Note: The dates shown on the messages are the dates I'm posting
them - they do NOT necessarily reflect the date I received them.

59 or 88 Balls: To read the comments from the players about the anticipated rule change to make winning Lotto Texas more difficult, click here.

Dec. 14, 2002
To: <lottoreport@lottoreport.com >
Subject: Thank you Don

Dawn, Please give Don my very best regards, thank him for me for the $250 I won on his prediction of 800, I almost gave up, because we had just had a double 0x0, but I had faith and boy I am glad I did. I could use a little Christmas money Don! You are the greatest.........
And thank you Dawn for giving him the forum.......Joy (Your welcome!)

Subject: Study on lotteries..
To: lottoreport@lottoreport.com

Hi, I'm doing a study on lotteries and I was wondering could you help me out with some information. I'll list the questions below.

1. How many lottery tickets are purchased in the state of Texas on a 'average' day? I track sales for "each drawing" so I can't tell you exactly how many tickets are sold "each day." But I can give you an idea using a 3 day example.

	Mon 12/9	Tues 12/10	Wed 12/11	3 Day Total
Cash 5	$500,992	$475,472	$392,378	$1,368,842
Pick3	$868,622	$822,673	$844,378	$2,535,673
Texas 2 Step		$581,988		$581,988
Lotto Texas			$4,524,655	*$4,524,655
**Scratch Tickets (Wk ending 12-7-02 An Average)	$6,601,429	$6,601,429	$6,601,429	$19,804,287
3 Day Sales Figure (Averages $9,605,482 per day)				$28,815,445

For Texas 2 Step and Lotto Texas, I suppose you could divide the total sales figures by 3 and assume that the money came in over a 3 day period.

*Also, I need to say that when Lotto Texas jackpots are "really" big, this figure is much higher. The TLC has sold as many as 51 million Lotto Texas tickets over a 3 day period. This is why they want to make winning harder. To see "Audited Yearly Sales" for Lotto Texas only, click here.

**The scratch tickets bring in the most money but I only have "weekly" sales figures. To arrive at the figure shown above for the scratch tickets, I took total sales for the week ending Dec 7, 2002 ($46.21 million) and divided it by 7 to figure average daily sales.

G-Tech produces a weekly sales report for the TLC called the Trends Report (a pdf). I post the "Trends Report" each week here on my web site. You can also obtain a copy yourself by submitting an Open Records request to the Texas Lottery or you can download a copy from my web site. This is information they like to keep "secret!"

Also, I post the total sales for each drawing on the "Money Pages." Links can be found in the my big links graphics found on several pages or on the "Site Index" page.

2 Are more tickets purchased on the 'day of' the the drawing. If so, what percentage or how many on average? (Yes, common sense tells me that most tickets are sold on the day of the drawing but that would not be an absolute. Especially when there's a big jackpot for Lotto Texas or Texas 2 Step.)

3. How many possible combination of numbers are there for the current Texas lottery? (There are 25,827,165 combinations)

Thanks in advance for any information that you're able to contribute. Glen

Nov 25, 2002
To: <lottoreport@lottoreport.com >
Subject: $20.00 scratch off

Dawn, just in case you have not heard this bit of information: A lottery dealer told me today that the first $20.00 scratch off tickets will be distributed to retailers beginning 11/25/02. He said the rep who told him about this said they had talked to all retailers to find out if they were in favor of a 20.00 ticket and that ALMOST ALL had said NO but he told them that they would probably be getting it anyway. This is game #336 Holiday Million which offers a million dollar prize. Goes on sale 11/27/02.

I don't know if they will ever listen to the players or retailelrs but it sure doesn't look like it. For the record I am OPPOSED to both this new ticket & also the POWERBALL. We definitely do not need either. Sincerely, I.S.

I've had a number of messages about the $20 scratch ticket and the players appear disgusted. I'm surprized to hear about the retailers because on this $20 ticket, they'll make $1 for each ticket they sell. This is why retailers prefer the more expensive scratch tickets. For details on this and all other scratch tickets, click here.

Subject: Comment / Suggestion
To: lottoreport@lottoreport.com

Hi Dawn,

I think its time for TEXANS to consider BOYCOTTING the Texas Lotteries until reasonable proposals are implemented by the TLC.

Some of the things I have recently read on your LottoReport site (such as the 6/59 matrix proposal) are ridiculous... or as most Texans would say "Just Plum Dumb"!

If the TLC incorporates a 6/59 matrix, then Texans ought to boycott the Texas lotteries, save their gambling dollars and go out of state and have fun gambling at the casino of their choice.

As for my view, I think the Texas lottery should go back to its roots, with a 6/50 MATRIX and NO QUICK PICKS! G. Austin

Thanks for your comments. I have countless comments such as yours ... everybody must be thinking the same thing. Other comments about the 6/59 and the proposed bill can be found by clicking here.

Subject: Lottery Terminals
To: lottoreport@lottoreport.com

Dawn: I appreciate your warning players about the lottery terminals. It's appalling to say the least. I intend to take a copy of the ticket to my lottery dealer so he can display it for his players to see. I'm sure he'll stop checking tickets for his customers when he sees this. I'm also going to place a copy on the bulletin board at work.

I'm convinced we made a mistake when we voted the lottery in. The only thing on their minds is to increase revenues at any cost. Thanks for keeping us up to date on the latest news and for your dedication to the players. Barry S. Houston

Click here to see proof that lottery terminals err.

Nov 23, 2002
From Dawn: Players comments concerning the Lotto Texas proposed changes are on another page. Click here to read them.

This is a question I receive quite regularly - so I'll leave it on this page too

To: <lottoreport@lottoreport.com >
Subject: lottery donations to Texas Education Fund

How do I find out what Texas is doing with the money going to them for education. All the sites I have read are very vague.

The money from the lottery is simply used to lessen the amount the state has to put in each year for the schools. You see, the amount the lottery brings in is a very small percentage of the schools yearly budget. The schools do not get "extra" money, they just get the same ole budgeted amount every year. It's like you owe somebody $100 but you find a $20 bill so now you only have to take $80 from you own pocket to pay the $100. It's the same principal.