Read about the TLC employees ... Click here and read Oct 9th entry.

Dec 18, 2003 - 2nd Posting - Folks are already asking me why change 2 Step? The answer is simple - they "think" that Mega Millions is hurting it and at the same time, they "think" 2 Step is hurting Mega Millions sales. You see, in the past, with "huge" jackpots, people bought like crazy. By that I mean, sales for previous $50 to $85 million pots have brought in as much as $51 million in sales in just 3 days. But that was when the TLC gave us a FAIR game too. At any rate, Tuesday's $71 million pot ONLY brought in $2.2 million from Texans and only $20.4 million from all the states combined including Texas. This is REALLY awful. Then let's not forget to mention how horrible 2 Step and Cash5 sales were ... Texas is really embarrassed - 10 other states thought Texas was going to save them - but look what's happened. Now read on ...

Dec 18, 2003 - Today at the Commissioners Meeting in Austin, it was decided that they were going to propose - next month - changing Texas 2 Step draw days to Monday's and Thursday's. They "think" this will help. My guess is that they will also lower the starting jackpot and alter the prize structure too.

They also said they were "watching" Lotto Texas closely - yeah - they're watching it OK - they're watching it die. What amazes me is that they don't realize that the longer they let it deteriorate, the harder it will be to get players back into the game. Oh well, I'm tired of all this stuff - after the holidays, I will go on and post a form so we can file a complaint with the DA about the rule change that I believe was illegal. We'll see if our legal system works when it involves state MONEY.

With regard to the TLC refusing to tell us how many "total tickets" were sold for a Mega Millions drawing, YES, I agree this is VERY wrong. What's worse is when they tell people that they "don't know" what sales were. Folks, they know within 6 hours of the drawing per the contracts they signed to join. They even know how many tickets were sold in every state and what the liabilities are. How do you think they can figure out how much to up the next jackpot if they "don't know" what sales were?

And YES, I'll also post a form so you can obtain the sales reports that they have - you have quite a few to choose from and I'll describe them for you so you can decide what you really want to know. The only reason they don't want you to know total sales is so you can't figure out how much the jackpot winner "should" receive versus what he does receive. They hope to have enough time for the winner to collect and SIGN a release form BEFORE he finds out how much he was really entitled to. They don't want to risk having a winner take this matter to a court of law. Anyway ...

The MM rules state that each state is guaranteed 50% of sales and the players MAY or MAY NOT receive the other 50%. If the states get unlucky and has too many winners - but this has never happened - then the rule says they can forget the "guaranteed" prizes and convert them to "pari-mutuel" prizes so the state doesn't have to dip into their share of the money.

Also, for the jackpot winner, they do NOT guarantee that he will receive all that is in his prize pool either. Powerball guarantees this, but Mega Millions does not. So, what this means is that if they advertise the pot at $85 million but they "really" have enough to fund $100 million - well tough luck to the People. They keep the excess money.

Also, by offering games like MM & Lotto Texas where nobody wins for a long time, they are investing the funds allocated for the jackpot winner and making money off of it. It is my understanding that the short term earnings are not used to increase the jackpots. As you can see, state lotteries have many incentives for giving you games you can't or probably won't win until they've sold at least one half to all of the combinations in the game - for MM that's 135 million, for Lotto Texas, it's 47 million tickets. And they don't really care how long it takes either ... (FYI - The MM Group is selling about 19 million of the total 135 million combinations now and Texas is selling about 3.2 million of the 47 million combinations for Lotto Texas. They're not covering much ground - huh?)

To give you an idea of the kind of money we're talking about - right now for MM - they are holding $42.5 million to pay a jackpot winner. The figure increases with each draw - can you imagine how much they've earned off this money in the past month? If it doesn't require this much to obtain a return of whatever amount they advertise - in this case $85 million - over a 26 year period - well, they've just made more money for themselves.

This is WHY it is so UNFAIR to NOT guarantee that whoever wins the jackpot receives his FULL share of sales - at least. After all, the rule says that 63.38%, from the players 50% of sales, is allocated for the jackpot winner. To me, whoever wins, should get his share of sales plus any earnings on the interim money. But this is not what they do - they have the freedom to advertise whatever amount they want, "try" to keep total sales private, shortchange the winners then get away with it.

