stopped completly, it was just not fun anymore. I still hit the casino once or twice a year with some friends and a couple hundred. Last time I left with 5k in winnings and bought my Gf a diamond ring with it. Man it really feels good when its not a crippling habbit.

[@PropaneWP]

A friend of mine won big on a lotto ticket. Used to come and pick me up in his car at age 15. His mom was an alcoholic, so most of the money were sitting in a trust fund, controlled by a lawyer. He bought a house where he lived with his older brothers. Still, fuck gambling. The lives it ruins far outweigh those who benefit.

[@lancourt]

True story from about 20 years ago. Before driving to work I would usually stop off at a gas station near my house and pick up some snacks and gatorade etc. I was standing in line behind a elderly woman who was buying lottery tickets and talking about how she had never won anything in all the years shes played. She then said, "I wait by the phone every Wednesday, but no one has ever called me." Something clicked in my brain and I turned to her and asked, "You wait by the phone? Have you ever brought your tickets in to be checked?" She said, "Why would I do that? They call you if you win." Both the clerk and I stared at each other, horrified as she wished us a good day and walked away. Neither one of us could find the will to tell her that she had been throwing her money away for years. Still makes me sad thinking about it.... I wish I had said something, but even if she believed me I would have just broke her heart.

[@UdumbaraMusic]

Man, that's sad... I honestly don't know if I could tell her either. I mean it's the right thing to do but it could lead her down a crazy path of checking years upon years worth of lottery results...

[@blinkth3dog]

thats sad af

[@bigdog6704]

You should've told her that they just changed the rules this week and you have to go online. I bet she couldn't use the internet though. I probably wouldn't have thought of that in the moment anyways

[@dublinsfaircity]

Man up and tell her. At least of she wins it from here on in she'd know about it. You made sure she'll never know now. Pathetic.

[@PutinsMommyNeverHuggedHim]

sounds like she wasn’t the smartest cookie in the box, that one

[@soviut303]

Lawyer: Krusty, did you bet AGAINST the Harlem Globetrotters? Krusty: I thought the Washington Generals were due!

[@herculesbrofister265]

Gambling in a nutshell. Simpsons writers were so on the ball back then.

[@Nerathul1]

When you are dealing with electronics and certain machines that cannot generate random numbers, there is always a pattern but companies building these generally make the patterns so ridiculously long that it is nearly impossible to decipher. But ball-rolling machines??? Those are totally random.

[@cirion66]

Also a reason why Cloudflare uses cameras and lava lamps for encryption.

[@steelfox1448]

@@cirion66 I thought this was a joke, that's actually amazing

[@monehget]

Can confirm, I once dated a ball rolling machine and she was freaking unpredictable.

[@fatalityin1]

The slot machines are actually not real randoms but pseudo randoms, because computing "real" randoms requires a lot of computational power and environmental variables, so every slot would require hardware worth simillar to a low mid range gaming PC (there is a reason why people are paid 30$ an hour to just throw dices and protocol dice results). They just use seeded randoms and here you have some crazy info: those slots also use bluetooth to transmit winnings, losses and an API for the owner to change the chance of winning (which in itself says everything about casino luck). But there was once a Nokia phone which was able to intercept that bluetooth traffic and you could reverse engineer the seed, meaning once you found out the current position in the seed, you always would know the next position. Those phones are by now super rare, but that attack vector is still open. I remember a guy in 2018 gaming the system by playing the same slot machine for thousands of times, noting every result, and reversing the pseudo random seed, making it possible to predict every future result (but I would not advise that in a big casino, albeit not illegal, you would have accidents with your kneecap in their back alley)

[@faizalqorni7969]

@@fatalityin1 interesting, i reckon you could try looking the bluetooth version as opposed to the whole nokia phone Nowadays you won't get capped cheatin in casino, they could simply kick you out and banned you. On repeat offense they can call the cops on you.

[@todo9633]

Gambling is terrifying, I genuinely am scared of how normalized it is throughout society. I watch friends go to casinos and lose whole weeks worth of their pay, only to celebrate like mad when they win a couple hundred bucks. I has a boss once who insisted we all put money in a pool and make sports bets while at work, I had to quit because of how uncomfortable I was with it. Fantasy football and stuff like that is just the new wave of it, along with microtransactions and loot boxes.

[@Adreno23421]

Candy crush is also gambling, the basic game does not have cash involved, but it works just like a casino game would.

[@mayconlcruz]

Gambling is like signing a contract with the devil: everyone knows how vile he is, but at the end of the day, everyone accepts its existence, unpunished, because everyone believes that the mistake was made by the poor soul who decided to sign the contract to begin with.

[@mariancounsellor]

@@Adreno23421 it’s not the same, although it’s similar. They’re both addictive but gambling with money has a difference because people don’t care how much they lose, the addiction means they’ll lose everything and do anything to keep gambling. Also, winning fuels the addiction whereas with Candy Crush and games where no money is involved, the ‘high’ is through the win and getting a good score = feeling good, sense of achievement. People don’t steal, lie, get into serious debt etc. though playing Candy Crush.

[@cchutney348]

I thought fantasy football was DnD for jocks. Is there a big financial component?

[@JoeOvercoat]

@@cchutney348 The argument is made that fantasy football is a game of skill and therefore not a game of chance …and so they operate as unregulated gambling rings…er, apps.

