Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 - I have confirmed that Representative Robert Puente of San Antonio is planning to introduce into Legislation a bill that will allow the Texas Lottery to join into a "multi-state" game. So YES, it is true what you heard on the news.

I have already sent Representative Puente an email of opposition. It read in part:

"I want you to know that players are universally opposed to Texas joining powerball. I already have over 3000 emails of opposition to this.

The reasons are:

First and most important, it will kill Lotto Texas. Few people play Powerball (or any other multi-state game) until the pots are enormous and they'll quit playing Lotto Texas.

The TLC even paid a consultant back in May 2000 to study and advise them about adding 4 balls to Lotto Texas. In his testimony, he testified that Texas should not join Powerball.

Second, Powerball recently changed their rules where they can start paying the amount they "advertise" instead of a "true" percentage of sales which is NOT fair to players.

Of course, states may like it because they get to keep more money. Tell, me, is a game "fair" if the one running it can "make up" the amount they want to advertise and pay? Or shouldn't state run games pay "specific" amounts to players?

The rule also allows Powerball to increase the jackpots by no more than $25 million after the jackpot reaches $295,000,000.

Powerball's sales have decreased significantly in the last several years. People are tired of losing and high odds.

Powerball increased their annuities from 24 years to 29 years.

Powerball added more balls to their game to make winning REALLY difficult.

And you think Texas should join Powerball?

I would appreciate a fast response."

If you have something to say to Representative Robert Puente ...

Email: robert.puente@house.state.tx.us
Phone: (210) 532-8899
Mailing address: 2823 E. Southcross, San Antonio 78223.

If you communicate with Representative Puente, I wish you would share it with me too. lottoreport@lottoreport.com (lottoreport@lottoreport.com )

More later.

Saturday, Nov 9, 2002 - As a bonus for all of you, I was going to put the latest Lotto Report on line but I'm having computer problems and can't print. Sorry. If my computer gets fixed today, I'll post it so ya'll can target numbers for tonight's $27 million drawing using current information - we need a winner!

This will be the 9th Lotto Texas drawing with no top prize winner. Players have spent $37,949,939 in the last 8 drawings with $14,243,371 set aside (so far) for the jackpot prize winner.

Players have held $6,290,911 in 3, 4, and 5 of 6 winning tickets in the last eight draws and some of that will never be claimed. These figures do not include sales for tonights $27 million drawing which will probably generate another $8 to $9 million. Just a guess!

The states share from the last 8 draws amounts to $17,077,473 and $417,449 has been held from the players share of sales in "reserve." If this money is not needed, then the state will keep it too. As it stands now, if all 3 of 6 prizes have been claimed, then the TLC would have needed $78,424 from reserve to pay the 3 of 6 winners.

I've received a great many comments about the scratch tickets since I posted Don's message the other day regarding "opportunity," "G-Tech" and the "scratch tickets." I "assumed" you all knew that I had the information ya'll are asking for posted on my web site. And yes, the TLC does have a way to insure distribution of winning scratch tickets.

Surely you don't think they would risk distributing all winning tickets first do you? They have to sell more losing tickets to profit and that's what it's all about.

The scratch ticket information you can find on my web site:
One is a page(s) that shows how many tickets are printed for each scratch game, the number of prizes for each prize and the odds of winning each prize. I keep the tickets posted in the order that they were introduced.

The second is a pdf showing how many prizes remain unclaimed for the top 4 prizes on all the scratch tickets and it too shows how many were printed and the games start date. However, there are no odds shown. But, it is "current" and you can print it out.

This information is not easy to come by since the TLC removed the data from their promotional pieces that you find in the stores and yes, I'm well aware stores don't have current "remaining ticket" information either.

All I can say about this is that the TLC has been under a Sunset review and maybe, just maybe, our legislators will recognize there is no consumer protection for the people of Texas when it come to purchasing lottery products and payouts.

Also, we have a new Attorney General coming in and maybe he'll be bold enough to do something about it too. And, we have a new lottery director. So, we'll see.

In the meantime, I'll continue to fight for fairness, open government and changes with your support. I think I speak for all of you when I say that we just want a fair lottery and a fair and honest division of the monies. I don't think that's asking for too much.

