He inspected the winner a bit more and saw a pattern - a pattern that suggested the game was beatable. (Statisticians typically don’t buy lottery tickets the math doesn’t add up.) One of the tickets was a winner, and for Srivastava, it became a point of professional curiosity. In June of 2003, according to Wired, Srivastava was cleaning his desk when he came across a couple of these scratch-offs - most likely a gag gift from a friend.
