Silk Road forums

Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: yaosh on February 08, 2012, 08:10 pm

Title: Lottery ฿0.25/Ticket Drawing on 2/15/2012 @ 0700 UTC
Post by: yaosh on February 08, 2012, 08:10 pm
I'm running a small SR lottery <insert eye roll here>, but a little more formal.



Rules for entry:

Procedure for Ticket Entry:
1) Transfer ฿0.25 (twenty-five bitcents) to me (yaosh) on SR
2) Post here with "ENTERED" on the first line of the post, capitalized, on a line by itself
3) You will receive a ticket number by PM (See "Drawing Procedure" below)
There is no limit to the number of tickets per individual.  Everyone will be able to verify how many people entered, and how many times, and calculate the pot and odds themselves simply by reviewing the thread.  Odds obviously depend on the total number of entries, and the number of tickets you hold.



Drawing Procedure:

I will organize the names of entrants into a list with numbers assigned for each individual ticket.  Numbers assigned will be the line number in a spreadsheet based on chronological order of entry.  When you buy a ticket, you will receive this number by PM.  On the drawing date 2/15/2012 at 0600 UTC (one hour before drawing), further entries will not be accepted and the accumulated list of entries will have a total count.  This integer will be given to random.org as an inclusive parameter for the random integer generator at http://www.random.org/integers/ which is generated from atmospheric data.  The person whose name appears on the line number which matches the randomly selected integer will be declared the winner.  The winner will be notified by PM and receive the winnings (95% of total pot) by direct user transfer on SR.  Winner, final odds, and total winnings less commission will be announced on this thread as well.



Drawing Date:

2/15/2012 @ 0700 UTC - Entries will not be accepted after the drawing procedure begins.  Any entries beyond 0600 as stated above are considered forfeit and will be awarded to the winner as a bonus.



FAQ:

Q: How do I know you won't just give the winnings to an alt or something?
A: Well, for one, I'm too fucking lazy.  Two, I hate scammers more than LE and Hillary Clinton combined.  Three, would you really lose sleep over ฿0.25?  You'll see when the winner is announced.  More legit winnings means more people buy tickets and I earn more money.  Why wouldn't I want that?  Believe it or not, some people like to see other people happy.  If this doesn't make sense, take more MDMA.

Q: Sounds like a scam!
A: You're on an anonymous network, trading money with people you couldn't track down if you wanted to, in an irreversible format, with almost no protection against loss.  If that doesn't sound like a scam, I don't know what does, yet there are thousands of happy people.

Q: Why don't you pay Random.org $5 to run a third party drawing?
A: Anonymity?  Anyone?

Q: What do you get out of it?
A: 5% and it's fun.

Q: But so-and-so is running a lottery already!
A: So?  Enter both.  Two chances to win.

Q: What if you just keep the money and nobody wins?
A: Then I've just burned my buyer account, and you lost ฿0.25.  Yeah, that's worth it...

Q: I just gave you ฿0.25 and you didn't give me a number!!! OMGWTFBBQJUSTINBEIBER!
A: Relax.  In spite of being immortal, I do have to sleep.  You'll get your number.

Q: What if I just troll the shit out of this thread because I have no life?
A: What if I ignore your retarded ass?  I don't care if you buy a ticket or not, and I'm sure nobody else does either, it keeps the odds higher.

Q: You sound like an asshole!
A: Only when I fart.

Q: Why don't you use <some other method of generating random numbers>?
A: Because I don't.  Random.org's method is mathematically proven and has been in use for 14 years.  See the information below:



From their FAQ:

Q2.2: Have the numbers been certified by an independent third party?

The numbers produced by RANDOM.ORG have been evaluated by eCOGRA, which is is a non-profit regulatory body that acts as the independent standards authority of the online gaming industry. For a typical gambling site, eCOGRA will oversee many aspects of its operation, including financial aspects, such as payout percentages. RANDOM.ORG is not a gambling site, so in our case, eCOGRA only evaluated the quality of the random numbers. They found that RANDOM.ORG consistently produced random numbers across scaling intervals and issued a certificate with their conclusion: ecogra-2009-06-25.pdf (1 page, 52 Kb)

The numbers and software have also been evaluated by TST Global (part of Gaming Labs International) who in 2011 examined the generator for use in games hosted on Malta. TST's report stated that RANDOM.ORG ‘distributes numbers with sufficient non-predictability and fair distribution to particular outcomes’ and concluded that it ‘complies with the requirements of the applicable Technical Standard in the jurisdiction of Malta as regulated by The Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA).’

At present, RANDOM.ORG is specifically accredited to generate randomness for use in games regulated by the following:

    Gambling Supervision Commission, Isle of Man
    Office of the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner, Government of South Australia
    Lotteries and Gaming Authority, Malta