You're mentioning "Panel Lotto" in your blog post in relation to reviews being for IPS panels but then sending customers TN panels instead of IPS panels. I don't think that is what is commonly referred to as "Panel Lotto" (I'd call that straight up fraud and I'm sure most courts would be on your side).
"Panel Lotto" (as I know it at least) refers to the company's policy regarding returning a panel that had dead pixels on arrival. Some policies don't allow customers to return those displays even if it has a dead pixel, as it wouldn't count as a defect. That's why it's a "lotto", it's pure chance if you'll receive a perfect display or not, and if you do you have no recourse.
I'm not sure how it works out in practice, I've never received any display with dead-pixels on arrival.
It's called a lotto because what you get could be left to chance. This was a pretty common to have happen in the past and some tech news sites covered it too. I'm not sure if it's still happening a lot nowadays but it was certainly a real thing 10 years ago. Current day monitor manufacturers still do very questionable things like rating a 4k monitor at 120hz in its primary tagline / description / on the box but there's fine print that says "only when running at 1080p". It's taking advantage of folks who don't know a lot or do a bunch of research beforehand in order to sell more units.
To a lesser degree the "lotto" idea happens with CPUs too in terms of overclockability potential. Certain serial numbers performed better, it became a lotto unless you went out of your way to purchase specific ones. This feels a lot less wrong than the panel lotto aspect tho.
You are right in that it feels criminal, it's not even the same product.
I've come across models being swapped out (where only a letter is difference but the panel changed) in the wild before, or misleading marketing. But since you can overcome that by doing research, its no longer a "lotto", like overclockability with CPUs or the possibility of getting dead-pixel on arrival.
> Panel Lotto" (as I know it at least) refers to the company's policy regarding returning a panel that had dead pixels on arrival.
Like the Nintendo 3DS back than? Where you couldn't figure out, which screen(s) you would get pre-purchasing or Lenovo with their display panel and keyboard lotto?
"Panel Lotto" (as I know it at least) refers to the company's policy regarding returning a panel that had dead pixels on arrival. Some policies don't allow customers to return those displays even if it has a dead pixel, as it wouldn't count as a defect. That's why it's a "lotto", it's pure chance if you'll receive a perfect display or not, and if you do you have no recourse.
I'm not sure how it works out in practice, I've never received any display with dead-pixels on arrival.