|
The Hodgepodge PageAll About the Texas Lottery ...Brought To You By ...
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Continued ....Feb. 26, 2001 - On Friday, Feb. 23, 2001, I called the TLC to ask when the new scratch game #228, Break the Bank, was suppose to start. They said they did not know. At 9 a.m. this morning, I asked again and was told it was due to start on Feb. 23, 2001. This was my press week-end so needless to say, that game is not included in the Lotto Report that is being printed as I write this. Sorry folks - I try. At any rate, for those of you who play these games, be sure and ask for #228 and quit buying the old Break the Banks. Remember, store clerks know game numbers so SPECIFICALLY ask for game #228 and not #174 or #215. If the store tells you they don't have it, WAIT. He does have it, he's just waiting to sell his old ones first or he's waiting for room to put #228 in. There are only a few big winners "unclaimed" in Break the Bank games #174 and #215 and with so many that generally get thrown away, I'd recommend that you ONLY buy #228 IF you buy any at all. I apologize for being so blunt on this, but remember, they printed 51,371,750 tickets - they just told me that on Friday too! And, out of the 51 million, approx 41 million are absolute losers. They also printed 50 million of #174 and #215 too. So, be careful what you buy. Here's a quick break down of the top prizes out of the 51 million printed of the new Break the Bank #228 - $30,000 - 24 total prizes Don says his next prediction will come on March 1 and thanks for all the emails of "thanks." It's fun to win ... huh? Feb. 22, 2001 - Just thought I'd tell you that on Feb. 28, 2001 a new scratch off game, called Cash Explosion is due to start. Now the bad news is - did you know that as of Feb. 16, 2001 the TLC had no idea how many were printed and as of today, the game is still due to start on Feb 28. In fact, it'll probably be in the stores within the the next couple of days. Further, still regarding the scratch off tickets, the TLC is either asking for permission or has announced their intention to no longer print how many prizes there are for each prize category or how many tickets were printed - either approximate or actual figures - on their marketing piece they give to the stores to display for the players. They claim they want to post this data on their web site and after they get the "actual" figures. Let's see, that means that since they don't have the data on Cash Explosion yet, they intend to start selling these tickets without disclosing vital information in a location that is easily accessible to all players. This is like buying a car and not being told the mileage. I'm sure ya'll realize what this means. And we cannot stand for this either. Complete details and a plan of action coming. This is why I asked for any change of addresses for GET REAL members. We must come together NOW. Update - There's a new Pick3 prediction. I posted it at 11:30AM.Good luck. Feb. 16, 2001 - Let me answer your emails here - Yes, I'm aware they voted to go with the Texas 2 Step game exactly as it was quoted here on my web site. But, it's not going to start until May and we have a much bigger issue that must be dealt with immediately that I've been working on for 3 days now. I hope to have this information posted for you to read and my mailing complete by tomorrow. And I'm sorry, but I don't know if Don will have us a new play today or not. I do know there is another play - but I don't know when I'll get it. He's at work now. All I can honestly say is to check my site between 7 and 8 tonight to see if I have anything posted. You will still have time to buy tickets IF he send us a play. He's pretty impressive - huh? At least in Pick3 there's only 30 numbers to contend with - not 100, not 70 and not 54 numbers. And Pick3 is PLENTY hard to win and still very much a challenge. Feb. 14, 2001 - Attention GET REAL members. I need your support - if your email address has changed since last August or September, please resend it. I will be calling upon you real soon to support an issue and I will explain it fully in my message to you. An NO, I'm not asking for money, I just need you to send an email if you agree which I'm certain you will! Also, Don is suppose to be sending in a play tomorrow. Feb. 10, 2001 - I just thought ya'll would want to know that it will cost the Commission $12,671,748 to pay the Jan. 27, 2001 Lotto Texas jackpot winner but they only have $12,421,990 in the pool meaning they will overpay the 6 of 6 winner by $249,758. Also for this roll, 55% of sales totaled $18,203,384 yet they only paid the players $17,797,767. I wonder where is that extra $405,617? Well, at least we see where $249,758 went! Huh? Feb. 8, 2001 - WOW! Thank you so very much for such a fantastic response regarding my fax suspension. I may not have the TLC's support, but it's obvious ya'll are behind me 100%. Your suggestions have been noted and appreciated and your concerns about Albertsons will be addressed too. It'll be interesting to see if the Commissioners share your viewpoints. The phone message from Keith is now posted - it's below his email and above the Albertsons testimony. The link to the page is in the Feb. 7 message below. I will try to post your messages in the next day or so. Right now I'm just trying to answer them! Keep them coming - please - I may need them. Feb. 7, 2001 - I have just posted the transcript from the Commissioners meeting where the TLC finally