Editorial & Opinions by Dawn Nettles

-------------------------

Questions & Answers

Q. Have you ever see the Texas Lottery pay a prize that was higher than the amount shown on the back of the ticket and where the lottery terminal said it was worth less that the face value when scanned by the retailers?
A. Yes. At least twice. Two players contacted me years ago who held winning tickets for Set for Life. The face value of the tickets were something like $1,270 and $1,780 - prize amounts clearly not listed on the back of the ticket. They scanned for $10 and $20 winners but the players knew better so they called me for help. Once I got involved, the Texas Lottery immediately closed the game and my two players received their full prize amount. The Texas Lottery made Scientific Games pay the claims.

Q. Why did you not suggest that we send our letters to the Texas Lottery Commission too?
A. I felt like it was a waste of postage. Though many of you have sent them copies which is fine. It's putting you on the record.

I suppose you have all noticed how they say they want you to come to them with your complaints and many, many folks have. But the Texas Lottery denies any wrong doing and all they do is try to convince you that the interpretation is something other than what it actually says. Most people fear trying to fight government and they tend to give up easily.

The other reason I felt it was useless to contact the Texas Lottery is because the Chairman of the Texas Lottery, J. Winston Krause, is an admitted tax evader. The IRS gave the Chairman an opportunity to voluntarily come forward but he didn't. Rather Chairman Krause waited until the IRS came after him. Then he paid the taxes he owed. Then a few years later, Chairman Krause sued the IRS demanding that they return the penalties and interest he had paid them. He lost his case in Civil Court, then he appealed it in the 5th Circuit which he lost there too. Because of this, I tend to think Commissioner Krause won't give in unless he's forced down. Anything for a fast buck!

Today, law professors use his case to teach students what NOT to do. Click here if you want to read the entire story.

One more reason ... a couple of years ago the Texas Lottery kept prize money that they were not entitled to keep. You see, if you collect a prize from the lottery but you fail to cash your check, they are bound by law to turn that money over to the Comptroller of Texas as unclaimed monies. But the Texas Lottery needed that money to help offset a shortage.

The lottery turned this prize money ($35,000) over to the Comptroller after my story appeared on my website. Boy, I heard they were really pissed for getting caught on this one! <grin> Click here to read this story.

Given the track record of the Texas Lottery and knowing how they think and work, I have no faith that they would do the honorable thing in this case if we just contacted them. Your complaint means nothing to them. Having said that, do know the Texas Lottery CAN honor your tickets if this is what they feel they should do. They could make this decision tomorrow!

Right now all they are doing is allowing more people to purchase these tickets and get angry because they can't collect on the prize they think they won.

Q. Can the Texas Lottery afford to pay this many claims?
A. Absolutely. For one thing, they will blame the manufacturer of the ticket and will make them settle up. IF the lottery decides to just take responsibility for their massive error, they have sufficient funds from many games. For instance, players are suppose to see a 50% return from sales paid to players in way of prizes. For games like Pick3, Daily4, Megaplier and PowerPlay - they have a whole bunch of excess money because they do not return 50% of sales.

I imagine they'll counter this statement by saying, "Oh but wait a minute, we pay out far more on Lotto Texas than 50%". And yes, they foolishly do. They shouldn't advertise an amount they can't fund from sales so they have no one to blame but themselves and their foolish thinking.

Plus, they have millions upon millions of unclaimed prize money that they turn over to the state. The state may have to donate some of that money to the cause. This wouldn't have been necessary if the Commission had taken fast action immediately upon learning of players perceptions. But they thought they would ride this one out without any problems or exposure. See what I mean about unclaimed prizes, click here.

There have been two other games where the lottery continued to sell tickets after they were shown they were deceptive tickets. These two games will come out during trials when the time comes. Attorney's who want this info, please feel free to call me.

Q. What do you anticipate will happen next?
A. Well, as I explained, I hope the Legislature and the DA's will suggest to the Texas Lottery that they honor the face value of our tickets. Some of my "smart folks" from Austin, Dallas & Houston have told me that I'm being naive "again" - this will never happen! But I am going to recommend that we give the Lottery sufficient time (several more weeks) before we take any other action.

If no action from them, then we will be hiring lawyers. They will send a Demand Letter (click here to read a sample Demand letter) to the Texas Lottery. This is the first step in a lawsuit.

I don't know if the Texas Lottery has ever received 250 or so demand letters within a weeks time but this is exactly what we will do if we are forced down. Do NOT panic. Lawyers will represent most of you on a contingency basis which means you pay nothing and they will collect their fees when you collect.

I am currently asking for help on attorney's to refer should this be necessary. I'm hoping we don't have to do this but I can assure you, I will and from what ya'll are telling me, you will too.

