Greetings friends and neighbors, boys and girls, moms and dads and anyone I may have omitted. Allow me to introduce myself:
My name is Jim. I'm a lottery junkie from Indiana. I've been a lurker here for quite sometime and I finally decided to register. Before I begin my diatribe let me first say a special hello to a few of the folks I have enjoyed reading here at Lottery Post. A special hello to Todd, Tenaj, Cash Only, Sir Brad, Lotto Mike and to my fellow Hoosiers Loosing Jeff and my namesake Jim. (You 2 guys will want to pay attention to this. You'll love it!) And I also want to say a special word to a long time Lottery Post member I have especially enjoyed reading:
Preach on Brother Chewie! Preach on!
Let's get right to it. I've seen the polls and read the posts here on Lottery Post about the best and worst state lotteries. Some of you are critical of your state's respective lotteries and consider them to be the worst in the country. Well, just be thankful you don't live in Indiana. Our lottery is hands down the worst in World!
I have been critical of the Hoosier Lottery for some time now and I have taken the time to call them and write them and express my concerns to them. While I don't believe my efforts have been as fruitful as those of my fellow Hoosiers (Jim and Jeff) they have produced some interesting results and revelations. Recently I had a series of e-mail exchanges with the Executive Director of the Hoosier Lottery, Esther Q. Schneider and some of you might find the results interesting.
In November of this year, (after several fruitless phone calls) I wrote the Hoosier Lottery to express my concerns regarding the integrity (or more appropriately the lack thereof) of the Hoosier Lottery. My main concern was of course the computerized RNG used to pick the winning numbers along with the secretive nature of the drawings. (The drawings are not televised and are conducted in a "closed" security room at the Hoosier Lottery.) I had several other complaints as well ranging from the disclaimer in the back of Hoosier Lottery tickets requiring winners to participate in press conferences, media and public relations interviews, agreeing to allow the Hoosier Lottery "lifetime" rights to use their picture and comments in promotions, to poor prize payouts, rigged scratch off games and the disproportionate number of winners from Marion County (the seat of the State Capital). The upshot of it all was I told them I had come to believe the Hoosier Lottery was rigged and that I would no lnger play. (NOTE: I sent them several links to stories and remarks posted here at Lottery Post. Much to my surprise they were completely unaware of anything that had ever been said here [and seemed completely stunned by my remarks that the Hoosier Lottery is often considered to be the most crooked and corrupt Lottery in the country] and claimed they didn't even know the site existed.)
I was quite surprised to receive a reply form the Executive director of the Hoosier Lottery herself. It was rather short and said simply that she had read my e-mail and would like to reply. She said she had several pages of documentation to attach and asked if I would provide my mailing address so she sould send them to me. I readily agreed and thanked her for her her time and concern in the matter. Do I have to tell you that over a month went by and I recieved absolutely nothing from the Hoosier Lottery.
The night of the Christmas Eve Hoosier Lottery drawing I went to Hoosier Lottery website to check my numbers. (Yes, despite saying I would no longer play I broke down and bought a few tickets.) As Loosing Jeff has pointed out here the results were not posted. but more disturbing than that was the information I found posted under the game section of the website. The Hoosier Lottery has made some significant changes to the way the jackpot prize is paid out and they (in their infinite wisdom) chose not to make a public announcement that they were doing so.
The Hoosier Lottery has not been won since July 27th (I think that's the correct date). In the 5 months and 47 draws it has rolled over it has reached $23 million and is reported to be the 5th largest jackpot in the history of the Hoosier Lottery. Now this in itself concerns me. The Hoosier Lottery is a straight pick 6 from a field of 48 and it seems incredible to me that it could roll over 46 times (now 47) without a winner. Remarks I have read from different "experts" put the odds of this happening of somewhere between 1 in 2.5 to over 1 in 3 Billion!
