Continued ...

Friday, August 16, 2002 - I am in receipt of two very important letters from players that everybody should read. One letter was sent to the newspaper and the other letter prompts a full disclosure of how lotteries actually operate. Something all of you should know. Click here to read.

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2002 - I have corrected and added the new Commissioner, Jim Cox, to my "VIP - TLC Contacts" page. A link for this page is on the "links graphic" above - top line - titled "VIP - TLC Contacts." The page also includes addresses, phone numbers and links for contacting the newspapers, state reps, senators, commissioners and specific TLC staff. Ya'll ask for it, now use it!

By the way, I think you should know that I called the TLC this afternoon and asked for Commissioner Cox's address and his phone number. Ironically, no one was there that had the information. They were suppose to call me with the information but never did. Did you know that this information should be readily available for anyone who asks for it?

I ended up calling the Governor's office - they were going to refer me back to the TLC for the information ... then I told them I had already asked the TLC but there was no one there that had the information. I had to tell about 5 different people this story - they were all in disbelief! They kindly gave me the information.

Monday, Aug 12, 2002 - 11:30 PM - I've posted only a few of the messages I've received from players on the "Players Comments" page. For those of you who may think I was ignoring you on the subject matter of a boycott, I was hearing you. I just waited to see how strong the feelings were before addressing the issue. I'm convinced, ya'll are SERIOUS! Click here to read what actions players have already taken and what it'll take to get me involved in a statewide boycott.

I apologize if I have not responded to your messages. I'm proud to say that I have too many to respond to, but please, keep them coming in all the same. I have read each and every one of them and may post and address your comments on line. But remember, I'm just one person and have more than I can say grace over. OK?

Sunday, Aug 4, 2002 - 11:30 PM - I've received a great many emails this week concerning the new Cash 5 payouts, sales, and the fact that there was only one top prize win since the new rule took effect. These messages have prompted me to address and explain what has "really" transpired this past week and from all perspectives as I see them - the players, the retailers, the TLC's and G-Techs. Understand that my writing includes facts, figures and opinions and I sincerely hope it helps you fully understand the scenario as I see it.

I want to take just a minute to thank all of you for the many kinds words of encouragement and appreciation for the work I do too. I have also heard from so many of you who say you have just found my web site for the first time and are telling everyone you know about it. While I do not get paid for my hits, my reward will come when the much needed changes are made to the lottery and the people start playing the games again. That's when my sales and the retailers sales will increase. Your spreading the word about my site will really help get the message out so maybe the changes will be sooner than later.

Additionally, I want to thank all of you who have shared your winning stories with me. I love hearing those. And YES, Don is working on another Pick3 play for us too. This morning I posted a message from him where he gives you a hint of the "to come." I am way behind on answering your messages and for that I apologize.

Now, ya'll go read about the "First Week Since 5/37." Just click here.

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 8:30 AM - I apologize for not having the current "Trends Report" and the "Remaining Scratch Tickets" posted but I still have not received the information. I called the TLC twice yesterday but my calls were not returned. I will post this information as soon as I have it and I will have it today. At least, I will guarantee you that I will have the remaining tickets as of 7-27-02 today!

The "Open Records law" allow state agencies 10 days to fill requests. In July 2000, the TLC decided I was not a "news organization" and suspended my privileges that I'd had since 1993. They told me that whatever information I needed that I would have to make an Open Records request in writing to obtain it. At the time, Keith Elkins, the Communications Director, told me that if the National Enquirer asked to be included in the TLC's media list, he would refuse them too! (He doesn't know it, but I grinned on that one!)

For members of the press, they can call the "Communications Department " and Communications will either verbally give them the information or fax/email it to them immediately - no matter what the info is - Of course, the differences are that the TLC will only tell the press what they want them to know. Generally speaking, fellow members of the press don't play the games and do not know all the ins and outs like I do. In fact, often times reporters will call me before calling the TLC because they've caught on to the TLC's tricks. Also, as fellow journalists explained last week, the Texas Lottery is not on the top of their "priority list" like it is mine.

But, the good news is that the TLC has stated that will they treat me "like all others and no differently." Of course, they "really" don't but regarding the issue at hand, the information ya'll are screaming for is available by phone and the information "has" to be given out. So, like I said, I'll have the scratch ticket information posted today.

