The Chutes and Ladders of Electronic Draw Systems

Szrek’s presentation at PGRI Lottery Expo in NYC October 22-24 2018

WATCH OUR CHUTES & LADDERS GAME CLIP

We use the Chutes and Ladders game to illustrate the potential risks and benefits of an electronic draw system. In this game, the benefits are represented by the ladders, and each time the lottery climbs a ladder it moves closer to meeting its goals. These ladders represent the advantages of electronic draw systems – the ability to develop new games, to reach new customer segments, to make draw processes more efficient, and to save money.

The chutes remind us of the risks associated with using electronic draw systems. We slide down when our draw system is at risk: observed vectors of attack include software substitution, hardware substitution, draw time substitution, phishing, hardware deterioration, substitution of numbers drawn, and inadequate RNG design and implementation. Each time a lottery encounters one of these risks, the lottery falls behind in the game, moving away from its goals.

When the lottery’s electronic draw system has nonrepudiation with proof of integrity, all risks are eliminated. All problems will be immediately detected by a verification process on an independent system. We illustrate the playing field for an electronic draw system with nonrepudiation and verification. This is a game of LADDERS and you may notice that while the risks still exist, there are no chutes. This is because all faults and attacks are immediately detected, thus eradicating the risks. The outcome: The Lottery benefits from the advantages of electronic draw systems without worrying about the risks.