Previously the rules for the Hoosier Lottery have stated that the jackpot is paid as a 25 year annuity or in a one time lump sum cash value that is the actual amount of cash accumlated in the jackpot pool. The cahs value was guranteed to be somewhere between 40% to 50% of the advertised annuity value. The last Hoosier Lottery winner won an advertised prize of $10.5 million and cashed out at something around $4.6 million (before taxes). that worked out to something like 42% or 43% (in round numbers).
But when nobody was looking over the Christmas Holiday the Hoosier Lottery changed the payout. The annuity jackpot prize is now paid over 30 years! fice years have been added to the term of the annuity and the jackpot amount has not changed. There is no increase in the jackpot amount and no adjustment for inflation. Just an increase in the term of the annuity and most importantly no public announcement or explanation is offered.
Furthermore, the Hoosier Lottery has eliminated any formula or reference the cash value amount. The language referring to the actual amount of cash accumulated had been eliminated as well as the gurantee of 40% to 50% of the advertised annuity value.
And something else of interest also happened. The Hoosier Lottery changed the rules regarding a winner making a decision as to whether they want the annuity or the cash. The new rules now state that if the winner does not make a choice then they will be paid (an unspecified) one time lump sum. (This may bring a warm fuzzy feeling to the heart of Cash Only but given the nature of the Hoosier Lottery it is my belief that this was done because poor sales cannot support the inflated annuity value of the advertised jackpot and by eliminating any reference to the amount of cash to be paid they can now simply pay whatever they they choose to pay.)
NOTE: It is important for you all to understand the this has been done by the Hoosier Lottery before. Under the old rules the annuity jackpot was set at $1 million and the cash value was set at $500,000 for the first draw. However, earlier this year someone won a hoosier Lottery jackpot of $1 million and instead of paying him the guranteed $500,000 the Hoosier lottery paid him $400,000. This information was posted on their web site.
So, Uncle Jim, what does this have to do with the Executive Director you ask? Well, when I saw this i fired off an e-mail to the Executive director. And I'm afraid I wasn't very nice. I chided her for not responding to my previous e-mail and not sending me the information she had promised to send. I blasted her for changing the rules of the game without making a public announcement or offering an explanation was to why the changes were made. I complained bitterly about the results not being posted in a timely fashion on the website and then being posted incorrectly. (The jackpot was posted at $25 million and later revised down to $23 million.) I told her attitude of arrogance and indeference towards the players was utterly contemptable and told her I intended to contact my state legislators and insist on serious lottery reform.
Her reply; she claimed to have never received the e-mail containing my address and said she would look into what happend with regard to her not receiving it. She also said she was very disturbed by the hostile tone of my e-mail but promised me I would receive her information in the mail within one week.
My reply; I told her my e-mail was sitting in my sent box and shown as delevered and I had not received anything from any postmaster saying it was never delivered. I then asked her a series of very specific questions regarding the changes; why were they made, why the public was not informed, what is the new cash value, how is it determined? Et cetra, et ctera...
She has of course chosen not to answer any of my questions.
In my anger I'm afraid my sarcastic nature got the better of me and I suggested that the Hoosier Lottery change their slogan to something more appropriate than the current:
Guided by benchmarks of integrity and profitability, the Hoosier Lottery has returned 2.5 billion to the state of Indiana since 1989 to lower driver's license costs, supplement firefighter, policemen, and teacher's pensions and much more
to:
Setting new standards in corruption and deceit, the Hoosier Lottery has scammed it's players out of more than 2.5 billion and lined the pockets of it's friends and neighbors while providing the politicians of this state with a never ending source of revenue.
I bet that warmed her right up!
So there you have it. The latest trick form what I consider to be the most crooked and corrupt lottery in the world. I'll be interested in hearing the opinions of Lottery Post members as to whether or not they think changing the the prize payout without public public announcement or explanation...especially in the middle fo a huge jackpot run...is as dirty a trick as I think it is or if you all think Uncle Jim needs to go back to the doctor and have them increase his meds.
ttfn,
Jim
PS As I am looking forward to posting here I will try in the future not to be so long winded.