A Note From Dawn Nettles

I received the following email yesterday and I felt compelled to
share it with ya'll. The reasons ... not only was the message
complimentary to me but more importantly, it brought back
memories, made me laugh and was quite impressive and
informative. I couldn't believe what all he had remembered
about my postings and he provided new information to share!
I don't know who he is - but - it's obvious he's a talented writer.

I've been really involved with other matters in
the past month and haven't been able to post
anything. So, hopefully, sharing this message
will make up for my not posting anything!

We all need a good laugh ... So read on and enjoy ...

This is a lengthy spiel and you probably won't read it all but here goes...

I wrote you a dozen or so years ago to point out a few typos on your site. I was using a pen name and a yahoo email account that is now history so I can't figure out exactly when it was.

I started to write you again back in 2017 but never sent it. I kept a draft and will paste it below.

I finally broke down and bought a multi-play ticket a few months ago. It was the first lottery ticket (including scratch offs) I'd bought in probably two years. I never expect to win (who does?) but I figured I may as well blow some $ on the lottery.

I can remember the harassment you went through years ago over the domain name when the Texas Lottery Commission finally got off their slacker asses and put up a web site. Prior to that I had relied on your site to get lottery results. They didn't have the scanners where you could check your tickets yourself back then and newspapers were a dying medium.

It's sad that they're now giving you hell about "not being a reporter". It would be amusing if not for the fact you've been a great asset to people who pay/used to pay the sucker tax. It reminds me of the episode of Cheers when Diane Chambers wanted to ask a question of Sam's latest GF who was running for office. When asked what paper Diane represented she replied, "Hurley's Market Shopper's Guide."

I found the clip online and it's hilarious to this day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIoYLNqJzoo

This is what I had started to send you in 2017:

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There was mention of a promotional deal on your site. It said something like free Mega Millions ticket at select locations. I wasn't really craving a free ticket but, out of curiosity, I called the TLC number you had up thinking it would be a dedicated line regarding the promotion. Got the typical "para continuar en espanol marque dos".

When I got a live person on the line I said I was calling to ask about the current promotion. The woman I spoke to didn't give a name and I didn't ask for one. She didn't know what promotion I was talking about so I told her I had read about it on Dawn Nettle's site.

Her tone immediately changed and I said, "I guess you've heard of her?"

If I could have remembered the name Kelly Cripes off the top of my head I might have said, "Kelly, izzat you gorl?"

Whoever she was grumbled and I jokingly said, "I understand she's sort of a thorn in your sides."

The woman asked if I had their site open in my browser and I said I had both that and lottoreport.com open.

I was put on hold while she checked into the promotion. When she came back she said there were locations in Arlington. I laughed again, "Well that won't do me much good in San Antonio. Ironically that's up in Dawn Nettle's neck of the woods!"

She grumbled once again.

I'm sarcastic by nature but I toned it way down to get an answer to my question.

I guess using the N(ettles) word/name is toxic to anyone at the TLC.

I was expecting her to hang up on me. She told me to look at THEIR site and scroll to the bottom of the page if I wanted to contact them via email. End of conversation.

I had no reason to email them...that's why I was calling. DUH.

The brief experience was somewhat surreal. From the minute I mentioned your name I was thinking, "Damn, they really do not like her. I wonder if Dawn has a bodyguard?"

Shortly after that the mention of the promo was removed from your site and there was no banner headline.

I didn't check your site again until I looked at it a few weeks later to see if anyone had won Texas Two Step the night before. They had. I hadn't bought a ticket so that saved me money.

When Texas first got a lottery I used to play Lotto on a regular basis. If no one won it was like having a second chance. Now I'm glad when someone wins so I don't dump more into the sucker game.

Two Step is the only drawing game I still like because they haven't jacked with the odds and it can grow to a decent amount in a couple of weeks rather than months. Even that I rarely play unless it's over $700K.

It seems no matter what any jackpot is as soon as I buy a ticket someone wins, like back in March when it took over 5.5 MONTHS to get a Lotto winner on what 20 years ago would have been considered a rather average jackpot.

That was the first time I played Lotto Texas in several years. I played Powerball twice back in 2016 when it got to $900m and $1.6b. I bought ONE ticket for each drawing. I bought another one for the Jun 10 drawing. BINGO! Someone won.

I occasionally buy a $5 or $10 scratch off with a high jackpot amount but I've been leery about those ever since you had an article about a mathematician (I think around Kingsville) winning 3 big ticket scratch offs in a row.

If the distribution of the jackpot payout tickets isn't totally random then it's rigged. Whenever someone wins a big amount on a scratch off here in San Antonio it makes the news and that seems to happen quite rarely. Someone won $5 mil on a $50 ticket a few months ago. That means there probably won't be another big winner here for several years.

I always check to see how many of the top prizes haven't been claimed but I also wonder how up to date that info is not to mention the fact that people often go months before claiming a prize.

I bought one a couple of weeks ago and "won" $100.

That was the most I'd won in probably 5 years. I've never won more than $200 on any kind of lottery game. I've never blown a lot of money at one time but over the course of 25 years there's no telling how much I'd have to net after taxes just to break even.

One of my pet peeves about the scratch tickets are the even money payouts. They only have those so they can claim higher overall odds of winning. All you win is the hassle of standing in line somewhere to get your money back. They expect you to dump those "winnings" into more worthless tickets. I always take the cash.