Different subject ... So many of you are calling for a boycott now - I've been caught off guard with the massive grievances - but I am hearing you and I promise you, somehow we will be heard. Many thanks to those who have alerted me to letters in the papers - I wouldn't know about these if ya'll didn't tell me. One player asked the Dallas Morning News ... "When will you conduct surveys with Texas Lotto players to see what we want?" Sorry ya'll, but the Dallas Morning News could care less about the Texas Lottery. It's not their job. Now, on the other hand, if the papers receive tons of complaints, they will start an investigation. That's how you get the ball rolling.

Many of you have asked me why the TLC doesn't conduct a survey. You see, if the TLC conducts a survey, then anyone can make an Open Records request to receive copies of all surveys received. I told you, the TLC is smart - they don't want to admit that they know but don't care what the people of Texas want. With no documentation, they can claim they have no knowledge and can continue to do it their way. They do lots of things "under-handed" so it can't become a matter of public record. They hide behind the old song and dance, "We do focus group studies." But what good is this when the "few" people involved don't really know all the facts. The Cash 5 rule change is a perfect example. But I won't bore you with the details.

More later.

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - A lot to say but little time to write it all. First of all, let me apologize for not having the scratch ticket remaining data posted yet. Though it's not my fault - The TLC hasn't supplied me with the information so my hands are tied.

The reason they haven't sent me the information is because they are mad at me for catching them in yet another big lie. This one has to do with the TLC asking for an Attorney General opinion regarding releasing documents to me in their "original format." The Texas Lottery claims they can't release the "original document" because it has to be "verified" first ... they also claim they catch the errors. Then they "claim" they send me a corrected version in its entirety.

Of course, this is NOT true. The truth is the TLC is "deleting" the very information I am actually seeking but they claim that information is not contained in the original report ... but it really is. To make a long story short, with help yesterday, I proved the data was being deleted from the "version" I actually receive and is included in the original report.

I've NEVER seen the TLC correct anything as fast as they did yesterday when they found out they had "accidentally" posted the information on their web site that they "claim" they don't even have! The best part about all this is, we only told them about ONE mistake but others are still posted on their web site! Sometimes revenge is bitter-sweet!

Anyway, I knew yesterday when this happened that they would withhold my Open Records request that is normally filled on Mondays. Fortunately for me, I told a third party that if I sent the email I had written to the TLC, that I would not receive my data. The 3rd party insisted that I prove this to him so I did and as you see, I still don't have the data that I generally receive on Mondays. I'll post the "remaining tickets" information when and IF I ever get the information!

Well, at least I'm not the only one who is fuming. Gosh darn it ... ya'll are really mad too! I'm proud of you - you are speaking up and YES, I do hear you. I've posted 15 new messages on the "Players Comment" page so now it's time for all of you to go there to read what fellow players have to say about the new Cash5 game and the idea of changing Lotto Texas again. For those of you who have asked what to do, I URGE you to call your state rep right now and tell him/her how unhappy you are. Believe it or not, if they get enough calls, they will do something. Call or e-mail the newspapers too. Don't just tell me, tell others as well. Who knows, maybe the TLC will call an emergency meeting to change the rule back. Click here to read the players comments.

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - At the Commissioners meeting this morning, G-Tech told the Commissioners that Lotto Texas sales were at a stand-still, my words, and would not improve unless they came out with a "power-ball" type game. (Attention Larry King: Sorry Larry, but I disagree with you. I KNOW how all Lotteries can get their sales up without taking such drastic steps.) Anyway, no action was taken by the Commissioners.

About the new balls and drawing machines for Cash 5. The TLC will be replacing all Cash 5 balls and will be using the old Texas Million drawing machines to conduct this drawing. The TLC is switching from "hard rubber balls" to "ping pong" style balls. They have purchased 6 sets of balls and have named them "12" "13" "14" "15" "16" & "17." They are using the old Texas Million drawing machines - 2 of them - and plan to have one new machine in rotation in August 2002. The machines will be called "G" "H" "I."

Poor G-Tech. Besides all the media attention about them doing business in Libya and G-Techs failure to know in advance who they are doing business with and where they are going beforehand, the Texas Lottery is even trying to make G-Tech out to be incompetent too. You see, I requested to start receiving the "Trends Report" and the "Value Report" each Monday - this is the day G-Tech submits the reports to the TLC. Well, now the Texas Lottery is refusing to send them to me until they "verify" G-Tech's reports first. (The truth is, the TLC wants the delay so they can post the data on their web site - something they never did until I started posting it.) Anyway, the TLC is "claiming" that these reports are in "draft" form and have asked for an Attorney General ruling on this matter. What ... the TLC doesn't think G-Tech knows what sales are and how many tickets have sold even though it's G-Techs computer system that tracks all this stuff? This is really something - the TLC use to overnight express the "value report" to me every other Friday and the "as of date" was the day before - Thursday. This was so that the Lotto Report could have the most up to date material.

