Coin tosses and the law
I recently passed a certification test on the intricate rules covering government procurement (yeah! A raise for me!) and found that a coin toss is a matter of the law. If two bidders with the same preference, meaning they are from within the state, submit equal bids then the law states that the winner is "determined by lot". This could mean drawing names out of a hat but it's is normally determined by tossing a coin. Does it happen? I have a very experienced co-worker who actually had to administer such an event. This was for a major (near a $1M job) capital outlay. The principles started arguing about who gets to call it - who is heads - will it be caught or land on the ground- etc. He shut them down and saying, "Look. This my project so these are my rules!". One got the project and the other didn't. Flip of a coin.
The Atlantic has a really good article about coin tosses actually being used to determine elections.
Worth the short read
