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Uncle Sam Wins Your LotteryNews Story
Attention, lottery players: If you win a nice big prize, opt to take it as a stream of payments and then change your mind and wish you had taken it as a lump sum, don't expect any special tax benefits if you sell your annuity for immediate cash.Over and over in the past few years and especially since capital gains tax rates were lowered in 2001 lottery winners have sold their rights to future payments and tried to treat what they got in exchange as capital gains.Since capital gains are now t
Nov 28, 2005, 9:12 am - Lottery News

Number 13 'officially' unlucky in UK LotteryNews Story
The number 13 has traditionally been considered to be unlucky by people, and now the UK's National Lottery chiefs have revealed that the number does in fact happen to be the unluckiest for Lotto players as it is least likely to be picked in the main draw.The research conducted for Camelot, the UK National Lottery operator, showed that in eleven years, the No.13 ball has only been picked up a 108 times as a main ball, and only 12 times as a bonus ball. The research also showed that people with th
Nov 28, 2005, 8:30 am - Lottery News

Powerball lottery madness spreads to big mediaNews Story
Exclusive Lottery Post StoryNow that the multi-state Powerball jackpot is sitting at its highest level ever, everyone is taking notice, creating a barrage of big-media news stories.Unfortunately for the public, the big media is making some mistakes.Although the mistakes at first may seem innocuous, they add up to create player confusion. When a lottery game's jackpot reaches the upper-limits, people who don't normally buy tickets get interested. And those are the people who will be most affect
Oct 18, 2005, 8:40 am - Lottery News

Nine finalists in running for Texas Lottery chiefNews Story
Trust issues expected to figure prominently in interviews with candidates light on specific experienceWhen questions about inflated jackpots forced Lottery Director Reagan Greer to resign earlier this year, lottery officials said they needed someone to replace him who could regain the public's trust.A special search committee will begin Friday to interview nine finalists for the position, whittled down from 126 applicants. Only one of the nine people has experience working at a state lottery.The
Oct 13, 2005, 10:48 am - Lottery News

Lottery gadfly not betting on getting top postNews Story
Some say she's a watchdog; others say she's a nuisanceDawn Nettles has a job interview Friday, but she figures the odds are against her. They're not going to hire me, the 54-year-old Garland woman said. They hate me with a passion. They refers to the Texas Lottery Commission and Gtech Corp., the company that operates the lottery for the state. The commission is seeking an executive director to replace Reagan Greer, who resigned in July after admitting he had signed off on advertising inflate
Oct 13, 2005, 9:51 am - Lottery News

Brits addicted to online gamblingNews Story
Britons spend 5 billion (US$8.82 billion) a year on online gambling, a survey revealed Friday. And 93 per cent of those with web access quizzed by Virgin Money, admitted they have placed at least one Internet bet.The average gambler spends between 10- and 20-a-week on gaming sites.The biggest players are Londoners with one in 10 punters in the capital gambling between 300 and 500 every week.Half of the 2,000 people polled say they only started gambling online in the past six months.Football
Oct 1, 2005, 4:19 pm - Lottery News

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

Discarded lottery ticket offers lesson of faith, optimismNews Story
It's last Wednesday, and Sharon Parker, a lottery regular from Swissvale, Pennsylvania, wins $16 in the Powerball.It's not exactly enough to retire on, so Sharon does what lottery players do: She plows the $16 back into Thursday's Big Four at a convenience store downtown Pittsburgh near Kaufmann's.That night, when she calls her mother for the numbers, it turns out to be another loss for Sharon, so she tears the tickets in half and drops them in a trash can at Fifth and Smithfield.Back home in Sw
Sep 20, 2005, 11:09 am - Lottery News

Lottery tickets may soon be sold on military basesNews Story
More than 178,000 retail outlets across 41 states and the District of Columbia sell state lottery tickets. Last year these retailers earned more than $3 billion in commissions on ticket sales of almost $49 billion.Military exchanges want a piece of that action.Congress is weighing a first-ever proposal from the Department of Defense to amend current law to allow lottery ticket sales in stateside exchanges, except where such sales would pinch the businesses of blind vendors already selling lotter
Sep 12, 2005, 8:12 am - Lottery News

Indiana Lottery has limit for Pick 3 and Pick 4 NumbersNews Story
The Hoosier Lottery has at least one unhappy player, and he's not unhappy because he lost. He's angry that he wasn't allowed to play at all.Ken Myers of Fort Wayne, who plays the Daily 3 and Daily 4 numbers regularly, sent us a copy of a letter he sent to lottery officials, complaining that from time to time, the lottery cuts off betting on certain numbers. It has happened to him, he says, and others he knows.You can imagine what a player's response might be if he tried to bet four numbers and w
Aug 26, 2005, 8:53 am - Lottery News