Even more lame is game #1822 Winners Galore. Every ticket is a winner! Spend $20, WIN $5! The genius who came up with that must be the parent of a soccer brat. Little Johnny's team loses but he still gets a trophy because there are no losers, just people who aren't winners.

I got a chuckle out of your comment about how winning an amount like $1Bil can be destructive. Just a few days before I read that I had a dream that I was the sole winner of a billion dollar jackpot. Even in my dream I wasn't excited.

Every time I've played when there was a huge jackpot I've thought about what a hassle it would be just dealing with greedy lawyers and trying to keep it private.

The last thing I'd do is go on TV and brag about it.

You'll probably remember the case of David Edwards. He bought one of 4 winning tickets in a Powerball jackpot in 2001.

The cash option for each ticket was $41mil. The top tax rate in 2001 was 39.1% so the most he should have netted was $24.6mil according to my calculations. Even if it was a few mil more it wasn't a vast sum.

From a cnn article:

"I'm hoping to make a change in a positive way," Edwards told CNN. "We're going to try to listen to some financial advisers, get the money invested so that other future generations will have this money as well, not just us. We need a new house."

Edwards' fiancee, Shawna Maddux, added, "I'm getting a Ferrari."

Well now wasn't Shawna speshul? Doesn't every hayseed deserve a Ferrari?

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/08/26/powerball.winners/

I love the note on the right about the odds of winning Powerball...and those were the odds back in 2001.

I remember seeing Edwards on one of the morning shows a few days after he won. He was on TV again a year later showing off his expensive house in Florida, cars, toys, jewelry, etc. He looked like a pimp in his long coat (in the Florida heat) and gaudy, diamond-encrusted gold Rolex and rings.

Among the toys he bought was a Learjet. No doubt a used one from the 70s or 80s. See photo in the dailymail.uk link below. That must be his mamacita livin' la vida loca.

He managed to eek out 5 years before he was penniless.

Where is he now? Dead.

This is the best article I've found because it goes into detail about all the crap he blew money on. Check out lovely Shawna in that story. Money (i.e. the drugs it afforded them) hit her hard with the ugly stick.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517550/Powerball-winner-David-Lee-Edwards-dies-penniless-12-years-scored-27million-jackpot.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/lottery-jackpot-winners-lost-big/story?id=36313525

===============

Back to 2020...I loved your Aug 16 post about the delusional director, Gary Grief. Thank you for giving him some grief. I love your colorful language and how you cover your ass legally by explaining the word "delusional". No doubt they've had shysters looking into it.

As mentioned, I bought a few QP Lotto tickets a few months ago and was hesitant to buy any more after you said that the Griefmeister was trying to jack up sales for the year. I went ahead and blew $21 on 3 QP multi-draw (7x) while making my weekly trek to HEB several weeks ago. Once I've spent a few bucks on a given jackpot I feel stoopid if I don't keep trying until someone wins. It isn't rational thinking but then neither is playing any game of chance where the odds are umpteen million to one against.

After every lotto drawing I check your site to see if anyone has won. As long as I kept seeing that banner about the lottery director doing cartwheels I knew I had another chance (in hell.)

I kept waiting for you to add some memes to your site or maybe some animated graphics of Grief doing cartwheels. Whenever you mentioned cartwheels, I pictured the Press Your Luck (game show) Whammy graphic/cartoon.

Incidentally, I've run across a couple of typos/errors. I can't remember where I found the first one but I found this one that I noted:

"5/14/20 - A few interesting things and an update to the May 9th entry.

First, the good news - the TLC has announced they will re-open the Claim Centers on June 1, 2020. The ONLY details given thus far is that it will by by appointment ONLY."

I know how easy it is to miss things you've written yourself. Just thought I'd point it out so you can korekt it.

I have one more draw left on my multi-draw ticket. I decided to take your advice and choose my own numbers the next time I buy a ticket. Once someone wins I won't buy another for a long, long time.

Keep givin' 'em hell!

A Reader from San Antonio

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My Response To Your Extremely Cute & Clever Message

First, thank you for taking your valuable time to write such a riveting commentary. You made me smile and you brought back memories. I often wonder what people think and I'm blessed most of the time because people will call or write and say, "Gee, I loved that" or "how true that is" etc. Here lately I've been getting calls from Grief's buddies wanting to share "stories" with me that I may not know about. Even his "old" college buddies are calling with stories. Do you have any idea how far back that goes? Anyway, most of the time, they were right. I didn't know it but I've made a list!

Thank you very much for letting me know about the error I made. I fixed it already. I thank God each day for those who watch my every move and tell me when I typed the wrong date or whatever the current error was! I've got two readers who are present in real time and sends me an email immediately following my posting. Though one time I made a mistake, and one didn't point it out, so it caused me to worry about him. I let him know not to do that again!

Lastly, right now some of my readers are really mad at me because I've NOT posted some stories that I promised. So would you like to help me???? The only advantage that might be helpful for the first story, though not mandatory, is IF you have a little knowledge about state earned comp times & sick time and the state retirement program (ERS). That's the subject matter of the story I really need to get posted especially in light of the People of Texas who are suffering financially and those who are losing their retirement money.

Gawd - I hope you say YES! If you will, then we need to talk and I need to get you the data you need to write this FACTUAL story. How 'bout it??? I have no doubts that you could take this story and make it fun to read!