The reality is that some people have connections, some people are cheating and some people are getting lucky, or, more likely, some combination of those three things. If you have a group of 5 or 6 people attending a bunch of shows together, chances are one of them is going to scan, and we all know that "1 guest" really means "however many people Allison will let in"--I was told of one instance of 7 people getting in on one scan.
I think the worst part about the lottery is that it's been imperfectly and inconsistently administered, and has, obviously, created resentment and anger among the fans so that the assumption is that people who seem to get in more often than not are assumed to have gamed the system. It absolutely sucks to be outside the ellipse and see the same people inside--that was my experience for most of the tour so I totally get where the resentment comes from. At the same time, I got in three times in a row so I'm sure there are people who think I did something shady even though I didn't--I scanned once and my friend scanned the other two times.
One last comment--I think it's unfair to make assumptions about what someone meant when they said "Don't worry, we're in"--like u2forlife, my friends and I said that at every show as a positive thinking exercise--in my experience, it didn't work very well, but I can see how someone hearing that and then seeing us in the ellipse could think the worst even though it would be way off base.
I think the worst part about the lottery is that it's been imperfectly and inconsistently administered, and has, obviously, created resentment and anger among the fans so that the assumption is that people who seem to get in more often than not are assumed to have gamed the system. It absolutely sucks to be outside the ellipse and see the same people inside--that was my experience for most of the tour so I totally get where the resentment comes from. At the same time, I got in three times in a row so I'm sure there are people who think I did something shady even though I didn't--I scanned once and my friend scanned the other two times.
One last comment--I think it's unfair to make assumptions about what someone meant when they said "Don't worry, we're in"--like u2forlife, my friends and I said that at every show as a positive thinking exercise--in my experience, it didn't work very well, but I can see how someone hearing that and then seeing us in the ellipse could think the worst even though it would be way off base.