@Brandon ***********
both fair points, but of course they can limit the number of allocations - it would be a very simply change to introduce a daily/weekly limit on applications. They just simply chose not to introduce such limits.
I do also agree with your broader point re the number of applications probably having gone through the roof. It would be very interesting to see the volume of applications pre DTV compared to now - seems to me that DTVs have attracted exactly the sort of people they were always trying to discourage.