I understand that a number of you have already retained attorney's - please keep me advised on your case and thank you for sharing your information with me.

Q. What effect has all the media had? And just how many stories has there been?
A. I have not seen all that has been written in the newspapers about the Fun 5's scratch ticket. I've been told it was shown on NBC (TV) statewide, is being covered by Social Media and I've done several radio interviews but I haven't heard any of them.

Here's a few links to some of the many stories ....

Media Coverage - Fun 5's
ABC - KTRK TV Houston
NBC - KXAS - Dallas
Houston Chronicle
Dallas Morning News
Kens5 - San Antonio - TV.
Dallas Observer
Click 2 - Houston
Fox News
Austin Statesman/Longview
Good Morning America - Can't find link

Social Media - I don't get into social media but
I understand players are posting there. This may be
my next learning experience.
Radio: KRLD, Dallas and one other one.

As for what these stories have done, they've exposed the Texas Lottery for wrongdoing - in my humble opinion. This is extremely bad press for the Texas Lottery.

Q. This is election time, why are we not sending our letters to those running for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General in November? Seems like this is a perfect opportunity to test their integrity and see if they will hold the Texas Lottery accountable. Don't you agree?
A. Absolutely. I didn't specify this as I felt it would scare too many people and they wouldn't do anything. I suggested that they send copies of their letter to their State Senator and their State Representative. The Senate and the House of Representatives have direct oversight of the Texas Lottery. Your Senator and State Reps will respond to your letters. From their response, you will know if you want to vote for him in the next election. He is suppose to represent you and your best interests. He clearly should not allow the Texas Lottery to sell a deceptive product to consumers.

It is important that you know that General Greg Abbott is the Texas Lottery's attorney - it appears he is allowing the Texas Lottery to continue selling the Fun 5's ticket and is planning to let the heat fall on the lottery vendors. But this tells us that he will allow the lottery to take advantage of Texans. Imagine what he might do if elected as Governor.

For those of you who are willing to send more letters, may I suggest that you send copies to State Senator Wendy Davis & Attorney General Gregg Abbott. These two are running against each other for Governor.

Running for Lieutenant Governor is State Senator Dan Patrick & State Senator Leticia Van de Putte.

Competing for Attorney General is Sam Houston and State Senator Ken Paxton.

You can find the Senators addresses by clicking here.

Greg Abbott address is: PO Box 308, Austin, TX 78767.

Sam Houston's address is: 1302 Waugh, #323 Houston, TX 77019.

Q. If it's true that scratch tickets sales are 75% to 80% of the lottery's total income, why would they be so foolish as to jeopardize that income?
A. About the same reason they were foolish enough to change some games that caused players to quit playing. Go see how sales for the games have declined. Click here.

Q. Should we hire lawyers? Wouldn't this be better for us? When will we know something?
A.We need to give the Lottery, our elected officials and the DA's time to respond. You must be patient for now. Just keep your tickets in a safe place and wait until it's time for us to do something. If you are inpatient, then go on and hire an attorney.

I think it would be sad for the Texas Lottery to force us into hiring lawyers given the fact that the lawyers will most likely get 30% to 40% of what ever they settle for or are awarded by a jury. The Texas Lottery is notorious for going all the way to trial day then they try hard to settle. Usually attorney's advise their clients to settle telling you that you never know what a jury would do. This is true to some degree but I won't settle - I will take my chances with a jury.

The Texas Lottery does not want a public trial because they have things they don't want exposed.

Q. Will this be a class action lawsuit?
A. No, I don't think so. Not on the Fun 5's ticket. I think everyone would be better off going it alone. Do understand, I am not a lawyer so I could be wrong.

Q. I've put your web address up on social media, is that OK?
A. Absolutely. I truly appreciate those of you who tried to help me by giving my web address telling people where to go to find out what to do if you have tickets with a money bag on them. The Dallas Mornings failed to give that information which caused my phone to ring off the wall! They did a great story - they just didn't tell tell players that I was lottoreport.com.

Q. They ARE the Texas Lottery. They can't make mistakes can they?
A. Boy did this statement caused me to laugh out loud. Yes, the Texas Lottery makes lots of mistakes as we all do. I have files full of errors made by the Texas Lottery. Sometimes though they aren't really errors - I believe some are purposely done.

To name just a few of the many errors - let's look at the All or Nothing game. They started this game and played it for nine (9) months before they figured out that they put the state at serious financial risk. You see, the rule guaranteed that everyone who matched all 12 numbers or NO numbers would receive $250K.

