Newspapers Finally Receive A Press Release |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (AUSTIN)- Texans will be able to voice their opinions on proposed changes to Texas' on-line Lotto Texas game, September 27, 10 a.m., at the Texas Lottery Commission's headquarters located at 611 East 6th Street, Austin, Texas.(A lot of good this does us ... this is a Monday. We, the people of Texas, have jobs. How come you have meetings with the Commissioners on Saturdays? How can the people speak up when it's not possible for us to attend? Is this fair?) "For the past seven years our players have made Lotto Texas one of the most successful on-line games in the country," (Then why change it?) said Linda Cloud, lottery executive director. "Now, we are hoping to enhance the game, ("enhance" meaning "change to make it more difficult to win?") to make it even better (for who's benefit), with several changes our players have also repeatedly requested." (Who requested an increase of odds from 15.9 million to 25.8 million?) The proposed changes include: * doubling the number of existing lower-tier winners from 279,000 to 606,000 - (CORRECTION - These numbers "275,000 to over 606,000" are wrong. They should be "160,143 to over 282,800." Thank you Gerald Busald for catching this error on 9-27-99! I'm pleased to announce the Lottery Commission removed them from their site too.) (This is called "pencil pushing." The lower tier number increases from 279,000 to 606,000 because of the increase to 8 ways of winning instead of the current 4 ways to win - But you failed to mention the 4 new payouts are based only on the 7th number drawn from the 54 balls. ) * increasing the lower-tier prize amounts from an average $3-$1,500 to $5-$10,000 (No one plays Lotto Texas in hopes of winning $5. You failed to mention that the payout is considerably less for those who pick 4 out of the first 6 numbers drawn ($25) or 5 out of the first 6 numbers drawn ($1000).) * adding a seventh "bonus-ball" feature providing four new ways of winning, (This 'bonus' ball is only good for winning $5, $25, $250, or $10,000. But these additional 4 little balls makes the odds of winning 25.8 million to one instead of 15.9 million to one.) * and increasing the pool of numbers for each drawing from 1 in 50 to 1 in 54 (This is really buttered - even newspaper reporters will be baffled by this one - "pool of numbers" - the definition of this statement means we will be choosing 6 numbers between 1-54 instead of choosing 6 numbers between 1-50. Why can't they speak Texan? This means your odds are 1 in 25.8 Million instead of one in 15.9 Million. As the Lottery stated previously, the odds will be "slightly higher." Now .... everybody ... learn from this - 11 million is only SLIGHT!) The game enhancements ("enhancement" - fancy word for "changes") are designed to help the top "jackpot" prize roll to larger amounts in an effort to avoid possibly having to lower the current starting jackpot prize from $4 million to $3 million. (I just love this one - "designed to help the top 'jackpot' prize roll to larger amounts" - means in plain ole Engish - "the odds are so high there won't be many winners but maybe you can win $5, $25, $1000 and if you are really lucky, you might win $5, $250, $1000 or $10,000. The jackpot will grow so we will be able to entice players from around the world to play Lotto Texas and increase our sales." Yes, this will ABSOLUTELY work. You will certainly be able to afford a $4 million guarantee since you take 50% right off the top from all sales. There will be drawing after drawing with no winners. And when the jackpot reaches $100, $200 and $300 million dollars, people will come from everywhere to buy tickets. The Texas Lottery will certainly profit from this. Bottom line is, you are building a game in hopes of bringing in players from around the world so you can increase your revenue. The Lotto was SUPPOSE to be a game for Texans. Remember?) "Although Texas has one of the largest beginning jackpot prizes in the country," Cloud said, "many of our players don't get excited enough to get into the game until the jackpot climbs into the high double-digit range. Without these changes, that will be harder and harder to achieve." ( Not so. Just get rid of Texas Million - there's the $1 Million that will be probably be spent on the Lotto. Then, reduce Cash 5 to twice a week. This will generate larger jackpots immediately which will entice more people to play it. Finally, don't print so many scratch off tickets when you can't sell them anyway. Look at the money you could save and the potential results you could have with JUST these changes alone. Morale will improve and revenue will increase. But not by millions each year like you want. It's not possible. Texas is not Las Vegas, we do NOT have people coming in from around the world to play our games. And we don't want that either!) Anyone wishing to comment on these proposed changes should send their written comments to the Texas Lottery Commission, Attn: Kim Kiplin, General Counsel, P.O. Box 16630, Austin, Texas 78761-6630, or plan to attend the public hearing later this month.
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