[@ForeverLaxx]

I applied to work at a casino, and while I didn't stay because of the constant smoke in the air, it was still sad to see the same people coming up to the money cage with their "winnings" just to show up an hour later asking if there's an ATM since they ran out of cash on hand. They'll do this all day, every day, and even though there's pamphlets and signs warning them of addiction and how to recognize it, clerks never bring it up and none of the customers believe they have a problem in the first place. I thought working retail and watching people spend their government handouts on candy and soda was bad, but seeing these people in that endless loop was just depressing.

[@boat6float]

If a casino worker said something directly to a customer about gambling addiction just after a big loss, he might start screaming and telling the supervisor that he is being harassed. I saw a lot of people say nasty things to the people at the money cage. Even after I'd lose, I never blamed the people at the cage. Whenever I turned in my chips they'd almost always say "good luck."

[@Tom_Bee_]

I don't see what your problem with government money is. All your money was magicked into existence at the touch of a button too.

[@keithboyd9582]

Me and my mom went to a casino in Southern Oklahoma years ago. We went to a nearby gas station first and when we got back to our car we noticed a car next to us that had a back seat full of losing scratch off tickets. The pile covered the entire back seat and reached up to about halfway up the seats. And there was a guy in the driving seat scratching tickets. Whenever he got a losing ticket he would just throw it behind him in the back seat and keep on scratching.

[@CPU9incarnate]

The fact that he wasn't just trying to make predictions based on previous numbers (which could possibly make sense for numbers produced electronically) but even just random signs in his own local environment suggests that he did not merely have a severe gambling addiction, but likely also undiagnosed schizophrenia or some other form of cognitive disease.

[@lv1543]

Based

[@clownworld4655]

Yea I can nearly guarantee he has schizophrenia. That’s a huge symptom

[@arglebargle5531]

I don't think so. The addiction IS the cognitive disease---massive emotional motivation can create intense biases that cause people to make irrational leaps in logic. Regular gamblers fallacies (e.g., the last five spins have landed on black, so we're "due" for a spin to land on red) also rely entirely on magical thinking, even if they seem superficially more reasonable.

[@naosou921]

@@arglebargle5531 Just look at the rest of the information outside of the lottery gambling. - Obsessed with patterns - Paranoia, fearing the feds were after him even though they weren't, yet - Manic ego, thinking his mere presence was putting his family in danger and trying to surrender himself to the police even though, again, nobody was after him at this point - Psychotic breakdown when he started acting erratically and going around in his boxers It is pretty clear that this guy has some underlying condition that was getting progressively worse. That doesn't mean he wasn't addicted to gambling, but it is pretty clear that he had issues outside of it too.

[@CPU9incarnate]

@@arglebargle5531 The gamblers fallacy is a case of people misunderstanding a statistical concept, it's an issue of lack of comprehension, not intrinsic irrationality. Attempting to gamble based on dates which were personally important to him or based on numbers seen on license plates he happened to come across is a level of total disregard for basic logic that it can only be concluded that he was either also addicted to a mind altering substance, or that he had a physiological cognitive problem on top of the psychological pathology of addiction.

[@holoramecid]

I honestly feel sad for him. He wasn't addicted to getting rich. He was addicted to winning.

[@thisgame2]

F him

[@rustydowd879]

I've read that with gambling addiction, the addiction isn't even to winning- its to anticipating winning. The dopamine peaks while the roulette ball is still rolling, the horses are still racing, etc.. So whether the addict wins or loses, their brain still got what it was after: dopamine from anticipating pleasure. That's why it's so hard to quit.

[@Dinkbass]

@@rustydowd879 kinda like a cigarette smokers craving start to die as they are walking outside rather than actually smoking

[@OGRE_HATES_NERDS]

if that was true he could have just played for lower stakes

[@no0bbbb]

Never start gambling. Not even stocks. It sucks ..

[@BenOzzy]

I have a deep fascination with scams and scammers so this channel has been a great find. It almost always seems inevitable, the scammer ultimately scams themselves as much as anyone. I like that much and with such conviction and eventually you start to believe your own bs.

[@kempolar9768]

It creates such a vast web where the moment one part comes down it all falls. It is super interesting to learn how they are built up though.

[@OlivetheDoge]

This comment made me more intrigued with his content, first video I've seen. You comment made me sub tho

[@themug406]

Theres nothing funnier than scammers getting offended that their scam isnt working

[@OlivetheDoge]

@@themug406 such a narcissistic way of thinking (Not you) but yeah your 100%% right. Been addicted to this channel btw. Anything reading these comments Subscribe. This is good youtube content.

[@lolllama1504]

Most scammers do not scam themselves, you just only hear stories about the ones that got caught

[@sciocore]

My Dad won $2,000,000 in the Illinois State Lotto back in the 80s. His wife (my stepmother) left him for his best friend and took half the money. Then my mom married his boss (my step dad). Then my dad quit his job and ended up taking out a loan every year for 20 years until the money ran out (he was collecting every year for 20 years) ...all while living in a trailer. Collecting retirement, he eventually lived in a rundown trailer in TX until a few years ago when he died of COVID-19.

[@jjt171]

that's horrible. I'm sorry that happened to your father. rule 1 with the lottery is never tell anybody you won the lottery

[@sciocore]

@@jjt171 Especially your wife. lol

[@severiusbrandusa1413]

I don't get it.

