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Former lottery 'numbers' operator rebuilds life after jailNews Story
At the height of his career operating an illegal lottery called the numbers, Otis Ray was running four-digit bar tabs in his $70,000 Titans stadium suite and rubbing elbows with Nashville's elite.Now, just months out of prison, Ray, 53, is working as night watchman at a local Comfort Inn and rebuilding his life on $6-an-hour wages.Ray spent nearly 25 years working in the underground lottery. Just one month after he was sent to federal prison in December 2003, the Tennessee Lottery sold its fir
Oct 1, 2005, 9:34 am - Lottery News

Will N.C. create a lottery-video poker partnership?News Story
North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, argues that North Carolina's new education lottery will remove the allure of another hotly debated form of gambling -- video poker. People tell me the lottery will probably pretty much do away with video poker, said Black, who backs the video poker industry. Those people who want to do some recreational gambling can certainly get their kicks with the lottery. Other video poker supporters hope the opposite will happen.A few states have made
Sep 12, 2005, 6:51 am - Lottery News

Indiana Lottery banking on fairness, cutsNews Story
The Hoosier Lottery has run into some rough times lately whether it is sagging profits or employees leaking the location of a winning ticket.But the new head of the quasi-governmental agency is focused on running things more efficiently with an emphasis on integrity. It is our absolute focus, said Esther Schneider a 40-year-old native of Las Vegas. We have a moral obligation to make sure our games are fair. When she arrived, Schneider said there was a lot of loosey-goosey activity, inclu
Aug 9, 2005, 9:27 am - Lottery News

Texas Lottery paid for goods it never receivedNews Story
The embattled Texas Lottery Commission is investigating why the agency paid a Nevada company more than $300,000 for goods it hasn't received.The lottery's purchasing department authorized an advanced payment to JB Associates in February 2004 to buy promotional items such as umbrellas, coffee mugs and vinyl wallets, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition today.JB, based in Reno, Nev., received at least $332,427, but the lottery said it is still owed about $311,000 in undeli
Jul 16, 2005, 9:39 am - Lottery News

Indiana lottery sales decline has officials probing illegal gamesNews Story
The Hoosier Lottery, faced with slumping profits, is struggling to get more people to play ticket games in a world of electronic gambling.In the budget year just ended, lottery officials expect to see about a 5 percent decline in profits, which reached $199 million last year, according to W. Edward Benton, the lottery's chief financial officer.So what's eating into ticket sales? Smaller Powerball jackpots, for one thing, something Hoosier Lottery officials can't control.The approximately 22,00
Jul 11, 2005, 12:06 pm - 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

Lawyer thinks Calif. participation in Mega Millions is illegalNews Story
According to one legislative lawyer, California's much-heralded entrance into the 11-state Mega Millions lottery may be illegal, even as outlets around the state prepare for the debut of the popular game.Lottery Director Chon Gutierrez was told by legal advisers when California joined Mega Millions that the move to revitalize the state's languishing lottery was legal because it advanced the education-benefiting cause of the voter-approved Lottery Act of 1984.Around the state, locations for buyin
Jun 15, 2005, 11:33 am - 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

Embattled lottery pyramid scheme slammed by Australian courtNews Story
World Games Inc. (WGI), a loosely-based international company that has been on the run from legal authorities around the world for several years, was found to be in violation of the 1974 Trade Practices Act by the Australia Full Federal Court for organizing an international lottery pyramid scheme.The court's ruling was directed at Gold Coast company Worldplay Services Pty. Ltd., a corporate entity that is tightly coupled with WGI.The decision also upheld that Greg Kennedy, the company s director
May 10, 2005, 8:57 am - Lottery News

Clash of the Lottery Titans: Scientific Games Suing Rival GTECHNews Story
Lottery and betting equipment maker Scientific Games Corp. said Monday that its subsidiary Scientific Games Royalty Corp. is suing GTECH Holdings Corp., the world's largest operator of lottery systems, for patent infringement.The lawsuit concerns the enforcement of Scientific Games' group participation multiplier patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,648,753 and 6,692,354 and GTECH's unauthorized and illegal use of same.Lorne Weil, Scientific Games' chairman and CEO, said, It is our intention to vigorous
May 9, 2005, 7:16 pm - Lottery News