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Powerball sales skid hurts lottery profitsNews Story
Major changes in the game in August should lure players who want bigger jackpots.Powerball players got lucky during the past 12 months, winning lots of smaller multistate jackpots but dampening overall enthusiasm by reducing the number of huge payoffs in the $200 million to $300 million range. The players are just beating the game, Iowa Lottery President Edward Stanek said Monday. We had 11 Powerball jackpot winners the year before, and we have had more than a 50 percent increase for the fisca
Jul 26, 2005, 6:42 pm - Lottery News

Texas Lottery critic turns down selection committee postNews Story
A lottery watchdog who helped expose inflated Texas Lotto jackpots and a math professor whose students found problems with lottery advertisements were among 10 people chosen to help find the next leader of the struggling Texas Lottery Commission, officials said Friday.Dawn Nettles, a frequent critic of the lottery, later withdrew from the search committee, saying her participation would be a conflict of interest.C. Tom Clowe, who chairs the three-member commission that oversees the agency, appoi
Jul 24, 2005, 4:27 pm - Lottery News

N.D. couple cashes state's first lottery jackpot ticketNews Story
A Walsh County couple cashed North Dakota's first lottery jackpot ticket, a $420,094 prize in the Wild Card 2 game, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said.The couple was not identified, since North Dakota law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous.They bought the winning ticket last week at a gas station in Michigan, in neighboring Nelson County, in northeastern North Dakota. Michigan is about 35 miles east of Devils Lake.Stenehjem said he presented the couple with their winner's check Tuesda
Jul 20, 2005, 9:36 am - Lottery News

Calif. Lottery uses trick as Dems continue undermining Mega MillionsNews Story
The California Lottery admitted Monday they used a state official, who misrepresented herself as a freelance reporter, as an operative in the legal battle over constitutionality of the multistate Mega Millions game in California.In other developments, lawmakers indicated they may reject confirmation of Lottery Commission appointees who voted for the game and disclosed they are planning to unveil a bill today to make Mega Millions legal here, despite the lottery's claim it has not broken the law.
Jul 12, 2005, 9:21 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery Director Resigns Over Jackpot ScandalNews Story
The executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission resigned Friday, two weeks after admitting he had approved advertising Lotto Texas jackpots that were higher than ticket sales could support.Reagan Greer had overseen the nation's third-largest lottery since February 2003. In recent days, it has become clear that intense, ongoing efforts to restore Texans' confidence in the lottery can best be advanced through a change of leadership, Greer wrote in letter of resignation.Greer said he had si
Jul 9, 2005, 10:41 am - Lottery News

Calif. Democrat criticizes lottery's 'weak case'News Story
The state lottery said Thursday it would continue selling Mega Millions tickets as it fights an anti-gambling group's lawsuit that seeks an immediate shutdown on the grounds the multi-state game is unconstitutional in California.But a state senator said an uphill legal battle ultimately could cost schools hundreds of millions of dollars and permanently damage the lottery's reputation. The lottery is going into court with a fairly weak case, said state Sen. Dean Florez, a Bakersfield-area Democr
Jul 8, 2005, 2:51 pm - Lottery News

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

Anti-lottery group sues to end Mega Millions in CaliforniaNews Story
The California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking an injunction to shut down the state's two-week-old Mega Millions multistate lotto.The coalition will formally notified the California State Lottery of the action Wednesday, and then publicly announced it in a press release [see below], the group's attorneys from the Sacramento and Woodland Hills areas told Lottery Post.The coalition, represented by Sacramento-area attorney Fred Jones and Woodland Hills busines
Jul 8, 2005, 10:09 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery chief may lose job over jackpot snafuNews Story
The Texas Lottery Commission's executive director may lose his job and six other employees may be reassigned following revelations that the agency inflated jackpot estimates, according to a posted agenda.Commissioners may meet in executive session July 11 to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of executive director Reagan Greer, the agenda posted Friday states.The notice also indicates the commission may discuss the reassignment of
Jul 2, 2005, 11:51 pm - Lottery News

North Carolina Still Working To Establish LotteryNews Story
It's a sure bet that if North Carolina becomes the final state on the East Coast to offer a lottery, supporters say, lawmakers will have hundreds of millions of new dollars to spend every year on education.But just as certain, opponents argue, is that as revenues rise, so will the number of North Carolinians addicted to gambling. The lottery will hurt a lot of people. It's a tax on the poor. It affects families, said Tom Spampinato of Cary, who spent 22 years battling a gambling addiction. He i
Jul 1, 2005, 12:18 pm - Lottery News