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Texas lottery director stands firm amid attacksNews Story
Reagan Greer, the Texas Lottery Commission's embattled executive director who signed off on four inflated Lotto jackpots, shows no sign he will cave in to pressure and resign.Greer has asked the state auditor to conduct an investigation into the agency's policies and practices, particularly in personnel matters. I would like your office to provide me with an objective perspective on these matters, including any recommendations you might have to improve our agency in this area, Greer said in par
Jul 8, 2005, 11:33 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery executive had no hint before firingNews Story
Weighing his words carefully when asked if he was the fall guy in the growing scandal over inflated Texas Lotto jackpots, Lee Deviney said only that his dismissal last month from the Texas Lottery Commission came with no prior warning. In any job you have good days and bad, but the majority of time I felt (my bosses) were happy with me, Deviney said by telephone Thursday while vacationing with his family in Colorado.Happy enough, he said, that he was awarded a 4 percent raise last October and a
Jul 1, 2005, 10:30 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery Whistleblower FiredNews Story
The scandal embroiling the Texas Lottery Commission over inflated jackpot estimates intensified Wednesday when top agency officials acknowledged firing a colleague who only days earlier warned ticket sales would fall short of advertised amounts.Mike Fernandez, the commission's administrator, called horrendous the timing of the dismissal of Lee Deviney, the agency's chief financial officer.But he denied there was any connection between Deviney's firing and an e-mail Deviney sent his superiors l
Jun 30, 2005, 11:54 am - Lottery News

Honest store clerk returns $100,000 lottery ticketNews Story
Leslee Hobson isn't just lucky when it comes to lottery tickets. She is lucky she buys her coffee from John Martin each morning.Hobson brought three Powerball tickets into the Circle K convenience store in Stayton, Oregon on May 29.Martin, a clerk at the store, went through the tickets and returned her winnings of $3. One of the tickets, however, couldn't be processed. Something came up on the screen on the Lottery machine I'd never seen before, Martin said. It said, This is not a ticket.' Ho
Jun 27, 2005, 7:42 pm - Lottery News

Idaho Lottery insists that Powerball winner reveal identityNews Story
The 33-year-old Idaho man who won a $220.3 million Powerball lottery jackpot Memorial Day weekend came out of hiding Thursday after the Idaho Lottery refused his request for anonymity.Brad Duke, a regional fitness director for a chain of health clubs and and unmarried former Boise State University pole-vaulter whose garage contains five mountain bikes, chose to take a one-time lump sum payment of $125.3 million, rather than the 30 annual installments of $7.4 million. That works out to approximat
Jun 17, 2005, 10:24 am - Lottery News

Pair will testify against former Hoosier Lottery officialNews Story
Two men linked to a scandal at the Hoosier Lottery have agreed to testify against a former security officer accused of rigging a $1 million scratch-off game.According to the terms of guilty-plea agreements filed Tuesday in Marion Superior Court, Chad R. Adkins and Daniel J. Foltz will admit to theft and testify against William C. Foreman, the former lottery official charged with telling them where to buy a winning ticket. This type of insider trading could devastate the public's confidence in th
Jun 1, 2005, 9:05 pm - Lottery News

Clerk enters plea in Mass. lottery-ticket caseNews Story
A North Andover, Massachusetts convenience store clerk pleaded innocent Wednesday to cashing in a customer s winning lottery ticket. Prosecutors say Patrick Simboli told customer Elizabeth Geladeres of Raymond, N.H., that she d won $2 on a Cash Winfall ticket purchased at his store May 9. In fact, the ticket was worth $32,000, after taxes.Police say he kept the ticket and claimed the prize. The Massachusetts Lottery Commission has confirmed that Simboli cashed in the winning ticket.He was arra
May 26, 2005, 12:20 pm - Lottery News

Lottery Cheats Ruin Players' ChancesNews Story
When it comes to the lottery, there are lots of games, and we all know they're games of chance. When we play, we expect a fair chance. But that's not always the case. Eyewitness News learned your odds of winning were hurt at times - sometimes by thieves stealing entire cases of lottery tickets and other times by the very people selling you the tickets.Drew Lowe was a clerk at a Brownsburg Shell Station until he was caught doing something the lottery calls fishing - when an employee literally
May 23, 2005, 9:24 pm - Lottery News

$100,000 lottery ticket claim goes to courtNews Story
An administrative law judge is considering the claim by two Indiana men that they are the rightful owners of a $100,000 lottery ticket that was tossed in the trash.Judge Gregg Henry said he would rule within two months after hearing 6 1/2 hours of testimony Wednesday. Ownership of the ticket has been in dispute as it was put into a trash can at the Chaperral Cafe in Shelbyville, Indiana on Feb. 8 after a clerk told Ron Douglas and Ron Vinson that the $5 ticket was not the $40 winner they were ho
May 13, 2005, 11:29 am - Lottery News

'Prize closet' for Illinois Lottery employees discoveredNews Story
The Illinois Lottery solicited donations of MP3 players, airline ticket vouchers, video game systems and other goodies from radio and television stations it advertised with, then used the items to create a prize closet for lottery employees, a state audit revealed on Wednesday. During this engagement it came to our attention that the Lottery has operated a 'prize closet' dating back to 1989 and possibly longer, said Auditor General William Holland's report.According to the audit, a letter sol
May 6, 2005, 10:05 am - Lottery News