Category Archives: Jackpot!

The much-maligned bonus ball of the Texas Lottery is officially kaput. Starting in late April, players will choose six numbers between 1 and 54 rather than five numbers between 1 and 44 and one bonus ball from 1 to 44. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The good news is that under a proposal by the Texas Lottery Commission, your odds of winning the jackpot will increase. The bad news is, the payout for everything else will decline. Currently, players can win the Lotto Texas jackpot … Continue reading → Continue reading →

An old, familiar name has surfaced as a candidate for the top job at the Texas Lottery Commission: Talmadge Heflin. Heflin, a Houston Republican who served 22 years in the Texas House before being defeated in 2004, said Wednesday that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Anybody wanna buy a lottery vendor? No felons or other people of low moral character need apply. The Rhode Island company that operates many of the Texas lottery’s most popular games is up for sale, and state officials are looking … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What the heck. It’s been a few months. Let’s have some more State House hearings on bad mojo at the Texas Lottery Commission. Texas Lottery officials were summoned Tuesday to testify before a legislative committee for the second time in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today is apparently Release Embarrassing Emails Day. Next up, the Texas Lottery Commission, an agency that ought to be pretty accustomed to embarrassing revelations these days. The House committee that oversees the Texas Lottery is investigating claims by a senior … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Texas Lottery Commission is set to take action on the recent sore spot of overinflated jackpots by passing a rule to guarantee prize amounts. If the proposed rule is adopted, the grand prize winner will be paid either the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There are nine finalists, including one familiar name, for the job of Texas Lottery Director. A special search committee will begin Friday to interview nine finalists for the position, whittled down from 126 applicants. Only one of the nine people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We know that changes are coming at the Texas Lottery Commission after its summer of scandal. Now there will also be changes to the Lottery itself as the TLC struggles to reverse bad sales trends. The Texas Lottery is on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today is a good day to be glad that you don’t work for the Texas Lottery Commission, where regular firings for no apparent reason appear to be business as usual. According to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle and interviews … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I suppose this is standard operating procedure, but it’s still amusing to come across a want ad for the job of Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director. At least, I assume it’s standard procedure, since one presumes that Reagan Greer, who’d … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m happy to say that it looks like the Texas Lottery Commission really is serious about finding a good director. A lottery critic, the executive director of the State Bar of Texas and a member of the Texas Ethics Commission … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Awhile back, I noted that the Lottery Commission had gutted its security division, then tried to cover that fact up. This is the sort of work that the Lottery investigators did. A former employee of the Texas Lottery Commission has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, this is potentially refreshing. In a gesture of openness, Texas Lottery commissioners announced Monday that, for the first time, a committee of state officials and private citizens outside the lottery will help find the agency’s next leader. […] Commission … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s a little hard to believe after all the Reagan Greer fiascos we’ve heard about lately, but there are still more revelations about Lottery-related shenanigans coming to light. Texas Lottery executives were warned in a draft audit last winter that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There were straws in the wind earlier this week that embattled Lottery Commission Executive Director Reagan Greer might get fired by the Commission, but today he spared them the bother by resigning. “It has become clear to me over the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Lottery Commission chairman Reagan Greer was in the hot seat today as the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee looked into the expanding scandal over inflated jackpots. Among the latest revelations is an admission that they believe in killing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Oh, I hope someone liveblogs this. Texas lottery officials could face tough questions and some nasty wrist-slapping today when they testify before lawmakers about inflating several Texas Lotto jackpot estimates. But they would face more scrutiny under a bill filed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And they say “We screwed up”. “We’re just looking for answers and see what they have to say,” assistant committee clerk Cynthia Venecia said Friday. At the lottery commission’s meeting Friday, officials acknowledged that they knew estimated ticket sales would … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I can’t wait to hear this. A Texas lottery chief is expected to detail today why the state advertised an $8 million jackpot this month when available prize money fell short by more than $1 million. The error, also slated … Continue reading → Continue reading →

More bad news for the Texas Lottery. The Texas Lottery Commission suspended sales of tickets for its Pick 3 game Thursday night after the lottery operator said there was a computer code problem associated with the game. Drawings for the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In our last episode, we talked about the Texas Lottery’s funding shortfalls, and how it had exaggerated a jackpot total because it didn’t have the sales receipts to cover it. Today, the Chron writes that the shortfalls are ongoing. The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Yesterday, the Star-Telegram reported on a complaint filed by Lotto watchdog Dawn Nettles that the state Lottery Commission had inflated the advertised jackpot due to slow ticket sales. Lottery officials re-jected the allegations but acknowledged that because of lagging ticket … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mega Millions, the bigass multistate lottery that Texas joined in 2003, is tinkering with its system. — Players will choose five numbers from 1 to 56 and then a Mega Ball number from a second field of 1 to 46. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sorry, Lottery fans. The proposal that was recently floated to allow lottery tickets to be sold online has been scotched. Lawmakers, seeking ways to help fund the state budget, rejected a measure, 89-52, that would have raised as much as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You know, I was just thinking that the problem with buying lottery tickets these days is that you have to actually leave your house and go to some kind of retail store to do it. Well, thanks to our ever-forward-thinking … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You can make whatever observations and draw whatever conclusions you want about the demographics of Texas Lottery players. To me, the big story is right here: Fewer people gambled on Texas Lottery games last year than ever, but those who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Missed this on Friday: Popular scratch-off games and a record lottery jackpot propelled the Texas Lottery to its second-highest sales during fiscal year 2004. Unaudited sales figures of all products totaled nearly $3.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Texas Lottery Commission is planning to roll out self service lottery machines. Let me say that again, because I’m still not quite sure I believe what I’ve just written. The Texas Lottery Commission is planning to roll out SELF … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s pretty much gotta suck to lose a winning lottery ticket worth $162 million. CLEVELAND — A $162 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot belongs to a woman who says she lost the winning ticket, even if someone else finds it, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I don’t really have a whole lot to say about the so-far meager sales of Mega Millions lottery tickets. Maybe it’ll eventually be a hit, maybe it won’t overcannibalize sales of Texas Lotto, and maybe it’ll sink like a mastodon … Continue reading → Continue reading →

After many twists and turns, Texas will be joining a multistate lottery system. It just won’t be Powerball. Texas is placing its bets on the multistate lottery Mega Millions, noted for its record-setting jackpots and 1-in-135 million odds, the Lottery … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Looks like I may have spoken too soon about Powerball. The House and Senate have not agreed on a bill to authorize it yet, and the clock is ticking. If the two chambers can’t agree on lottery by Monday, dreams … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Texas House has approved a bill that would allow Texas to join with other states in the Powerball lottery, a move that supporters say could bring in another $100 million per year. I guess that means the answer to … Continue reading → Continue reading →