[@hylacinerea970]

I have both the addiction gene and the gambling gene. I started on loot boxes, and realized my problem only years later, after I had quit overwatch due to associating it with near fatal illness. I was 10, legally gambling

[@Platzhalterxy]

its the fault of your crappy parents to first allow you to play a game that is not for 10 years and secondly allowing you to spend money there for lootboxes. why should others suffer because your family sucks

[@Adreno23421]

Candy crush is also gambling, the basic game just does not have cash involved, but the `win`, probability and addiction is right there, for everyone to get addicted.

[@Mantis-ti5ve]

Lmao "gambling gene" pure pseudoscience BS my friend, same with "alcoholism gene". It's an excuse and a boogeyman the medical community uses to push drugs and a "its not your fault" narrative. You were a young kid who found a way to soak your brain in dopamine, there wasn't some sinister gene taking control away from you.

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

Even if someone had recognized what he was doing right away, there's no way they'd have been able to convince him to stop. It's always the same with people gambling on random numbers. They always think they have a real system, but they're always just fooling themselves. The guy I knew who was the worst in that way, known as Chef Ra, would play Joker Poker in the bar I hung out at, once in a while winning a little, but always ending up with nothing. I felt sorry for him--his life just kept getting worse, until he finally died in 2006, in his sleep.

[@rustydowd879]

Rest in peace, Chef Ra 🙏

[@IWantToStayAtYourHouse]

tell that to all cryptobros who thinks they can predict the market

[@Horvath_Gabor]

While at its core, this is about gambling addiction, I think this case might've had other elements to it. As in, this guy seems like he didn't do it just to "win big", but to "beat the system" without understanding what the system he was going up against actually was. I might be reaching a little with this one, but I blame the popularization of surface level game theory in general, and the Monty Hall problem in particular. They gave people this idea that in games of probability, there are some "tricks" that can be used to turn the odds in their favor, without actually understanding the underlying probability- and statistics models. It not only affects gambling addicts, but shallow understanding of these principles also spiral into the weirdest places, like young earth creationist apologetics. It's a weird world we live in.

[@kenny42069]

I've worked at a few convivence store and gas stations and in that time I've served many gambling addicts. They come in every day, sometimes multiple times a day, to buy tickets, oftentimes the same ones over and over. And when they would eventually win a good chunk of money, they'd almost always spend almost all of their winnings on more tickets, some buying an entire roll at a time. And that roll will obviously have winnings, but they'll ultimately spend that in the same place as well. Few if any of them were spending all that money in the hopes of winning a better life with financial freedom, even if that's what they told themselves. They were either too invested from having spent so many hundreds or even thousands of dollars on it that they couldn't stop for what seems like a comparatively low number, or what was likely the case more often, they were simply addicted to the rush of a win or "near-win". For these addicts, gambling isn't a means to an end, it's just another drug. It was always sad to see.

[@carmanstriker1853]

When I worked at a 7/11 this older dude would come in and buy like 50 bucks of Crossword scratch and wins darn near daily. It was like a ritual, and if I was restocking the tickets he's wait for me to finish and then pick out the 15 or 20 he was buying that day. The manager would make sure we ordered extra Crosswords to ensure we still had some for this dude in the event that our delivery truck got delayed. He'd usually only ever win like $20 out of every batch, but every once in a few weeks he'd win like $300 and buy a bunch more of the same scratch and wins. He was a nice guy and really pleasant to talk to, but you had to feel bad for what was pretty clearly a serious (if relatively tame in terms of money dpent compared to some others) addiction.

[@zg-it]

I grew up working behind the lottery machine in the Detroit area. The state-sponsored gambling and the cruelty it inflicts on poor people is endless. But I watched a lot of people with resources piss away their money. We had a sign on our machine that said "lottery, a tax on people who are bad at math." When we removed the lottery machine from our store, which was a rare thing to do and surprised a lot of people, it made our lives so much better.

[@dumbasses_R_us]

My father was a gambling addict and I watched him gamble until he lost the only thing he had left, his family

[@dudebro3250]

Did he lose you in a bet like Homer lost Maggie on the Simpson's?

[@niallmackenzie99]

What's unsettling with this and so many cases is that the gambling addict, when caught simply declares themselves bankrupt and the people who are out of pocket as a direct result of the lies and deceit normally suffers the same fate if not worse than the actual gambler.

[@impulse_xs]

This is why gambling addicts don’t get much sympathy. I’m a small time sports bettor who earns a little extra income from it and i can honestly say most degenerate gamblers were scumbags before their addiction. Everyone always says “oh they’re not addicted to money they’re addicted to winning” but yet every time they go broke they always go looking for other peoples money. First the banks. Then later they just start scamming normal people. Then when they finally hit rock bottom their first and only concern is to figure out how they can protect THEMSELVES and avoid any financial accountability. Meanwhile, the people they scammed get left out to dry. They’re really no better than the Casino. They’re just not as clever. I’ll always say that the only silver lining is that gambling truly does have a way of separating an undeserving rich man from his money.

[@chazzlebazzle69]

I used to be friends with a silver spooned fella, only through business....he constantly badgered me about doing cash deals through his father's company, I continued to decline & eventually found another company to deal with my stock control, though the relationship was compromised after taking my business elsewhere we slowly became friends again...long story short, his father handed the business over to him & within 3yrs the company was sold for £6.5mil, he then spent every day apart from the days he was hungover at the Casino's, it left him totally broke, nothing.

[@exMuteKid]

"He was on Adderall for his ADHD", I think that may explain a few things considering the possibility that he was probably abusing it if others described him as "looking like he was on a cocaine fueled frenzy"

[@darrellshoub7527]

Absolutely

[@thakurv1]

You’re exactly right.