Regarding the "Trends Report," this week I received it bright and early this morning - something for me that is unheard of. You know why I received the report so early this morning? Because they were having a Commissioners meeting this morning and they pass the Trends Report out to whoever wants one. This began at 8 am. - I suppose we are all suppose to believe they zeroxed all those copies this morning too! :)

One last bit of news that is very disturbing to me. For the past 3 weeks, I have been attempting to obtain the "unclaimed prize figures" for the 3rd quarter. Well, last week the Texas Lottery sent me "partial" data. The data lacked the amount that was transferred to the teaching schools and the figures submitted to me included "cents" for the scratch tickets. Those "cents" sent up a great big red flag. So, early last week, I called and asked for an explanation - after all - there are no "cents" in the players prizes.

After much ado, this morning the Texas Lottery explained to me that they figure the "percentage" of the payouts - the scratch offs is 58% - and that's how they arrive at the "unclaimed prize figures" for the scratch offs. WOW. Think about this. You go to the store, purchase a scratch ticket and leave. When you get to your destination, before getting out of your car, you decide to scratch the ticket and you discover you have $1 coming to you. So you throw the ticket in your glove box and you ultimately forget about the ticket.

A couple of years later, you clean out your glove box and find the ticket. But it's too late. The ticket has expired. Well, the fact is, the Texas Lottery owed you $1 but you never claimed your money. Yet the Texas Lottery "claims" all unclaimed prize monies are sent to the teaching hospitals. And now we hear they only send .58 on the dollar for the scratch tickets.

Now think harder. That $1 has sat in a bank account for a very long time and it probably earned interest because it was never claimed. Holy cow, somebody please tell me ... where is all that money? This money is the players money -- money the Tx Lottery "claims" is returned to the players.

"One" bottom line ... the Texas Lottery does NOT return to players the percentage of sales they say they do.

My findings about the Texas Lottery have become mind boggling. There are so many questions - so many misconceptions. I wonder, what does it take to make "big businesses" honor their spoken words and promises not to mention their advertised words?

Monday, July 22, 2002 - Several things to cover with you today. First, to answer all your questions about who won the 2nd chance Harley drawing, it was Charlotte Post from Amarillo. Before the TLC can post this, they have to contact the winner. She must have been hard to reach!

Second, all Cash 5 players BEWARE. Starting next Monday, July 29th, the new Cash Five rule changes go into effect. What this means to players is that if you have 3 of 5 or 4 of 5 numbers, the prize amount will be reduced BIG TIME. Also, if you have 2 numbers, you have $2 coming to you. Can you imagine how many players will be throwing away tickets that are actually worth $2? Boy, the TLC will like that - that'll increase the "Unclaimed Prize Fund." Anyway, I've posted the pertinent facts and made my ritual nasty comments :) on the new Cash 5 Money page. Click here - By the way, this page also gives prize amounts, daily and weekly sales totals dating back to Feb 4, 2002.

Third, tomorrow there is a Commissioners meeting in Austin and item number 4 on the agenda shows a discussion about the Lotto Texas matrix. I think they are going to ask the Commissioners to approve a proposal to add a bonus number to Lotto Texas and make it like Texas 2 Step or better yet, like the Powerball game. Since sales have declined since adding the 4 balls, they want to insure an increase in sales and this would certainly do the trick. You see, winning be would EXTREMELY difficult under these circumstances so the jackpots would definitely climb which in turn would bring in money from all over the country for a chance at winning hundreds of millions of dollars.

You know, the sad thing about all this is that it appears the Tx Lottery has one goal. And that is to make "more" money no matter what they have to do to make it. Why can't Texas just give us a fair and decent Lotto game and accept the income generated without wanting more? And the saddest part is, I actually have a solution for all Lotteries that no one has ever thought about that would be fair to the players yet it wouldn't involve increasing the odds and it would make the jackpots grow - there would be fewer winners though. Of course, I haven't told anyone my solution ... they'll have to pay me for this one!!!! And NO, I won't tell ya'll either. :) You see, my solution is one that as soon as one lottery does it, then all the other lotteries will follow suit.