I say NO WAY - We live in a society that gives its People open government. We do not live in North Korea. We live in America and we elect and pay those that are suppose to take care us and protect us by giving us laws to abide. The LAW says that states agencies must disclose this kind of information freely. But they don't and they are lying when they say they don't know what total sales were. By telling anyone to make an Open Records request so they can find out how many tickets were sold for a drawing, well, that's going entirely too far.

More later.

Dec 13, 2003 - 9AM - I'm sorry ya'll but I don't know how many won with the Megaplier last night. I have not received my information from the TLC and what they have posted must be in error - they show the same number that won on Tuesday night and that's just not possible. I will post the information when I get it. OK?

Dec 12, 2003 - At 4:15 PM this afternoon, an unknown source from the TLC reported that total Mega Millions sales, for all 11 states combined, were only $6.3 million; 2 Step sales were roughly $250,000; & Cash5 sales were roughly $200,000. The unknown source further stated that because of extremely poor Mega Millions sales, G-Tech sent an email - late this afternoon - to ALL players reminding them of the MM drawing and encouraged them to play the game. I could NOT confirm Mega Millions sales, (the TLC told me to make an open records request - imagine that!) but they DID confirm that 2Step & Cash 5 sales were close to the figures I received. So ... what can I say? I'll try to obtain the actual Mega Millions sales on Monday from outside sources - the TLC refuses to release Mega Millions sales to me by phone. For those of you who reside in other Mega Millions states, you can call your state lottery and they'll probably tell you what they were. Let me know what you find out - OK?

Dec 10, 2003 - This morning I called the TLC and asked how many tickets were sold "across the country" for last night's Mega Millions drawing. They said they "didn't know" which is an out and out lie. Their contracts states that every state has to report their Mega Millions sales to every member state within 6 HOURS of the drawing.

Also, yesterday I sent an email and/or fax to every elected official in Texas about the TLC's refusal to release draw sales information for a game that Texans play. The message also included other VIP information that they needed to know about the TLC. Our "elected officials" represent YOU - not just me - and each one of them should respond immediately to protect YOU and the states money.

I will let you know what happens so you will know how your Governor, Senator and State Representative watches out for YOUR best interest. You certainly have a right to know how many tickets were sold for a drawing that you may have put your money into.

While I think most of you already know this - but just in case - everybody should read the "money details" shown on the "Drawing Results" page below each games current drawing results. For Mega Millions, this will really help you understand the impact this game has on our great state and where those dollars will go.

Now about last nights Mega Millions drawing. Sales were HORRIBLE and I'm very pleased to know that ya'll are smarter than what the TLC thinks you are. See, we're really not "suckers" and with such unrealistic odds, huge jackpots can be passed up by Texans! I'm really proud that you are not being "tempted" to spend your hard earned dollars and you're using your common sense about the reality of winning and not living in a "dream world" where this game is concerned.

From what I'm hearing, ya'll are proud of yourselves too. And YES, I can relate to how good it feels to not play then be extra glad you didn't play after you saw the drawing results.The money you didn't lose bought lunch - huh?

To give you an idea of what the TLC expected YOU to spend for a snowballs chance of winning a $54 million jackpot, here are some past Lotto Texas draw sales figures for similar jackpots:

5/44 - 7/29/03 - $47M Jackpot - Sales: $9.4M
6/54 - 6/19/02 - $50M Jackpot - Sales: $19.9M
6/54 - 11/8/00 - $48M Jackpot - Sales $13.9M
6/50 - 10/17/98 - $50M Jackpot - Sales: $23.4M
6/50 - 5/17/97 - $50M Jackpot - Sales: $27.8M
6/50 - 5/1/93 - $50M Jackpot - Sales 37.9M
Mega Million - 12/9/03 - $54M Jackpot - Sales: $1.9M

I want to thank all of you for your taking the time to write. I am TRYING to respond but am having a hard time keeping up with all the mail. But I promise, I will write each of you a personal note back - it just won't be a fast reply. OK? More later.

Dec 8, 2003 - Once again the TLC has mud on its face. It seems as though they projected sales for the first Mega Millions $44 million drawing to be in the neighborhood of $4 million but their projections fell short by a whopping 29%. This caused the Mega Millions Group to lower - their already figured next jackpot -to $54 million instead of the $56 million they had planned on prior to the close of sales.

Not only that, but Lotto Texas, Texas 2 Step and Cash 5 sales were down too. Lotto Texas sales were down roughly $1 million+ from what they should have been - for this day and time (5/44), that is - and Texas 2 Step sales were lower than they've ever been in the history of the game. About the only game that didn't seem to suffer was Pick3. That ought to tell them something - players want a game that they can win, not one that's a total rip off. We don't spend a dollar for the chance to win $3.

