Dumb "Luck"

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Dumb "Luck"

           This past week, a friend sent me an e-mail along with a link to an article about a woman who has been seemingly making a habit of winning large prizes in scratch off lotteries.  I tend to be very skeptical of these types of articles.   The internet isn't always the best place to find credible information.  Some of you might recall a column I wrote several months ago about how one writer noted that a disproportionate number of winning multi-state lottery tickets were being sold in one state.  This 'analysis' didn't take into account the total number of tickets sold.  It shouldn't be much of a surprise if more winning tickets were sold in Pennsylvania vs. Rhode Island given that many more tickets are presumably sold in Pennsylvania.

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Stop the Presses

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         I'm going to skip over what was supposed to be my topic for this week (continuation of Free Bet Blackjack), because there is another compelling and timely topic that simply requires, well, debunking.  For those of you who are sports fans, there is little doubt that you heard that the Cleveland Cavaliers won the top pick in the NBA draft - AGAIN.  This time, despite relatively long odds (1.7%) of doing so.  This has led a large number of people to declare that the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged so that a particular team wins the lottery for some nefarious purpose that serves the NBA.  The media's desire to be as sensationalist as possible has led to some very shoddy math work in an attempt to keep the discussion going.  Ironically, earlier in the day on Tuesday (the day of the draft), I read a parody column that declared the draft rigged BEFORE the draft even took place and showed how that no matter which team won, why people would say that it was rigged.

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