[@yeetusfeetus7877]

@P C Being very anxious would probably make him look like he was on a “Cocaine fueled frenzy” - From a person who is anxious a lot. Also, people with ADHD aren’t necessarily hyper. ADHD - I is where there is less an emphasis on hyperactivity than inattentiveness [ADHD - I literally stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, primarily Inattentive], and quite a few people with this type may experience no hyperactivity at all, which is also why it is much harder to diagnose than ADHD - H [Primarily Hyperactive] and ADHD - C [Combined type. AKA: Hyperactive and inattentive].

[@No1reallydies]

@@user-pl9pu8ys8s adderal has 0 “calming” effects that’s literally 100% you just telling yourself that. Addedal is literally a few chemicals away from meth. It’s an upper. That’s why college kids take addys so they can stay UP. also adhd dossnt exist

[@safeandsound6011]

​@P C it can calm you down but not all ADHD means hyper. I'm very mellowed actually

[@Oppinnindi]

If you ever managed to find a secret system to win over and over again I think they would stop paying on the third claim and open a massive investigation 😂

[@boat6float]

I'm pretty sure the lottery board starting their internal investigation to make sure there wasn't an employee who was somehow rigging the machine.

[@chriscampbell4857]

@@boat6float No, because they were making more off him than they were paying out, no reason to interrupt him. Kira didn't make that very clear until later in the video.

[@LocrianDorian]

Gambling addiction is the exact same psychological trickery some the highest grossing gaming companies are using to get to those record breaking earnings, yet governments are still mostly sleeping and allowing this to happen.

[@F0rever.B0red]

Or know that if they allow it they get a cut of that

[@nelzelpher7158]

People are richer than you or me. Just admit that we are too broke to play the gacha.

[@cerealrakist7360]

Same thing with alcohol. Addictive, self destructive, Deadly etc etc etc but it’s up to people as a whole to be responsible! Not the governments job to babysit and make sure people make right choices.. yes i understand it’s not the exact same thing u mentioned but is similar as in leaders knowing it’s wrong and leads to destruction

[@cerealrakist7360]

Same with tobacco and drugs. Etc etc.

[@madamefeast4824]

@@cerealrakist7360 That's a really good way to put it. Alcohol exists and lots of people enjoy having a few drinks and having a good time or getting drunk once in a while. But you have people who drink alcohol all day everyday as it kills them. People can give it a chance and buy a lotto ticket here or there. Spend a couple bucks a month. And if you don't win (which you won't), no harm done. We can't just keep cutting stuff off because of people who can't control themselves.

[@iconredesign]

This is the form of true crime I’m obsessed with - Greed for money and power will always churn out these stories

[@ReesieandLee]

As grandma used to say “Don’t worry about college , there is always the lottery”

[@dublinsfaircity]

Such an unwise woman.

[@PutinsMommyNeverHuggedHim]

LMAOOOO

[@mitotakjde9763]

Funny how people believe that they can win the lottery. I thought about buying one ticket, just because how improbable it is, but thinking you can win is unreasonable

[@wiseauserious8750]

Yeah, with the lottery essentially you're paying a dollar to have a little shot of dopamine right as the winning numbers are being read and you're looking at your ticket

[@jazzabighits4473]

Yeah it's crazy to think though, it's unreasonable to think that you'll win the lottery because the chances are so low. But the chances of somebody winning the lottery have to be above 0, given enough time and redraws. Therefore, while it's unreasonable to think you'll win the lottery by buying a ticket, it's also unreasonable to think that it's impossible to win by buying a ticket.

[@informitas0117]

The fact the lottery and casinos exist tells me not to use them.

[@AstronomicalAviation]

"You are a wealthy man now. And one must learn to be rich. To be poor, anyone can manage." A quote from Gus Fring from Breaking Bad which perfectly explains why I would never buy a lottery ticket. Unfortunately what most people fail to realize is that money is not the key to happiness, and is often the key to depression and arrogance. Statistically, most who play the lottery are not financial rockstars, and such a person suddenly gaining hundereds of millions is almost guarenteed to run out in a short matter of a few years at most. After that in many cases the winner is in worse physical and mental state than before he or she had won because money has replaced their desires that were once simple in life. In this sense winning the lottery is actually losing to gambling addiction.

[@ryanblanchard2508]

Maybe, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take! 👍💵

[@abox1942]

@@ryanblanchard2508 how many hours did it take to spend it?

[@miklov]

Fascinating story. The descent into the number madness is scary stuff! Thank you!

[@MineKynoMine]

And to think he was only 1 ticket away from breaking even

[@gunnercolt6347]

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Haven't heard that in years.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

The part where a gambling addiction goes from a problem to a crisis comes up the same way any time - they end up seeming no longer gambling for the One Big Win, but gambling to lose. No win will ever be the walk-away point, it's just more to feed in. Risks are bigger and less realistic. They're not having fun while they win, or while the ball spins, or while they plan it out. The closest to happy they seem is when they lose all of it, because it's the only time you get to walk away from it.

[@LaineHughes1]

imagine someone asking you what you do for a living and you ACTUALLY say to them " i win the lottery"

[@OffGridInvestor]

We have MANY PEOPLE from the Balkans here in Australia. Not unusual AT ALL for them to get addicted to gambling. They very often seem to have a big ego which doesn't help.

[@lolllama1504]

I’ve met a big ego gambler before. They’re convinced that they can beat the system because they think they are so much smarter than the average Joe that gets duped by the system. They had that same holier-than-thou attitude in other aspects in life, so I’ll admit I found it greatly satisfying to see them get squashed and have to get humbled.

