[ERNIE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premium_Bond#ERNIEBlockquote) is a hardware random number generator used to generate winning Premium Bond numbers in the UK. Wikipedia says: "ERNIE's output is independently tested each month by an independent actuary appointed by the government, and the draw is only valid if the output passes tests that indicate it is statistically random." But doesn't it mean that, if ERNIE output was truly and fully random (i.e. generated from a unitary distribution over a set of integers from 1 to N), rejecting some of the draws would actually distort the randomness?



Is ERNIE output skewed by statistical tests?
No.


The final 'it' in the quoted section refers to the word 'output' *not* to the word 'draw'. Thus the "independent actuary" tests the output of the machine to check that it is working properly. If so, the draw is made. They do *not* test the actual draw - that would be pointless!


Note: I know nothing about ERNIE or the process itself. I am inferring this from the wikipedia page together with a basic assumption - which may well be unfounded - that the British government couldn't be *that* stupid. Combining this with the fact that *if* the sentence is grammatically correct - perhaps another unfounded assumption - then the 'it' refers, as I said, to the 'output' not to the 'draw', I conclude that the 'output' and the 'draw' are two separate things.