If we can't have this guaranteed to us, then we need to get rid of the lottery and take our entertainment dollars elsewhere. This is not what I want - as it would put me out of business - but it would be best for the people if Texas won't return a fair share to players and if they won't offer us games of chance that are simply reasonable.

Thursday, Oct 31, 2002 - I've posted a story that everybody needs to read. The first thing I want you to know is that I have not been paid by anybody to write this story.

And the second thing I want you to know is that I have never been involved in politics - I do not consider myself either a democrat or a republican. I've always voted for whichever candidate I thought was best for office.

It was the debate between Perry & Sanchez that made me realize I needed to share with you what I have been through in the past 3 years - the role Perry & Cornyn and other elected officials have played in our attempts to be heard and just treated fairly.

They have known what the TLC has done to the people and they did nothing. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, they enabled the TLC to do these things. They have permitted lying, cover-ups, cheating and withholding of public information and it's ALL documented.

So many of you have written to me and said, "We need to clean house." I finally realized you were right. But, because of what I know first hand, we must start at the top because these are the people that have the power over the TLC.

We need elected officals that will protect the people first and foremost, and I promise you, Perry and Cornyn and others, have NOT protected us and they knew what the TLC had done in every one of the cases cited.

The worst part is, I didn't cover it all. But I covered enough for you to see what I mean.

Print this story and take your time reading it. Then share it with others. Everybody needs to know, in laymans terms, what role and why they've done what they've done. Click here to read my story. (pdf)

Monday, Sept. 30, 2002 - I have read all your messages and have attempted to answer your questions and let you in on my thoughts and feelings about the resignation of Linda Cloud. Click here to read.

Thursday, Sept. 26, 2002 - Updated - See next paragraph - I reported, on March 18, 2002, that I encountered difficulties in obtaining information from the TLC regarding the resignation of Commissioner Criner - which was a "rumor" that I heard the morning of March 18. The TLC "claimed" they had no knowledge so I finally had to contact the Governors office to obtain verification. Well, besides lying to me about this matter, the TLC lied to everybody else too, including my State Rep. You see, I called all the papers seeking verification prior to finally calling the Governors office to obtain it - then I let everybody else in on it after I got the verification. Well, in yesterday's Ft. Worth Star Telegram, there was a headline that read, "Texas Lottery director now admits she lied" Juicy huh? OK OK, here is a link to the story and you can read my comments here too. Just Click Here.

Updated 7:55 PM - Linda Cloud resigned tonight at 5:30 PM. More to come on this later. In the meantime ...

The TLC has issued a press release stating that they will be lowering the starting jackpot to $3 million. Correction, they are not "really" lowering the jackpot, they're just finally telling the truth about what's really there. And, this is the smartest move they've made in I don't know when! Now if they'd just lower to balls back to 50 the players might return to playing the game.

However, since the TLC is notorious for saying that players have been beating the odds by winning and knowing how they think and work, I'll bet that they attempt to add more balls or they'll attempt to add a bonus ball to Lotto Texas.

By suggesting and/or making changes to make winning more difficult and by stating that players are "beating the odds," is doing nothing more than sending a message to players that says, "Hey, dummies, just give us your money but we don't you win so we can create huge jackpots so all the other fools will buy tickets too."

The rule changes and methods of convincing the Commissioners to adopt these new rules is precisely why sales are down. The TLC is not running games with the intent of them being "entertainment," they are running the games for the sole purpose of enticing people to spend more money than they have so they can make more money.

This is evident by the recent Cash 5 rule change where they lowered the prizes and increased the draws. Same hold true for Pick3. All funds generated by lotteries come from within the state. Players only have so much money to spend and those who play the games are the same people draw after draw. How long can they milk the same folks and keep them playing?

The only time a lottery should increase the number of balls and draws is when sales are up and as a result of a population increase.

What I find strange is that all of a sudden the numbers drawn have been "birthday numbers." All of us in the industry knows that players win when the drawing results are perfect birthday numbers. What I'd like to know is, why "birthday numbers" haven't been drawn in the past two years? Strange that it's now ... huh?

I suppose the TLC would respond by saying, "every number has the same chance of coming out as any other number." If you ask me, the players have been unlucky for the past two years and now it's the TLC whose being "unlucky." If, of course, you call having winners unlucky - which sadly, they do.