[@bleachesbrother6697]

Smartest person from the balkans

[@dublinsfaircity]

Why mention Balkans? Most people here in Ireland love to gamble. Same in UK.

[@PutinsMommyNeverHuggedHim]

Maybe the Balkan culture is more superstitious, so they think they can get lucky…

[@Martial-Mat]

The infuriating thing is, the man was genuinely talented. He could have had it all without the gambling.

[@zh84]

Fascinating, and very sad. A couple of hundred years earlier Ada, Countess of Lovelace, who was a straight-up genius if not appreciated in her own time (she was the first computer programmer, about a century before there was a machine that could run her code), ruined herself bcause she was convinced she had a "system" for betting on the horses. Cleverness doesn't seem to immunise against gambling addiction.

[@Ironclad17]

His talent was lying to people.

[@Martial-Mat]

@@zh84 Very true.

[@Martial-Mat]

@@Ironclad17 Among other things.

[@Alex-kb2ws]

He had schizophrenia dude

[@KevinFrost]

I know anyone can fall victim to this mindset, but it really is sad. So many people I know are currently talking about the lottery and how they are getting friends and family from out of state to buy them tickets (the lottery isn't available in the state I live in). So far, they've all spent anywhere from $10 to a couple $100 and none of them have won anything, yet they keep saying "you gotta play to win!" which is technically true, but it's sad to watch people spend their hard earned money on useless pieces of paper that have such a low chance of winning them anything.

[@clownworld5474]

There have been lotteries where the math was wrong and it was +EV to play. I would say $10 is a problem 🤣

[@AnthonyDoesYouTube]

Worse yet, the numbers are so large because of the fact that it is essentially a game built around losers, and the house always wins. Have you ever seen a winning lottery ticket? The amount of stupid little modifications and "premium multipliers" and other nonsensical-such marketing terms make the would-be simple lottery ticket cost as much as actual tickets to a damned televized sporting event. Not surprising, or - maybe I guess it kind of is- that ONLY one person generally wins the mega jackpot or whatever that you see on the News. AND EVEN MORE BAD THAN ALL THAT, WORSE YET AGAIN: Pretty sure if you win and someone else also got the same ticket, then you also have to split it with THEM, too! But that I am not 100% sure of.

[@herculesbrofister265]

And they're raising a generation of gamblers now. Wander the toy aisle at walmart, look at all the "mystery toys". And the vast majority of them aren't something with a widespread appeal that you can trade with friends, like baseball cards or those 80s football helmets from the coin machines. They're usually some niche item. Then you got loot boxes in video games.

[@MushookieMan]

@@clownworld5474 A positive expected value is meaningless when the odds are so low, unless you are immortal.

[@clownworld5474]

@@MushookieMan you play thousands of tickets a week dumb ass. The probability is high that you make more money than you spend, when they haven't done the maths right. You aren't playing 1 ticket a week, moron. There are multiple stories world wide of people finding loopholes in lottery math. Not every lottery is hundreds of millions to 1 to win and there are other prizes than just the jackpot to be won in most cases. Crawl back in your hole. Watch the film 'Jerry & Marge, go large' as an example - true story.

[@fuksaluksa]

Dude woke up one morning like: 'i have a wife, house and 4 kids...guess ill start gambling and destroy my families life'.

[@Skoopyghost]

That's addiction in a nutshell.

[@fuksaluksa]

@@Skoopyghost imo 'addiction' is an excuse to not try and change your behaviour.

[@Skoopyghost]

@@fuksaluksa Well you're a full blown sociopath when you're addicted to something. That's the illness. You're selfish until you hit the rock bottom and you decide to change. You don't understand addiction well. You're just saying "If someone depressed, be happy, and don't be depressed."

[@oliver_twistor]

This is why I'm against all sorts of luck-based "games" for real money, such as the lottery and roulette. It only preys on the addictive personalities. I'm not against poker or any other skill-based "gambling". Although there are risks of addiction with those games as well, they aren't purely chance so there is a chance of getting ahead of the curve.

[@clownworld4655]

Or we could, you know, hold people accountable for their own actions.

[@EmpressLeana]

Gambling preys on people's vulnerabilities and causes massive harm. Most of the money extracted comes from poor people who can ill afford to lose it. It's manipulation and addiction.

[@Journey_to_who_knows]

“Suckers are born everyday and feared men grow on trees”

[@BlisaBLisa]

@@clownworld4655 where in the comment did it say anything about not holding people accountable. do you honestly think gambling isn't purposefully addictive and predatory. yeah we all have agency and free will but we can be manipulated and our weaknesses strategically preyed upon and any person or business who does that is evil. not only gambling businesses but any business that benefits from making their customers addicted to their product (like social media) does a lot of research on how to make their product as addictive as possible. social media apps are structured to keep you scrolling and checking your notifications and casino buildings are structured to keep people there longer, disorient them and their sense of time, and the games are designed to keep you playing. and it obviously works very well

[@psyxypher3881]

The lottery is people willingly giving money to the government instead of it being taken by force. You shouldn't be against that. Taxation is awful.

[@JohnAPrescott]

Jeebous, so sad. I've been to Vegas 5 times and have not even put a quarter in a slot machine or gambled at all. I've seen too many people on the red eye mad, couples fighting, stressed and the look of absolute fright. I can onlu guess they bet the farm and lost.

