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Texas lottery considers eliminating lotto ballsNews Story
The familiar white, numbered balls that have determined the winners of hundreds of millions of dollars in Texas lottery prizes may get bounced. The Texas Lottery Commission is taking a first, cautious step toward using a computer to replace the rubber balls used since the games began in 1992.It's early in the conceptual stage, but lottery officials have looked at computerized random number generator systems that, linked with animations, are used by a handful of lotteries to pick the winning nu
Sep 15, 2003, 4:16 am - Lottery News

Lotto Plus Going Back To Just Plain LottoNews Story
The long odds of winning the Washington state lottery will get slightly shorter.Starting Oct. 5, the state will drop the Plus from Lotto Plus and change the game to increase the number of winners.In Lotto Plus, players pick five numbers out of 43 and one number out of 23, giving them a 1-in-11 million chance of winning the jackpot in the Wednesday and Saturday drawings.The Saturday jackpot was $41 million, the highest it has been.Starting next month, six winning numbers will be randomly chosen
Sep 15, 2003, 4:08 am - Lottery News

Mega Millions Lottery Disappoints, Officials SayNews Story
The whole point of the Mega Millions lottery was huge jackpots, headline jackpots, crowds-mobbing-the-gas-stations jackpots.But more than a year after the multi-state Mega Millions lottery was created, the top prizes haven't been the record-breakers organizers had hoped -- leaving the 10 member states still waiting for a lottery windfall to cushion falling tax revenues.You might call it a case of bad luck. The lottery grew out of the seven-state Big Game, which set an American record for a singl
Sep 15, 2003, 3:59 am - Lottery News

Bredesen defends state lottery CEO's annual pay packageNews Story
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said Thursday that Rebecca Paul's potential $752,000 annual salary package involves a much more businesslike arrangement than a similar amount paid to former University of Tennessee President John Shumaker. I don't think that's legitimate at all, said the governor when asked at a brief news conference if it was fair to compare the two pay packages. I think there's much more accountability in this process, Bredesen said. For example, Rebecca Paul has a job now th
Sep 12, 2003, 3:32 am - Lottery News

State misses the jackpot with Mega MillionsNews Story
Mega Millions, Washington's foray into the world of multistate lottery gambling, has been a mega-disappointment. The state, one of 10 partners in the country's largest jackpot game, had about $51 million in sales during its first year of participation, which ended last week. That's less than half the $117 million originally projected.Proceeds for education and school construction, originally predicted to be $32 million, turned out to be $13 million.Lottery officials attribute the disappointing p
Sep 9, 2003, 4:01 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery sales climb by more than 5 percentNews Story
Texas Lottery sales grew by the largest margin in six years, jumping 5 percent in the 2003 fiscal year, the Texas Lottery Commission said Monday. Sales were $3.13 billion for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, compared to $2.96 billion in the previous year, said Reagan Greer, executive director of the commission. This represents the largest increase since 1997.Of the $955.2 million that was transferred to the state, $888.1 million went to the Foundation School Fund, Greer said.Another $67 million
Sep 9, 2003, 3:56 am - Lottery News

GTech has winning lottery ticket, checkered pastNews Story
A Rhode Island company that practically built the nation's state lottery business just added the Florida Lottery as the missing gem to its crown jewels.GTech Corp. last week became the successful bidder to run the Florida Lottery system. With Florida in hand, the company will run all five of the country's biggest state lottery systems - New York, Texas, Georgia, California and Florida. Altogether, GTech will operate 26 of the 36 state lottery systems, plus the Washington, D.C., system. We genera
Sep 8, 2003, 3:44 am - Lottery News

9/11 widow now officially running Jersey's lottery businessNews Story
When Virginia Bauer first emerged into public view it was during the black days that followed Sept. 11 when the World Trade Center widow became a vigorous advocate for the victims' families.At the time, the mother of three from Rumson was grief stricken over the loss of her husband of 21 years, David, but somehow summoned the strength to become a leader in the effort to get federal tax relief for survivors. She traveled to Washington where she testified before Congress; she met with President Bu
Aug 22, 2003, 3:54 am - Lottery News

Alaska Eyeing Powerball, Expanded GamblingNews Story
House Speaker Pete Kott says it's a good bet that plans to expand gambling in Alaska will soon meet success in the state House. Lawmakers and state officials are working over the summer on proposals for video gambling machines and a lottery, both to help ease the state's budget problems. There is even starting to be talk about off-track betting parlors in Alaska.Kott, a Republican from Eagle River, predicts that some form of gaming will move forward in the next legislative session, which starts
Aug 18, 2003, 7:38 am - Lottery News

Washington jackpot at record highNews Story
Tomorrow's Washington State Lottery Lotto Plus game is at a record high of $33 million.The highest jackpot paid out under the Jackpot Plus game was in July 2002, when two people divided a $30 million jackpot.The lottery payout record was in October 2000 under the Lotto game, the predecessor to Lotto Plus, with a jackpot of $32 million, which three winners shared. (Ticket) sales go up dramatically with a big jackpot, said Eric Jones, Lottery spokesman.Lottery officials expect $1.75 million worth
Aug 15, 2003, 3:25 am - Lottery News