Anyway, we'll know tomorrow what the staff has up their sleeve this time. Shoot, who knows, maybe they'll even recommend lowering the number of balls!

More later.

Monday, July 15, 2002 - Saturday's winning Lotto Texas ticket was sold by 7-Eleven here in the Dallas area. Ironically, as of early afternoon today, the G-Tech rep hadn't even been to the store to post the banner and complete the paper work. Can you believe it, I was the one who told the store they sold the winning ticket. I think it's really sad that the TLC doesn't put their retailers higher on the priority list. Those banners help the retailers ... oh well, what can I do?

I've posted 3 very interesting bits of news for you. Stories everybody ought to read. One is a story about a lotto winner here in Texas who is battling his EX, one is a story about another state who wants to take a bigger piece of the pie and the last bit of news is regarding the Powerball and their new rule change. All of these stories are about greed ... The more money at stake, the more vicious and ruthless people become. Click here to read these stories.

Monday, July 8, 2002 - The TLC says, "Figure Your Own Odds!"
Thank you readers for pointing out and questioning the validity of the answer provided in this weeks "Ask the Director" found on the Texas Lottery Commisssion's web site. You are correct, the answer is not complete and could be considered a lie by some. Here is the question and answer as it appears on the TLC web site and my rebuttal is included in red type:

"Question: Who can we talk to for a truthful answer to questions we have about the scratch-off tickets? The people in Texas that play these games have a right to know what their odds of winning are when the break-even tickets are not counted. Since you are too busy to answer our questions, I am sure you could give us a name or number to somebody that would have the time to answer us. It would be even better if this person is not being paid with the money that people spend on these tickets. - B.E. in Friendswood"

Response: Dear B.E., I apologize if you felt I was not answering your question, but my schedule is such that it may sometimes take a few weeks to respond to player questions via the web site.

We do not have a document that would provide the information you are requesting. (YES, they do. All one has to do is request a "prize structure" for each scratch game/instant ticket from the Tx Lottery. It's free and available by email from Open Records. This one page document for each scratch game shows the total printed, each prize amount, the number of winning tickets, and the odds for winning each and every prize. Just send an email with "Open Records" in the subject line and type one sentence that says, "Please send me the prize structure(s) for such and such games (list games)." An email link to the Texas Lottery can be found in the top line of my links graphics above. Also, this very information is posted in the Texas Register. The Texas Register is published every Friday. Before Ms. Cloud took over, this information was published in the Texas Register much sooner than it is now. But Ms. Cloud prefers the public not know these facts so now-a-days, this information may appear after the game has begun in the Texas Register. She also deleted this data from the "sell in sheet" that can be found in the retail outlets. Finally, I have this data posted on my web site and I am NOT paid by the Texas Lottery! Here is a link to my page showing exactly what you have asked for. http://www.lottoreport.com/scratch-offs.htm. I posted this data because the TX Lottery took the information away from us.) If you would like to make the calculations for yourself, you can check the sell-in page for any game. That's the sheet with general information on each game that appears when you click the ticket image on the Current Games/Winning Tickets Remaining page or when you click the game number on the low-graphics version of the Winning Tickets Remaining page on our web site. (Boy, for a state agency to make players calculate this data themselves is a disgrace to the state. What about all those folks who don't have computers to obtain this data? And folks who don't kow how to calculate odds? Why do our laws make the private sector disclose pertinent data but state agencies don't have to? Why isn't this information posted in the stores?)

For each game, you'll see a list of how many tickets were printed at each prize level and how many total tickets were printed. You can use that information to calculate whatever odds you may be interested in. (They didn't tell you how to calculate the odds. What you do to calculate odds is divide the number of winning tickets into the total printed. Example: Let's take an upcoming popular game - #286 Break the Bank. They printed 50,651,750 tickets. There are twenty-four (24) $30,000 prizes. So you divide 50,651,750 by 24 winning tickets. The odds of getting a $30,000 prize is 1 in 2,110,490. The second prize is $3000 and there are 153 winning tickets. The odds of getting a $3000 prize is 1 in 331,057. For those of you who may not understand "odds," odds mean that if you buy 2,110,490 tickets at $2 each, you MIGHT win $30,000. I think this is a very bad gamble. Odds are, if you were to take the money you spend on scratch tickets and put it in a savings account, you could eventually make more money than you probably will buying scratch tickets. It may not be as much fun, but at least you will see a return!)

