My Letter to All Legislators
Issue: New Lotto Texas Rule
47.7 million-to-one odds

5-6-03

To All Members of the Texas Legislature:

I am writing, one more time, to respectfully request that each one of
you please write ONE letter to the Texas Lottery and specifically
oppose the new Lotto Texas rule AND request that it be rescinded,
reversed and/or voided - if - you have not already done so.

While I agree that investigations are certainly in order, and for more
issues than what has recently been reported, we both know it does not
take an "investigation" for the Commissioners to reverse this rule. It
only takes a letter from you.

If you will forgive me for my bluntness - it appears to me that the TLC
has made many of you look like idiots. I say this because of the trust
you must have placed in the TLC as you replied to your constituents
last month. Many of you told your constituents that there was nothing
you could do and to contact the TLC. Bad suggestion - they had
already done that. They were coming to you asking that you speak
for them and you turned them down. They are mad ... to say the least.

Then some of you sent letters stating the "overall odds of winning"
were improving - bad idea. Nobody plays the Lotto to win $3 and $5.
It was pointed out that there would be "25% more winners." Another
bad idea - that did nothing more than anger both the players and retailers.
Why? $3 and $5 is pocket change - a complete waste of the players
share of sales. For retailers, this means this many more people will be
taking up their time to collect $3 and $5. They don't get paid for cashing
"winning" tickets, it reduces the bonuses store managers receive based
on "total store transactions," and finally, it makes their "profitable"
customers wait in longer lines. Not to mention that the 47.7 million-to-one
odds means fewer retailer bonuses for those who may sell THE winning
ticket. Hardly an incentive to help the state increase sales.

Now I'll just bet you're thinking - but the retailers will make more money.
Wrong again. The TLC estimated that for fiscal 2004, sales would
increase by $118,000,000. Retailers get 5% - that's $5.9 million.
There are 17,000 stores - that's an average of $347 per year per
store - less than $1 per day raise. And, my guess is, they won't see
this much simply because the people of Texas are so angry. It will
take far longer than the TLC anticipates to build those pots under
these circumstances - just like it did when they added the balls.

The TLC wants you to believe that the additional 4 balls didn't work
because "players got lucky and beat the odds." Hogwash. Since they
added those 4 balls, there have been 292 drawings and only 59 of
those were won. The pots didn't reach the levels they wanted because
sales didn't warrant it. End result - the state lost revenue.

Some of you actually told your constituents that you didn't appreciate
the way I handled this situation. That was very interesting to me. Why?
Because every election day, the state provides thousands of locations
for voters to vote and those locations are highly publicized as are your
issues. When one votes, they fill out a "form." The "forms" are counted
and whoever has the most "check marks" or "holes" - wins the election.
You all have feedback forms on your sites. Well, I do too. We went to the
TLC first - they completely ignored the people - You tell me, who else
can the people go to with this issue? The Texas Legislature has full
oversight of the TLC. The AG has none.

In the case of this "substantial" rule change - the state provided NO
publicity and no locations were provided for players to "comment."
In fact, the TLC wouldn't accept emails and threw out any comments
that were received prior to the comment period or after the comment
period. So - I provided a location and a form - but like voting - the
people spoke freely and at will, they chose what they wanted to say
and I delivered their messages for them. In this case, the only votes
that counted were those from the "TLC's family." How many of you
are sitting where you are because "your family" voted for you or are
you there because you received the majority of the votes?

I am prepared to post yet another feedback form and let your
constituents write to you again. But I don't want to do this
unless you make me. If those people write you for a third time,
to request that this letter be written, they are absolutely going
to remember this and what you did for the MAJORITY.

Currently, I have 1800+ letters to send to the retailers on this
issue. Fortunately, I received equally as many messages
telling me that they were sending their own letters so I wouldn't
have to do it. How do you think Diamond Shamrock, Krogers,
EXXON, Mobil, Randalls, 7-Eleven, Albertsons etc are going
to react when they receive literally hundreds of letters from their
customers asking them to oppose this rule and/or pull their
lottery terminals?

The lottery is an excellent source of revenue for the state but
unfortunately, Texas has simply followed suit of other state
lotteries that are and have FAILED. The reason they failed is
because the lottery prizes weren't worth the purchase. Texas
COULD have a profitable and highly successful lottery - but the
word GREED must be removed from its image. Accept what
the people are willing to give freely - any lottery is guaranteed
success unless those running it run it into the ground. Then
the state loses.

I beg you - please write that letter for your constituents. Don't
turn your backs on the people who put you where you are today.

Thank you for any consideration you will give to this matter.

Sincerely,

Dawn Nettles
The Lotto Report
Garland, Texas 75043
(972) 686-0660