explained to the Commissioners why they suspended me from receiving lottery information last July. I would truly appreciate it if you would read this story - both sides are presented - then let me hear your comments. I know you will find it very interesting. Click here. Feb. 5, 2001 - I was going to brag on the TLC because I just saw where they finally posted a correction regarding their statement about "never having made a mistake posting the drawing results" but then I read on and got mad again. In the "Ask the Director" section, they address a players complaint regarding purchasing so many "losing" Jingle Bucks scratch off tickets. They said, "... Current games offer the lowest odds we've ever had, such as Jingle Bucks with odds of 1 in 2.46 and a payout of 70%. While your own experience may not have produced as much in prizes as you wanted, I can promise you that those odds and that payout are correct ..." - This is not a true statement - it's another out and out misrepresentation. The truth is, the odds of "winning" Jingle Bucks are 1 in 7.93798; the odds of "breaking even" are 1 in 3.571 and the odds of "not losing your $10" are 1 in 2.4631 (to get the 2.46 odds you add the number of "winning" tickets in with the number of "break even" tickets). They choose their words carefully but this statement is misleading. For Jingle Bucks, they printed 10,157,175 tickets - out of this, 2,844,047 tickets pay $10 while only 1,279,637 pay from $15 to $100,000. This means 6,033,491 tickets are absolute losers. Regarding the 70% payout, providing all prizes were claimed then they would, in fact, have a game that paid a total of 70% of its income. However, this is an exception to the rule! The plain truth is, they will NOT pay out on all the prizes because players throw away many, many winning tickets not realizing it and the TLC counts on it. Hard to believe? See the chart below. Also, in their response, the TLC pointed out "how good the the odds were" in Jingle Bucks compared to the first game ever introduced, Lone Star Millions, where they said the odds were 1 in 7.9. (Notice the odds are 1 in 7.9 for "winning" Jingle Bucks too!) Anyway, the TLC is failing to mention that 50 to 100 million tickets were printed of Lone Star Million compared to only 10 million of Jingle Bucks. This reason alone gives sufficient reason to have had higher odds on Lone Star Million! They really play us for idiots. And since I'm talking about Jingle Bucks, let me give you some current facts - as of Jan. 20, 2001, they have sold 99.5% of all the tickets (meaning there are only 50,785 tickets remaining to sell) yet look at how many prizes remain unclaimed ...
Did you notice that there are only 50,785 tickets left to sell but there are 302,278 tickets unclaimed? See what I mean? And one more thing regarding the TLC and the scratch off tickets. The TLC called for an "emergency" Commissioners meeting last week where they requested permission to not publish how many "approximate prizes" there are for each prize on the scratch off promotional pieces. They "say" that since they can't specify "exactly" how many prizes there are - then they'd just rather wait and publish the correct figures on their web site so they can tell the "truth." Do understand, since 1993, they have shown "approx" figures but it's time now to change up they way they present things? Can you imagine any promotional piece not telling you how many prizes there are and this coming from a state agency? Now, for my interpretation of the "real" reason they want to delete this information from the "sell-in sheets." Right now, sales are not as good as they want. The TLC reasons that because there's been so much publicity about the odds - which ultimately exposed how many winning tickets there really are and how many tickets are printed, well .... they theorize that by not having this data readily available to those of us in the media and to store personell, then they can possibly improve their sales. It's their way of shutting everyone up and not having to expose the facts. It's a marketing tactic that should not be permitted by a state agency. In a court of law, I think this is referred to as "lying by omission." But those of us familar with printers and printing - well, we know that the minute the job is complete, the total printed and the number of winning tickets are known right then. And this is especially true in the case of the TLC - shoot - they have their own security people present while the job is being printed. Of course, sometimes they print partial loads so it'll be interesting to see how they explain that tidbit on their web site too. Well, I think ya'll need to voice your concerns about this with your state representative immediately. This is not a minor issue - it's much bigger than you may realize. Feb. 1, 2001 - The new Lotto Report came out this week so I've been busy getting it to the stores. Several things to tell you. First, if all goes well, we'll have a new Pick3 prediction from Don soon. Second, it appears I'm having difficulty now-a-days getting information from the Commission on the new upcoming scratch off games. For seven years, I've had an arrangement with the TLC where I make the same open records request every other Monday and they see to it that I have the information before my press cut off on Friday. Well, one of my four items is a spec sheet on "any and all upcoming scratch off games due to start within the next 30 to 45 days." The documents responsive to my last