End TLC Excerpt

I hope this clarifies your questions. If every one of you would send an email or letter to the Sunset Commission right now and tell them that you believe this data should be readily available at the retail lottery stores, our legislators can make sure this is done. But ya'll have to speak up. Click here to find the information about the Sunset Commission. The Tx Lottery is being reviewed right now. Or, here is an email link that you can use to voice your concerns right now to the Sunset Commission.

Also, here is how you go to the Texas Register and find the instant ticket data. First, click here to go to their web site. Once you are on their web site, click on "Texas Register" - very near top of page, 3rd picture box. Then click on "July 5th Issue" that is found on the right of the screen in the "Points of Interest" box. Now you get another similar screen but again on the right side of the page you see another "Point of Interest" box and the date of the issue again but this time you select if you want to read it in html or pdf format. I recommend html - it's easier to scroll down to see the tickets that may be posted for that week. Anyway, click on html. Now, scroll down to the last section which is titled, "In Addition" then scroll on down to the Texas Lottery Commission entries and you can see what and if they have anything posted in that edition. Right now, in the July 5th edition, under "Texas Lottery Commission," the following games are posted.

Instant Game 299 "Best of 7's"
Instant Game 353 "Cash Dash Double Doubler"
Instant Game 711 "Royale Riches"
Instant Game 712 "Magic Numbers"
Instant Game 717 "Big Money Spectacular"

Now, I'm going to conclude by saying that I too have all the games posted and if you want to know the odds and the number of prizes and number of tickets printed, it's much easier to go to my page. But, at the TEXAS REGISTER, you can get all the glory details which is probably more than you want to know!

Tuesday, July 2, 2002 - 8 PM - The "incomplete" Trends Report was received but I held off posting it in hopes of getting "all" the pages but to no avail. I've added a page of explanation to the report itself. Click here to read this weeks "Trends Report."

12:30 PM - I have posted some interesting e-mails that I think you will find of interest and will take the place of posting the news on this page. Just click here to read them. I have more to post but have run out of time. Will let you know when I get them posted too.

Friday, June 21, 2002 - 9:30 AM - I guess you've noticed that the Texas Lottery has increased the next Lotto Texas jackpot from $68 to $70 million. Upon learning this, I was curious as to what sales were so I called and asked. As of this writing, they have sold only $4.8 million tickets. Of course, even I know that sales will climb much higher. Anyway, if ya'll want to know how much the TX Lottery has sold at any given time, all you have to do is ask your retailer and he can pull the information out of his lottery terminal. It will be interesting to track. If your retailer doesn't know how to get the data, all he has to do is call the G-Tech Hotline (1-800-458-0884) and they will tell him the keystrokes for the lottery terminals. Good luck everybody.

One more thing. About your questions concerning the Tx Lottery's web site getting so many hits that they had to take off all their graphics. What this means is that their provider doesn't have enough bandwidth to accommodate them. The Texas Lottery has had large jackpots before and it didn't seem to affect them then so I'm a little confused. I'm just grateful that I have a provider that can accommodate my visitors as my hits on Wednesday were 40,000 which is up from an average of 15 to 20 thousand per day. Yesterday, Thursday, 6-20-02, my web site had 74,000 hits. I asked my provider if I needed to make any changes due to the circumstances and he said, "absolutely not ... some web sites get millions of hits per day without any problems."

About 6 months ago, I obtained from Open Records a copy of the Tx Lottery's web site stats. At that time, according to the experts that knew what it all meant, the Texas Lottery web site averaged about 23,000 hits per day. I know another Texas Lottery web site owner who gets more hits than the TxLottery and myself put together and he has had no problems either. So .... I guess this all means the TLC has really grown!

Sunday, June 16, 2002 - Yes, Don's Pick3 came out the 1st day! That was fantastic and I'm truly happy for all of you who won. Now, stop playing till we have another play.

I've taken some extra time today to give ya'll some very important stats about the Lotto numbers. I sincerely hope several of you get "lucky" and pick 'em right on Wednesday for the $50 million jackpot. As soon as I finish the next edition of the Lotto Report, which will be today or tonight, I will be posting it since we have such a large jackpot. In the meantime, click here to read the stats on the numbers so you can be thinking. When you get to this page, scroll down a little bit to the heading that says, "I'd have money in my pocket if ..." and read the facts about the numbers and the June 15th lotto drawing.