[@czipcok1994]

I love those in depth reports you make mate. Keep them coming

[@GooseMcBruce]

If you want to win the lottery, start one.

[@mollyt1416]

Exactly. Good point sir.

[@margaretreefer1145]

There's a reason the government regulates them! 😁

[@RebuttalRecords]

I can relate, I spent years trying to develop a "winning system" running "what if" analysis but my tests never delivered consistent results; my average win ratio for a small prize against draws that would have been played was around 2 percent. Fortunately I spent only $50 to find out it wasn't profitable and stopped wasting my time on a delusional pastime. In this guy's case, he actually won big on more than one occasion, so it's not hard to imagine falling into the same trap of thinking you can keep consistently beating the odds.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

I never win ANYTHING realated to chance except when I was 24 I won a few bucks on the slots. I just played and turned off my "worry system" that normally controls my every thought and I won. Now I cant even consider trying it again

[@RebuttalRecords]

@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 I stopped playing slots when they switched them from coins to bills. Greedy bastards.

[@rochitnisuk]

So can I relate have spent so many hours and pounds in developing strategies... Key is mind control

[@Cooooooooookie]

I actually felt really sorry for him listening to this story. Addiction is so misunderstood especially when it’s one that doesn’t destroy you physically… at first.

[@superbroadcaster]

Definitely puts a spotlight on myself. I never ever bought into lotteries, until the recent lottery passed 1.5 billion, and I got all hooked on I could make things great for my entire family and all our kids, I ended up spending around $100 in a week until it was won. I still bought a couple other tickets after but it just felt dirty at that point. Statistically someone has to win the powerball, but there's no telling when and it ends up being pretty demeaning to yourself. Maybe just one more ticket.

[@josee1984]

Jeez please get help

[@superbroadcaster]

@@josee1984 it's a joke at the end, it's better to realize you have a problem before it becomes one

[@howdareyouexist]

the government is who wins the lottery everytime when they get all those lovely taxes

[@justice_1337]

I thought about getting a lottery ticket for the first time but realized that is not what I do.

[@jazzabighits4473]

@@superbroadcaster How could you even spend 1.5 billion dollars though?

[@0fficialdregs]

I pity this man because he recongized the issue and even turned himself in to get help, but was turned away. I'm glad he lived from in that hotel room because his loss would of been a much bigger impact

[@CleverCover05]

Damn, I don't know how the family can survive after that. Thats a lot of debt.

[@happyguy333]

Glad to see you back. Great video as always Kira

[@ZombieApocalypse09]

The Lottery is a Surprise Mechanic. Also super trippy to watch this late at night and hear Kira say the name of my hometown. A2! Ann Arbor!

[@epic321123]

this was such a good video. loved the high production quality and research that went into this

[@KiraTV1]

Thanks!

[@snix7613]

@@KiraTV1 Is FtX a ScAm ThO? waiting for the new juicy vid 😂

[@blueridgebikeman]

This was a pretty good doc. Thank you for doing it, and for displaying the documentary sources.

[@luckyspurs]

The stupidest thing the lottery every did. On the BBC in Britain, they had a game show where someone could take the money or have 250,000 lottery tickets instead. Everyone who chose the 250,000 lost. Brilliant way to make sure nobody ever buys 1.

[@louisazraels7072]

how much would the 250 000 tickets cost had they been purchased directly? How much cash were they offering? What was the theoretical RTP (returned to players percentage)? if say the RTP is 80% and they offer 50% in premium for taking the tickets instead of the cash then technically you are ahead taking the tickets. Then again, guaranteed money has its own appeal

[@jazzabighits4473]

What if the 250 000 tickets were worth 10 bucks each, so 2.5 million dollars and the prize was only 10 000 dollars? Surely, the logical decision would be to take the 250 000 tickets, even if you only expect to win a small amount of a few of them.

[@attssir]

That's a really light prison sentence for defrauding that many people of so much money.

[@salus1231]

Boris Becker doesn't agree 😎

[@willelliott5052]

Never could I have imagined that someone would dig a hole so deep over a simple mathematical misunderstanding. Random is random. Well, nothing is really random, but merely unpredictable with the available tools and time at hand.

[@Youre-Welcome]

I've tried to explain to my Dad that people who win either end up broke in a short time, or commit su***de because being responsible with the money usually causes friends and family to shun you as, they feel entitled to the money.

[@btctroy4217]

'that's where most people quit, while they're ahead' Kira showing he outright doesn't understand gambling/gambling addiction at all lol

[@KnakuanaRka]

Yeah, that’s where people *should* quit; the problem is that they often don’t.

[@Dailyfiver]

The saddest part about this entire story is that he could have retired, put $20M into the S&P 500 and made around $2M per year for the rest of his life.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Amen. Some people just can’t quit while they’re ahead.

[@rickyrickman5458]

How are going to put $20m into investment, if you win $28m you are only walking away with $9m after taxes and cash out

[@Dailyfiver]

@@rickyrickman5458 okay put 2 million in then. That’s more than enough to retire big hoss. I thought he won another 28 million on top of his other wins I didn’t realize that was the total.

[@Thepippinator2]

I’ve read that the addicting feeling of gambling is more about the fear of losing rather than winning.

[@ChrisE72]

A new Kira video means It's gonna be a good night!

[@browniesr4theweak]

Been there... OSRS duel arena took everything I had & than some. Gambling addiction is an emotional roller-coaster & each win is never enough.