Since they added the 4 balls through date, there have been 229 drawings and only 48 of those drawings were won. Of those 48 draws won, 5 were won in the last 30 days. Now I find this really strange.

Right now the TLC is under the gun because of the Sunset hearings and bad press with much more to come. One would realistically think the TLC won't attempt to make any changes under these conditions - however - they did write it into the rule that they would "guarantee" the advertised amount which is very a bad business plan. Any one can figure out the only safe way to pay and figure prize amounts is to simply pay the percentages for each prize category. They'd come out ahead and the lottery would be run fairly then.

Bottom line is, the statement, "the jackpots haven't been able to climb because players have been lucky and beat the odds" is not true.The jackpots aren't climbing because sales are down which prevents the pots from climbing in the first place plus $4 million was always an overstated figure. The true figure should have been $2.5 million.

The reduction of the starting jackpot amount was a wise decision because they haven't had enough to invest for a return of $4 million in years. At least, this makes their advertising closer to the truth - it's just a little lie now!

Sunday, Sept 22, 2002 - Last year I told you that the TLC had paid 6 of 6 winners in one of 5 different ways and that some winners had actually been short-changed. I was upset to say the least and so were the winners that had been short-changed.

At the time, the TLC called this an "allegation" and have been telling me for the past year that this issue was under "investigation." Well, Friday, Sept 20, 2002, out of the clear blue sky I received, by fax, the "Internal Audit Investigation Report" regarding my "allegations." Incidentally, the last time I asked for the status of this situation was the week before. At any rate, the report confirms my "allegations" which the TLC has actually known all along but refused to admit.

I have three problems with this report. One, it "excuses" the staff from any wrongdoings by claiming that the "personnel" had different "interpretations" of how a 6 of 6 winner was suppose to be paid. BALONEY! I'm just a lay person and I could figure it out. There is no excuse for this - there should only be ONE way to figure out how much to pay a 6 of 6 winner. Period.

The second problem is that the report consistently says, "Based on legal advise," which means that they have attempted to write this report in a manner that would absolve themselves in the eyes of those who read the report. It won't work.

Also, think about it from this aspect ... since when did an auditor or an investigator need legal representation to report their findings? If a lawyer is needed, there is definitely something wrong. I wonder, do the auditors who are auditing Enron need lawyers before they can report their findings to their bosses?

The third problem is that the report, which should be thorough and precise, stated only a "partial portion" of the section in question. The report quotes the direct prize category sentence in its entirety, but, it does NOT include the second sentence that said, "the indirect prize category contribution, which may be increased by the executive director, will include the roll-over from the previous drawing, it any." No where does it say "the executive director may decrease the contribution." Additionally, the rule never stated that they were going to pay the amount they advertised. Which is precisely what they did. So, the folks who read this report are being misled by the TLC again.

It is unfortunate that "some" players did not receive all that was in the prize pool while others received at least that amount and in most cases, MORE, than the amount in the prize pool. The saddest part of all is that rather than to just pay the players what they rightfully won NOW, the TLC will wait until they are " forced" by way of a lawsuit. Which is the next step.

In my mind, I can just see the headlines of every newspaper in the country ... "Texas Lottery Cheats It's Players" ... and to think, the TLC could have made this wrong RIGHT and saved themselves the embarrassment ... not to mention the costs to the state that they'll need for legal representation. But since it took the media's presence for the TLC to admit they had been figuring the odds on the scratch tickets incorrectly ... then I suppose it will take the media again and a class action lawsuit to make the shortage right. All the players wanted is the money they initially won - and all of it.

How very, very sad. FYI, the newspapers are just waiting patiently for the suit to be filed so ya'll don't be surprised when you see those headlines.

If you want to read what I initially posted last year, scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on the story that says, "There's one game and one rule, but here 5 ways winners were paid." It's the 3rd story from the bottom.

Thursday, Sept 12, 2002 - Updated on 9-13-02 (Scroll down to see "Update")- It seems that the TLC is at it again. Do you remember the "Bullies" story that I did last December 2001? The jest of the story was that the TLC was attempting to "bully" fellow web site owners out of their domain names claiming "trademark infringements." They did this by having attorney's send threatening letters to the owner of certain web sites demanding them to cease and/or demanding them to give the TLC their domain names - names that were built and established. I'm sure most of you read this story because the hits on the page still grow each week which tells me how great the interest was and still is. If you did not read it, here is a link for you. But finish reading this entry before going there!