I told them they had a serious mistake in their rule but they didn't catch it. Hundreds of players would play all odd numbers; all even numbers; numbers 1 - 12; and numbers 13-24. If just one of these combinations had been drawn - the state would have been obligated to payout $50M to $100 million for one drawing.

When they realized their mistake, they immediately shut this game down and changed the rule to put a cap on winning the jackpot.

Then you have the "on purpose error" where they advertised a jackpot they could not pay legally. At first they denied it - in essence they said I was crazy - then they had to fess up. If you recall, the Executive Director resigned over this one.

They have printed materials with errors in the drawing results and errors on their web site.

The lottery terminals err in reading bar codes on winning tickets.

That's enough for this subject. Bottom line, yes, the Texas Lottery makes mistakes even though they have a huge staff. The Fun 5's ticket is definitely a mistake and was caused by pure negligence by all parties involved and it appears they lack integrity and ethics.

Q. I feel so cheated. And I'm afraid the Texas Lottery will get away with this. Do you really believe we'll see justice?
A. If you stand up and fight for your rights, I think you will prevail in the end. The lottery is counting on ya'll quitting. Remember one thing, quitters never win.

Q. I've seen comments posted online where it seems some people believe the instructions say you have to have the 3 fives in a row, column, or line to win with the money bag. They are calling us "greedy players hoping to get something for nothing." Do you think these are inside people making these comments.
A. Yes, that's exactly what I think. I've seen this in other places where players are led to believe that only "players are commenting." I personally believe the commenters are lottery employees & vendors employees.

Q. I don't know if you are familar with Lottery Post, but they generally have all news stories posted where players can comment. Did you know they do not have the Fun 5's story posted?
A. Yes, I am familar with Lottery Post but NO, I am not surprised that they have not posted this story on their site. Three reasons I suspect it's not posted ...1) anything involving me they don't share with their readers; 2) players are allowed to post their opinions and I think they are afraid that the majority would agree with what all of you are saying and finally, 3) I don't think this site is what many people are led to believe it is. Some federal entity should investigate the ownership of this site - in my humble opinion. I could be wrong but this is what I think.

Q. I saw on the news where a couple has already hired an attorney. Do you know if many people already hired lawyers?
A. I know of several that are preparing cases at this time. I personally will hold off to give the system time to work IF it does. If it doesn't, then I too will be retaining an attorney and I will advise you to do the same.

Q. Should I decide to just go on and hire an attorney now, do you have any advice?
A. Absolutely ... 1) make sure the attorney is Board Certified. 2) read the fine print of your agreement. 3) the attorney should advance all expenses and 4) the attorney should take your case on a contingency. And finally, 5) make sure he is a trial lawyer. Meaning he's got experience in trying cases in court. In some cases, you might prefer to pay the attorney rather than have him take a percentage of your claim.

You must believe in yourself and trust what you interpret - don't let others convince you otherwise. You really do have a strong, strong case and attorney's have confirmed this. This is a Deceptive Business Practices case.

Q. How can the Texas Lottery afford to pay legal fee's to fight a potential 200+ lawsuits?
A. The Texas Lottery probably believes they will not be facing lawsuits - they are thinking that players will end up suing the manufacturers of the ticket. Of course, the Texas Lottery will have to face the legislature for their negligence in this matter and the agency will be drug through the court proceedings which will end up being very ugly and revealing.

I would suspect that there will be some serious personnel changes as a result of this ticket. As there should be.

Q. I have a Fun 5's ticket that is a winner on game 3 but the ticket also has a money bag in game 5. My prize is much larger in game 5. Can I cash it in but keep my ticket?
A. The retailer is suppose to destroy all tickets that he pays. I would hang on to that ticket until you see how all this plays out. If the Texas Lottery closes the game, then you have 180 days to claim your prizes. If this case is still in litigation then, I would advise you to collect your winnings between 170 to 179 days after the close date - BUT make the store understand up front that you must get your ticket back. Then the Texas Lottery can't cite any wrongdoings in your actions.

------------------------------

Fun 5's Updates - Keep up with what's happening!
Current Fun 5's Update Page, click here
Fun 5's Update #3 Jan 26, 2016 - Dec 11, 2016 ... Click here
Fun 5's Update #2 Jan 29, 2015 - Dec 7, 2015 ... Click here
Fun 5's Update #1 Oct 3, 2014 - Dec 9, 2014 ... Click here

----------------------

The Lawyers Blog
Updated June 23, 2020 - Mark Lanier, the lead
appellate attorney for the lottery players in the
Fun 5's case, won a $2.1 BILLION dollar
appeal in the Johnson & Johnson case. WOW!
No Sovereign Immunity for G-Tech/IGT.
Texas Supreme Court says, they can't lie
to us and get away with it. Our cases will be
heard in the courts. Click here