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Senate panels look into privatizing Texas LotteryNews Story
As state revenue from the Texas Lottery continues to decline, two Senate committees on Wednesday began searching for ways to boost the state's take from the games of chance including the possible privatization of the entire lottery operation. Senators indicated they are willing to look at a variety of options to get the revenue flow back on an upward track after recent declines - including a drop to about $975 million this fiscal year after several straight years of totals over $1 billion - a
Aug 30, 2008, 12:41 am - Lottery News

Privatization of Texas lottery may get 2nd look in 2009News Story
Texans could buy lottery tickets at the checkout lines in supermarkets and big-box department stores, at coffee shops and cabarets. They could pay with credit cards or personal checks and play online or the old-fashioned way with a ticket that's also a tiny ad for anything from soft drinks to sporting events. Those are just some of the proposals offered to state officials by some of the nation's largest financial firms that have an interest in remaking the 16-year-old government-run Texas Lot
Apr 8, 2008, 10:42 am - Lottery News

Texas students rank USA lotteriesNews Story
California, Pennsylvania best; Tennessee worst Gerald Busald is at it again. For more than a decade, the 65-year-old math professor at San Antonio College has turned scrutiny of the Texas Lottery into a classroom project. Armed with calculators, Busald and his students have exposed false advertising, attracted the media spotlight and sparked change. This year, Busald and his students are aiming beyond Texas. On Friday, they unveiled a ranking of every lottery in the United States based
Dec 20, 2007, 7:34 pm - Lottery News

Lottery juggling whether to ban smoking at ticket outletsNews Story
The Texas Lottery Commission is considering a ban on selling tickets in stores that allow smoking after a recent attorney general's opinion suggested the practice could open the state to civil rights lawsuits. Anti-smoking and civil rights advocates urged the commission at a meeting Wednesday to re-evaluate how it licenses vendors and to not allow smoking where tickets are sold. They are concerned that secondhand smoke prevents people with disabilities or illnesses related to smoke from bu
Dec 6, 2007, 7:56 am - Lottery News

Anti-smoking proponents want to use the lottery to enact more bansNews Story
Man calls lottery sales in smoky store 'discrimination' The Texas Lottery Commission's sale of tickets in stores that allow smoking could be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the attorney general's office said. Lewisville resident Billy Williams complained to the commission in 2006 that he had an asthma attack after buying a ticket at a smoky store. He said his rights were violated because the store allowed smoking. After Billy J. Williams drove to a salvage yard 100
Nov 12, 2007, 8:56 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery to add 'Sum It Up' feature to Pick 3 gameNews Story
Daily 4 launch deemed 'successful' On September 30, the Texas Lottery launched a brand new game, Daily 4 with an add-on feature called Sum It Up. According to unaudited numbers, the game and associated add-on feature brought in more than $5.2 million during the first three weeks of sales. Of that number, approximately $1.2 million came directly from sales of Sum It Up. The Texas Lottery is hoping to strike gold a second time, by adding the Sum It Up feature to the state's other daily n
Oct 30, 2007, 12:21 pm - Lottery News

Texas Lottery joins missing seniors programNews Story
The Texas Lottery Commission in September joined the newly-opened Silver Alert Network, which assists efforts by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to find missing senior citizens. The Texas Lottery Commission is working in conjunction with the Division of Emergency Management at the DPS, the state agency tasked by Governor Rick Perry with implementing the Amber Alert Network in Texas. The Texas Lottery is now issuing alerts at the 16,000-plus Lottery retail locations on LED screens and
Oct 22, 2007, 8:12 am - Lottery News

Some States Consider Leasing Their LotteriesNews Story
As chief operating officer of the California Department of Finance, Fred Klass gets pitches from Wall Street bankers as often as the rest of us might get cold calls from telemarketers or insurance agents. But when Kathleen Brown of Goldman Sachs came to his office earlier this year and suggested privatizing the state lottery, Mr. Klass listened closely. It wasn't merely because Ms. Brown happened to be a former state treasurer as well as the daughter of one famous California governor and the
Oct 16, 2007, 10:05 am - Lottery News

Scientific Games to close Texas plantNews Story
Lottery operator Scientific Games Corp said it plans to close its plant in San Antonio, Texas, citing adequate production capacity in its other plants worldwide, a move that will affect about 350 jobs. Some of the plant's technicians and managers will be offered the opportunity to relocate to other Scientific Games operations, the company said in a statement. Scientific Games also offered severance packages, arrangements for continuity of health insurance, and outplacement assistance to th
Sep 26, 2007, 12:29 pm - Lottery News

Texas lottery winner invests in unusual historical motelNews Story
A bit of American history quirky and curious, but history nonetheless huddles next to old U.S. 59, past the tractor dealers and the rice mills, just before a green sign that proclaims Wharton's population of 9,237. It's easy to miss. But it is there, just around the bend: a row of 10 freshly painted, sand-colored tepees. As in the Tee Pee Motel, a throwback to the 1940s and '50s, when taking a drive was still in style and roadside businesses used gimmicky architecture like a gas stat
Sep 24, 2007, 11:56 am - Lottery News