Editorial and Opinions by Dawn Nettles

For $5, a player receives $6 in lottery products. Specifically, a player receives one $2 All or Nothing ticket, one $2 Triple Chance ticket, one $1 Cash 5 ticket, one .50 cent Daily 4 ticket and one .50 Pick 3 ticket. The TLC is counting the .50 cent Pick3 and Daily 4 tickets as the FREE tickets.

TLC's intent ... the purpose of the promotion ....
It is/was an attempt to motivate players into purchasing Triple Chance & All or Nothing tickets. Triple Chance began Sept 28, 2015 and All or Nothing began Sept 10, 2012. These two games have failed miserably in spite of multiple previous promo's. The TLC does not want or will not admit failure. Especially on these two particular games - I believe it would embarrass them to admit.

Anyway, the TLC came up with Lone Star Line Up in another attempt to increase sales. They used popular games, Pick 3 and Daily 4, as bait. Yet in spite of the promotion, they have still failed to produce popularity to Triple Chance and All of Nothing as evidenced by sales - in my humble opinion - an opinion based solely on draw sales and players comments.

TLC claims they don't know how many Lone Star tickets are sold each day .... How can we believe this?
One week after the promotion began, on Oct 2, I requested draw sales for the promotion - Lone Star Line Up. I had already learned that the "free tickets" were the Pick 3 and Daily 4 tickets so I began tracking "free sales." By knowing the free sales amounts, I could easily compute total sales. But I fully expected to obtain "official" sales from the TLC as a way to proof my numbers.

Well, much to my surprise, and on Oct 17th (15 days later), I was told, "According to our Office of the Controller, Lone Star Line Up draw sales are captured at the individual game level. We would need to ask IGT if they can provide a report on the number of promotions triggered. Would you like to pursue a cost estimate to retrieve that information?”

Needless to say, I said "Yes" I'd like to receive a cost estimate which I received 10 days later. The cost quoted was $456 and it would take them another 4 weeks to deliver. They also gave me 10 days to respond. Rather than to pay their inflated costs, I filed a complaint with the TX Attorney General on Nov 6, 2016. In my letter, I did show the AG how easy it was to compute sales for this promotion that the TLC wants $456 to provide.

On November 18, 2016, I received a copy of a letter the Attorney General sent to the TLC asking for an explanation.

As of this writing ...
I still have no response from the AG. I did call them after January 1 and they kindly told me that they just haven't had time to review everything. Hmmm.

Isn't this something? These are the very folks who can issue press releases telling us how many tickets are being sold per hour and/or by the minute on large jackpot games yet they don't know how many Lone Star Line Up tickets were sold! Hogwash.

I've computed sales since the beginning of the promotion through today's date - something the TLC wants $456 and 16 hours of programming time to compute. To review Lone Star sales, click here, a pdf. Be sure to notice the decline in sales each day. Needless to say, these are NOT official figures especially in light of receiving conflicting sales figures that you'll read about next.

TLC reports impossible and/or conflicting "FREE" sales - which one is right?
Let me explain so you will understand. When a player tells a store clerk he wants to buy "Lone Star Line Up," the terminal prints; 1 Triple Chance ticket; 1 All or Nothing ticket; 1 Cash 5 ticket; one .50 cent Daily 4 ticket; and one .50 cent Pick 3 ticket. These tickets are printed simultaneously - one right after the other from the lottery terminal. Got it? So, logically, Pick3 and Daily 4 "FREE" sales should be the same amount for both Pick3 and Daily 4. Right?

Well, for the most part, they have been except for the following draws ...

Excerpts From TLC Website

Pick 3 (Left Column) and Daily 4 (Right Column)
The figures highlighted should match but they don't.

Texas Lottery Sales Reported on Nov 18, 2016 - Evening Draw
(Click on image to see original document then scroll down to Evening Draw)

Texas Lottery Sales Reported on Jan 11, 2017 - Evening Draw
(Click on image to see original document then scroll down to Evening Draw)

Texas Lottery Sales Reported on Jan 13, 2017 - Morning Draw
(Click on image to see original document then scroll down to Morning Draw)

Unreal, huh?

You may think that .50 cents in not significant, but it is. You see, this means their figures can't be trusted. This comment refers to not only sales figures but also on the number of winners for each drawing and many other things. I believe sales information comes directly from G-Tech and G-Tech agreed to provide their work "error free."

Many years ago, Commissioner Clowe once said, "we should not have conflicting sales and/or conflicting information disbursed to anyone - everyone should be giving the same information."

FYI ...
I did ask the TLC IF there was another promotion going on where free tickets may have been issued which could explain the conflicting figures. But on Jan 12, 2017, Ms. Cripe, the Media Relations Director, responded to my inquiry with, "The only active draw games promotion is Lone Star Line Up." So that means the there's no other explanation for these figures to differ. Hmmm ... Imagine that.

In conclusion ...
This is it for now. If by chance any of you have received Lone Star Line Up sales, please share them with me!

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