Just in case I didn't tell you, the web site owners still have their domain names. And rightfully so.

Anyway, as a result of a report I'm trying to complete, I discovered earlier this week that the TLC did not even own a mark on the words "lotto Texas" or "Texas lotto" - even though they claimed they did.

However, in Sept 2001, they did in fact make application to "mark" the words "Lotto Texas" which to this day, they still do not have. In order for anyone to obtain "exclusive rights" to the use of words (marks), the words must be "distinctive." Well, the word "lotto" does not qualify so the TLC is "attempting," with all their might and money, to make it "distinctive" by qualifying it with the word "Texas."

Now the reason this is soooo important is because IF the mark is approved, the TLC can "control" who publishes these words and who uses these words in titles, meta tags, etc. It is perfectly understandable that the TLC would own the rights of their logo's because when the logos are published or posted on web sites, it could "imply" that entity is "an official part of the TLC" when they may not be. But to own the rights of "type written words" of a state run lottery game is going entirely too far.

This "plot" is an attempt to destroy our rights of free speech and it must not be permitted.

Now, at this point in time, I'm not even certain that the Federal Trademark office is going to approve the application - after all - they've had it a year and there have already been conflicts. But, if they do, it will be posted in the "Official Gazette" and the people have a right to oppose it then. In fact, I believe we have 30 days to oppose it through the Trial and Appeal Board. If this issue gets this far, then everybody needs to speak up to protect our constitutional rights. I'll let you know when and if the time ever comes.

The TLC views lottery related web sites and lottery related publications as "competition" to them which is asinine. I'll never understand why the TLC cannot see that the only "competition" for dollars they have is themselves and the competition lies in offering so many competing games and so many drawings when most revenue is generated from with in the state itself and from the same people day in and day out.

Update - Based on a hot tip I received yesterday after I posted this story, I conducted a quick check and discovered that Texas is not the only Lottery that applied for a mark last year. The New York Lotto did not to respond to a "non final action" letter from the Trademak office so their filing has been aborted but Florida's Lotto will be published for opposition soon. California obtained a mark on 5-29-01 for the words "Super Lotto Plus." From what I've seen and what I know, I can only conclude the reason for these actions is that it is an attempt to find a way to keep lottery news from being readily available to the public and a way to control the internet in the future. Bad press and word of mouth has hurt their sales so I suppose this is the solution they arrived at to combat the "problems" they currently face. Much like adding balls which increased the odds and made winning more difficult for players was the "solution" to increasing sales. I speculate, this plan of action will backfire on them because they may lose all media coverage - including the FREE airing of the drawings too!

So, for those of you in other states reading this, if you want to check your state, here's how you do it. Go to http://www.uspto.gov/. Click on "trademarks" then click on "search trademarks" which is the first option on the page. Then select "new user form search." In the "search term" box, just type in the name of your lotto game and see what's been filed. After you've read this, in the upper left hand corner is a little blue box that says, "check status." Click on that too.

FYI - Texas has already shown its intent for the filing to "mark" these words. It's evident in the Bullies story.

Sunday, August 25, 2002 - The Sunset Advisory Commission has completed their report of the Texas Lottery. I have read the newspaper stories though I have not had the opportunity to read the Sunset report in its entirey. But I will. For those of you who would like to read this 118 page report, just click here (pdf - warning, because of the size of this report, it takes a few minutes to come up on your screen - just be patient.) I sincerely want to thank those of who who sent me links to the various newspaper stories - it's truly difficult for me to keep up with all the writings.

I, too, have prepared a report that I intend to make public during the week of Sept. 23, 2002. That is when the Sunset Commission will meet to hear public testimony (Sept. 25 & Sept. 26) on the operations of the Texas Lottery Commission as well as the recommendations contained in the Sunset staff report. Based on public input, of which I plan to testify, and the staff report, the Sunset Commission will adopt recommendations for the full Legislature to consider when they convene in January 2003.

Maybe, by speaking to these folks, our words will not fall upon deaf ears and our legislators WILL listen to the people of Texas and provide us with fun and fair games to play.