[@mcmaddie]

3:46 I remember from the 80s some guys actually partly 'beat the system'. Back in the day they had painted the numbers to lottery balls so that changed the weight of the ball for ever so slightly. They used computer to calculate the results for drawings what to bet next week. I don't remember how much they won. Not much, but more than just what you would consider just 'noise'. Of course when the balls wore and were changed they had to start over. And no, this was long time ago (80s is surprise surprise) so some details might be wrong.

[@Alex-ot7ty]

Monk the TV show made a ep pretty similar, but the guy in the 80s probably didn't have to worry bout Monk haha

[@killaken2000]

Something similar happened with a roulette wheel. I believe it was MIT, but they realized that the wheel isn't truly random. If you had access to specific data and tests you could determine the outcome but the casino would be unlikely to let you get that level of access. However they later devised a method that was less accurate but didn't require access to the wheel.

[@Journey_to_who_knows]

Brb gonna find a job at the lotto

[@CoastalSphinx]

@@killaken2000 The most famous roulette breaks were by Richard Jarecki in the 1960s and 1970s. He and his accomplices tracked large numbers of spins on roulette wheels in European casinos. He then analyzed the data looking for roulette wheels with statistical bias that he could use to win more than he lost. Jarecki claimed to be using computer calculations to predict the numbers. This story was a complete lie, but it was necessary to protect his opportunities. Eventually the casinos realized their roulette wheels were biased, so they began replacing roulette wheels on a frequent schedule and worked to develop improved versions less susceptible to bias.

[@killaken2000]

@@CoastalSphinx interesting. I don't remember exactly who it was but maybe it was Thorp and Shannon (Shannon was at MIT then) or it could have been the Eudaemons from UC Santa Cruz. Supposed there was another group that published a paper in Chaos claiming that their method used chaos theory. It was a long time ago so I only remember the basic premise.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

This goes to show really how unlikely it is to win the lottery. If a person can spend thousands and still barely win, it's not something to get entangled with.

[@Greg-fl4cb]

Wow! He had everything! I feel so sorry for his family.

[@Fudmottin]

The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. Meanwhile, the guy fell for this old trap: The "gambler's fallacy" is the belief that the probability of an event is lowered when that event has recently occurred, even though the probability of the event is objectively known to be independent from one trial to the next. This paper provides evidence on the time pattern of lottery participation to see whether actual behavior is consistent with this fallacy. Using data from the Maryland daily numbers game, we find a clear and consistent tendency for the amount of money bet on a particular number to fall sharply immediately after it is drawn, and then gradually to recover to its former level over the course of several months. This pattern is consistent with the hypothesis that lottery players are in fact subject to the gambler's fallacy.

[@petelee2477]

To be fair for the pseudo randomness from computers this might actually be the case

[@Fudmottin]

@@petelee2477 I'm sure there are places in √2 where some four digit sequence is repeated immediately. There would be no periodicity either. Longer repeating sequences would be further apart on average. Obviously this is not a random number. If you start at some arbitrary location and spit out digits from there, it will look random.

[@philw3039]

I was wading through the comments to see if anyone would mention gambler's fallacy. Casinos and lotteries are built to exploit human psychology. In addition to gambler's fallacy, many also fall victim to confirmation bias (cherry picking data that supports an outcome they hope for instead weighing all data objectively as a whole) and sunk cost fallacy (where person refuses to abandon a course of action they've invested heavily in). All those factors dogpile on each other to make gambling addiction hard to break even when a person is aware of the mathematically low odds.

[@Fudmottin]

@@philw3039 I think the biggest trick casinos uses is the bright flashing lights and noise when a slot machine pays out. There are often enough slot machines in a group so that there are payouts happening within seconds of each other, at least at large casinos. Of course the payout rate is fine tuned and the house still wins.

[@finnm.2582]

6 years ago my Ex-Girlfriend abandoned me on Christmas Eve with her affair partner while I was working a 24 hour Shift. We lived together and had a joined account. I worked full time, she only one day a week. When I came home in the morning on the 25th of December 2016 she has left with all of her stuff and most of the furniture. Both of us got payed around the 21st each month she had withdrawn all of the money except for 10€. Rent wasn’t payed, same goes for our other regular expenses. I thought f*** it, if I‘m already on the ground I can spent my remaining 10 Bucks in a Casino. I didn’t expect to win anything, went to the first best Slotmachine I could find and won 500€. After that I went to a Blackjack table and I‘ve won a total of 60k. I‘ve left the casino and I‘m not planning to enter a casino ever again.

[@trashyraccoon2615]

Amazing. Congratulations

[@jazzabighits4473]

I hope you used that money to get your ex whacked

[@Fickets]

Overwhelming majority of people with addiction problems need to hit rock bottom before they’re finally willing to see reason.

[@nubiandoll7]

If I won the lottery I would remain anonymous, not showing my name, face, nothing.

[@ForeverLaxx]

Some states don't allow this, unfortunately.

[@aliasdjavanguard]

You know, back in school I had a teacher that played 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 on the lottery back in the Dale Winton days. I mean - it’s got as equal chance. Can you imagine 😂

[@CainXVII]

Why not? If I won with anything, I would want it to be that.

[@rubikmonat6589]

So many math teachers are going to be ecstatic about their $20 each when that combo finally comes up.

[@konstantinNeo]

You bunch o lewsers. Everyone knows the winning numbers are 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.

[@xaIlGG]

It's one of the stupidest things you can do. Sequential picks, famous number combinations etc means you will be sharing the jackpot with 100s of people. Imagine actually winning and then only receiving like $50K. Literally just use an RNG tool.