To give you a vague idea of what sales "should" have been for a $44 million jackpot had the TLC not angered all their customers - (These are Lotto Texas sales for similar jackpots)

5/44 - 7/23/03 - $36M Jackpot - Sales: $6.4M
5/44 - 7/26/03 - $41M Jackpot - Sales: $8.0M
5/44 - 7/29/03 - $47M Jackpot - Sales: $9.4M
6/54 - 4/23/03 - $35M Jackpot - Sales: $10.0M
6/54 - 1/18/03 - $40M Jackpot - Sales: $13.7M
6/54 - 1/22/03 - $53M Jackpot - Sales: $20.7M
6/50 - 6/3/98 - $45M Jackpot - Sales $19.7M
Mega Million - 12/5/03 - $44M Jackpot - Sales: $2.8M

If a person from Texas does NOT win the Mega Millions jackpot, from JUST the drawing held last Friday, $899,574 of Texas money WILL be sent out of state for sure. With each draw - that amount will double - at least. How 'bout that - Texas keeps half of sales then instead of making sure that a Texan wins so the money can be spent in Texas to fuel our economy, they risk sending chunks like this out of state. They "hope" it will average out - but I don't think it will. After all, they "hoped" the changes to Lotto Texas would average out too - but it hasn't.

In a nutshell, all projections the TLC has made with regard to game changes have been inaccurate - I just wonder, when will they ever learn? Reagan Greer, the Executive Director was quoted as saying, "These [Mega Millions] jackpots will be too tempting to pass up." Well, Mr. Greer, you had lots of FREE press and a Friday (payday) to sell tickets, yet Texans still passed it up. We're not stupid, we want a game that - for a lottery - is within reason of winning. Mega Millions is not the game for us. The odds are 135 million to ONE - hardly reasonable. And ,WE want our lottery money to stay in Texas. We won't settle for less than this from our lottery.

And one last thing - we want & expect Open Government - if we call and ask what "total draw sales" was for a particular TEXAS game - we expect an answer. But I didn't get an answer to this question today - I think they plan to tell me to make an Open Records request and wait at least 10 days. So, players, are you ready to make an open records request too? Maybe one of us can get an answer and it's beginning to look like I may need your help. If I do, I'll post a form to make it easy. Just so that you know it, first I plan to ask the Governor and our legislators to help me, then if they don't help rectify this situation, then I'll ask for your help. OK?

Dec. 1, 2003 - I just wanted to tell you that it will be Wednesday before I post the Mega Millions information. I received the official Mega Million contracts - Lottery Agreement, Finance & Operations Procedures, Drawing Procedures & Official Games Rules - on Friday, Nov 21, 2003. On Monday, Nov 24th, I was in Austin and tried to make arrangements to talk to Gary Grief later in the week - however - I forgot it was a holiday until Gary told me it would have to be this week because he was leaving town on Tuesday. At any rate, I was expecting to hear from Gary today so I could get some questions answered before posting this info but he didn't call. So, I'd rather postpone posting than to post something that I "may" have interpreted incorrectly. This is far too important so ... it IS coming ... so please come back!

Nov 29, 2003 - On Monday, Dec 1, I will be posting everything you want and need to know about the Mega Millions game - then YOU can decide if you want to support the game. In the meantime, I strongly urge you to watch this newscast regarding the "states claims" that they joined Mega Million to "help the schools" and give the players "what they want." It's pure hogwash! Tell me, who wants to play a game that we can't win and send our "economy fueling" money out of state?

The truth is, this is their way of enticing excessive spending by dangling huge jackpots in your faces hoping your dreams will control your mind while they smile all the way to the bank with your hard earned money ... then you'll wake up with a financial hangover the next day. Please - don't fall for it. The state of Texas will be guilty of selling us a product that they know is equivalent to throwing our money in the trash can (for private industry, this is illegal) AND risking the health of the Texas economy all at the same time.

Details, facts and figures coming Monday, Dec 1.

Nov 22, 2003 - Here's why I haven't updated this page (not really but I think you will all enjoy this message. I do have lottery news but it'll come later) ... Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests itself: I decided to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table, and notice that the trash can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first but then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye-- they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote.

Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, we will be looking for the remote, but nobody will remember that it's on the kitchen table. So I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers. I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys. Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Don't laugh - if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!