Look What I Got For My Hard Earned Money ...

If this has happened to you ... PLEASE tell me about it

Originally Posted: July 10, 2007
Revised:

Imagine paying $2 to purchase a Mega Millions $126 million jackpot Quick Pick ticket and receiving this ...

Yep, this is really what I got for my money. Notice there are no numbers on it, no draw date, no
jackpot amount, no NOTHING. But there is a bar code on it which means that I could have
it scanned AFTER the drawing to see if I won anything. But wait a minute, do I trust the terminals?
Hell NO, I don't trust the terminals nor do I trust store clerks. Remember, I'm the one who preaches
for everyone to check their own tickets. I tell you over and over, don't trust anyone with your tickets.

So what did I do? First I went to management at the store where I bought this ticket. It took some
serious talking to get action, but after getting to the store manager he did call G-Tech. I also made a
copy of this ticket and gave him one for his records.

Then, Friday night I also faxed a copy of my ticket to Director Sadberry. I wanted him
to see what I got for my money. I'm not sure if he realizes that I have yet to
seek any pleasure from checking my lottery ticket.

I knew it would be Monday before I could make another move.

So, in the meantime, on Saturday night, I went back to the same store to TEST the terminal.
I put $2 in it and bought a $2 QP for Lotto Texas. Gee, it worked. By the way, I'm buying QP's
because the last time I bought from this terminal, it ate my playslip! Never got it back.

Anyway, feeling fairly safe, I put another $2 in it but this time I bought a
Cash5 Quick Pick. Ooops, see what I got for my second $2 ...

Now I'm really mad. I immediately go to the office to speak to management. Wouldn't you know it,
different people are there so I have to start all over with my story. I ask them to contact G-Tech again.
I wanted this documented but this time I wanted to know what numbers were assigned to the bar code
on my ticket.

Management calls G-Tech for me. The G-Tech rep tells store management to advise me to contact
the Texas Lottery on Monday and they can provide me with the combinations sold from this terminal.

Meanwhile, G-Tech advises the store to "re-boot" the terminal even though G-Tech reps were at this
store every day last week. Notice the store was NEVER told to shut the machine down to protect
unsuspecting consumers. The G-Tech rep was probably thinking ... "Oh no, don't shut it down.
Let's make sure we take money even though we're giving nothing in return!"

To hear management at this store (and many others) talk about the experiences they've had with the
Self Service Terminals (SST's), you'd think that the store would have forced the TLC to take
the damn thing out. But store management is under the impression that they have no say in
anything where the lottery is concerned - this includes placement of the terminal which is
"hidden" - a serious violation. But this is hardly the only store with "hidden" SST's.

These machines (SST's) are "suppose" to be placed where store personnel can see who is
using them at all times. The store is responsible for making sure MINORS are not purchasing
lottery products.

This was explained in detail at a commission meeting when TLC staff announced to
the Commissioners that they spent $13 million dollars at the end of their fiscal year to purchase
out of date machines. By the way, the machines were suppose to pay for themselves within the
first year but sales only totaled $1 million the first year. Shoot, the SST's still haven't paid
for themselves. More time is spent "fixing" them than producing lottery tickets!

Anyway, yesterday (Monday, July 9), I requested a list of all combinations sold from the
terminal in question. As I write this, I have not received the information so I can determine
if my tickets are winners or losers. (On Saturday night, I faxed a copy of this ticket to
Director Sadberry too.)

As many of you already know, if I call the TLC about this, they'll tell me to mail my tickets
to Austin for them to "investigate." Then after a considerable amount of time, I'll be told,
"Sorry, your ticket is not a winner!" But how will I EVER know for sure?

And IF by chance one is worth more than $600 where I'll have to go to a claim center to collect,
the people at the claim center will have me fill out all the paperwork but as soon as I give them
my claim, they'll confiscate my ticket and tell me that they will have to send it to Austin for
investigating because it's a "misprint." Gawd, if this happens, then I'm certain it'll take
months/years to collect and that's only IF I'm lucky - which I'm NOT. <grin>

Not only that, the Texas Lottery will NEVER return the ticket to me. That's in the rules
and they will NOT give a player his ticket back even if it's a loser.

So, here I sit with TWO misprints - one misprint may be acceptable but TWO misprints
from the same terminal two days apart is a shame.

By the way, I was told by the store that another man had a ticket like mine too.
Why was this terminal not shut down?

How many of you have gotten tickets like this? Do me a favor, send me an email and
tell me about your experiences. In the subject line, please write "misprinted tickets."

The Lotto Report
(All About the Lotteries)
Dawn Nettles
P. O. Box 495033
Garland, Texas 75049-5033
(972) 686-0660
(972) 681-1048 (Fax)