[@rubikmonat6589]

@@xaIlGG No, you don't just use a random number generator, you only pick numbers greater than 31 - nobody's birthday means you share less if you win with unpopular numbers.

[@mikkelnpetersen]

This is why I only play the lotto with 1 lot when I have plenty of spare money. NEVER gamble more money that you're willing to lose. AND if you win the big one, shut up about it, so you don't suddenly get a lot of "new friends".

[@craigwatson921]

who would spend 5 years in prison for 30 million dollars

[@Elite20001]

My granny spent 60-70% of what she made working as a janitor gambling. She used to hit up the casinos and sometimes would come out winning. But then she would spend 80% of her money on tickets and almost always lose.

[@Backonos]

I get thinking a machine picking numbers is not really random but when he went to ping pong balls with random guaranteed(unless it is faked), went from gambling addict to crazy

[@KnakuanaRka]

Yeah, I could understand the Club Keno thing if their RNG was crap and he managed to reverse-engineer it, but he really went crazy with the ball machine. I have heard of a few instances of people discovering biases in these kinds of gambling machines due to imperfections as mentioned elsewhere (Ie, some of the balls in the machine may be lighter than others and thus more likely to rise to the top), but it takes a ton of statistical analysis to discover these, and it isn’t based on specific numbers appearing at specific times and patterns, but some numbers appearing more often overall.

[@jazzabighits4473]

@@KnakuanaRka Yeah, if it was a machine game he kept playing (like Club Keno), it would have at least made some sort of sense. Computers can't really produce or generate random things, just pseudorandomly produce/generate things that seem random without all the given information. Accessing that information would remove the randomness and make sense, similar to that guy who won a decent amount of money on a game show by figuring out the system (how to avoid the whammy or gameover in the game show). But ping pong balls in the lottery is ridiculous. Did he think they kept the balls in the same place or placed them into the lottery machine perfectly the same way every time? Even before shuffling, that's pretty much impossible to do perfectly in our universe, especially considering ping pong balls are spherical and don't stack perfectly. Also, any tiny imperfections in the manufacturing process of the balls or the machine itself or the amount of gas in the machine would drastically change the outcome and make it unpredictable.

[@shudarschway9479]

I would have taken the $28 million and invested in FTX. Would could possibly go wrong

[@kidwaryodproduction]

When I heard "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" in your clips. It makes me want to listen to "Peter Paul and Mary" haha.

[@angelsscapes2977]

You get numb to wins, you get numb to losses, you just want the next gamble

[@swoondrones]

He won 3 times? That's incredible in itself.

[@PutinsMommyNeverHuggedHim]

after buying millions of tickets, it was bound to happen

[@GorFrag]

never play the lotto, the worst thing that can happen is you win it.

[@ownedmaxer607]

Many think the real danger of the lottery sums to the mounting losses and accelerated poverty as consequence, but when you also pay attention to the lottery winners and some of the subsequent...misfortune that followed, you start to realize that winning the modern lottery isn't that far of from winning the lotteries of the past. Instead of immediately judging you as a witch, today's lottery is a long-term judgement of your ability to judge the character of those around you and judge your own.

[@nickhahn5412]

I know a few people who’s lives spiraled out of control because of it.

[@ramonoliveira1036]

Jeez, at some point he had over 30 mi in his bank account? That means it's time to retire! Why would you need to keep gambling? Such a greedy guy.

[@johnandrews9433]

Almost like he might be addicted

[@keleynal4424]

I bought one lottery ticket one time when I turned 21 and I still feel like an idiot for doing it. That was 20 years ago.

[@funez-]

Relax

[@johnypiston]

"I am in the process of fixing my behaviour" 🤣🤣🤣

[@s4nder86]

Just need one big win.

[@KC-dw6yz]

If I had a nickel for every time someone used the lottery to cover a financial crime, I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?

[@ekurisona663]

next do the mcdonalds monopoly game scandle - still cant believe how few people know about it

[@trashyraccoon2615]

Lol! He said “drawrings” like Mike Myers on SNL

[@neveridle]

I cant hold my pants when a new Kira video releases

[@InsanityFactor]

As an old-man rambling aside; I play FF14, and I've noticed people calling in-game gambling "Gamba" now. Cutesifying something that really can lead to very damaging real addiction. I'm probably over-reacting, but it still sounds wrong to my old gnarled ears.

[@dopesickdog]

nah man you're reacting appropriately. that's probably embraced by a lot of the publishers of games that feature gambling, to make it more appealing (maybe even to kids?)

[@artdehls9100]

I find these types of stories fascinating... an obviously brilliant mind taken over by irrationality. So sad.

[@SpiritualDeclutter]

There’s a good story of a mathematician who won money from Hong Kong racing. You can find the story here on KZbin. He won so much that he left a ticket unclaimed to prove a point

[@artdehls9100]

@@SpiritualDeclutter Indeed! I have seen that video. Great story! Makes me wonder how these scenes (horse-racing, poker) will deal with machine learning.

[@No-Me3]

Having spent many years working in casinos, they are houses of misery. The same people come in for their 'shift' at their 'lucky' machine every day, some from open to closing. They fight each other over pennies, ask valets to bring their cars up so they can dig through the ash tray for change, take out lines of credit the casinos are more than happy to give. Many of them are elderly, often lonely and abandoned by family. They throw down their rent, mortgage payment, or social security income onto the table and lose it all. They come in miserable, and leave miserable. It is an awful, awful place.