two requests made on Mon., Jan. 8 and Mon, Jan 22 included NO scratch off spec sheets yet they have two upcoming games - #234 Pot O Gold and games #204 Moolah Magic. They have game #234 listed on their web site but they refuse to tell me by phone what the prizes are, how many prizes there are for each and how many tickets were printed. Yesterday, Lucy Cantu from Open Records, apologized for NOT having this information and said she will get it to me when she has time. I called again this morning but she got mad and said she just got the information so she has 10 days to get it to me. Soooo .... folks ..... I'm trying. This information is public information and if you call by phone, they'll give it to you. Try it! The number is 1-800-37-LOTTO. And by the way, on Jan. 8, I made 3 separate open records requests (by email) - and guess what? They said they didn't get any of them so I had to resend them on Jan. 16th. One of the three was for the costs of Reefco Strips to pay the Lotto winner from 1-6-01. Needless to say, my Lotto Report that week did not have current scratch off information because they say they didn't get my request. Now, when I send a request, I call too and advise them that I've sent in a request. If any of you send them an open record request, you might ought to call them too to make sure they got it OK. <grin> Third - regarding the news this week about "Lottery" sales being up and their plan a success - I know this angers and confuses you when you read this in the paper and hear it on the news compared to what you see on my site - but you must remember - news agencies only report what information they are given and this is what the TLC is giving them. The TLC won't publicize the fact that they've had fewer winners nor have you seen the TLC boasting that they've sent the Foundation School Fund more money than before either! When you take the percentages due to the schools from the Pick3, Cash5, Texas Million and Lotto Texas games - I believe it will be very close to the same amount as before if not less. So, having said this, contact your newspapers and ask them to report these figures. Make sure they compare apples to apples too. OK? Jan. 24, 2001 - Well, I've posted 14 messages from players - the subjects vary from the new proposed game, to the TLC's lies to the 6/54 page. Let me say that there is no way I can post all your messages and let me also apologize for not replying to so many of you. I'm trying but there is not enough time in the day to keep up with my normal work plus my web site. These message do represent what all of you are saying and please, keep your thoughts coming my way - I do read everything - I just haven't been able to answer everyone. Next I'll post my thoughts about the new game. I'll try to have it up by tomorrow and when I get it posted, I'll also send out an email to all of you who have requested special messages from me. I've also been intending to post the last two Commissioners meetings - especially the last one because it has to do with the faxes they suspended. When I do get it posted with my remarks, I think you'll find it interesting to say the least. Anyway, to read the emails, click here. Jan. 23, 2001 - So many of you still ask me if I think the drawings are rigged, well - here's my answer that I answered some months back. Tomorrow I will try to post some of your messages and my thoughts about the new proposed game. Click here. Jan 22, 2001 - Attention TLC - We have asked that you be honest with the people of Texas yet you've just posted an absolute lie on your web site. In your question and answers section, you answer a question with, "I honestly don't recall any discrepancies between the official winning numbers and the numbers as they appear on the web site. We take extensive precautions to be sure the numbers posted on the web site are correct." Come on ... it's a matter of record that you erred on July 18, 2000 when you posted the Pick 3 numbers - you posted 218 but the numbers drawn were 318. I submitted it myself to show why I objected to getting information from your web site - a number of people have copies of this. You also erred one other time but unfortunately I can't tell you the date right off the top of my head but you can rest assured that I do have a copy of it. There is no sin in making a mistake, but there's plenty wrong with lying and covering up. Let's see how fast you get this corrected IF you even bother. What is it going to take to stop these lies? I suppose you are going to hide behind ..."I honestly don't recall." Shall we start calling you Oliver? Jan 19, 2001 - The TLC issued a press release on Jan 17 boasting about the players success. I've posted excerpts for you and I've figured and posted the "real" facts. Since they started using 54 balls, we've had 277,020 fewer winners and Lotto Texas sales fell short by $10 million in meeting the projected income for contributions to the School Foundation Fund. Really sad. Click here to see what the 6/54 has really done. Jan 17, 2001 - The New York Post story is now posted. Players, we're making progress in educating players and holding states and their lotteries accountable. Everybody read this story and many thanks to Professor Gerald Busald for his persistence and the New York Post for educating their players too. Click here to read the story. Continued....click here to read more
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top
The Lotto Report
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
