Sneaky Fiery $500s Scratch Off Tickets in Michigan

I think this lottery game is a bit deceptive to the player. To win the $500 lottery prize you have to scratch off a red 500 wish no "$" symbol. There have been a few accounts of lottery players scratching and revealing a red "$500" and thinking they won. But to no avail, that is not a winner. This guys was deceived as reported by mlive.com

Is the Michigan Lottery 'deceptive'?

DURAND, Michigan — Don Bridges received a fiery $500 lottery ticket last week, scratched if off and found a red $500.

“Get a Red ‘500’, win $500 automatically!” the lottery ticket read.

But what a difference a dollar sign makes.

Bridges, 80, and his wife, Adeline, 67, tried to cash the ticket in with a local retailer only to be told they did not have a winning ticket.

To automatically win $500, a winning Fiery $500s ticket comes with a red “500” without the dollar sign symbol, said Michigan Lottery Director of Public Relations Andi Brancato.

The tickets — which went on sale June 21 — did not have any misprints and its rules are “quite clear,” she said. Read the whole article...

Georgia State Lottery Profits are up in 2010

The Georgia State Lottery revenues are up about $11.7m. The state provides a portion of each dollar spent to the state pre-kindergarten and HOPE, a state college scholarship, programs. Here's the article reported by The Lottery Post.

Georgia Lottery profits up in 2010

Another good year for the Georgia Lottery meant more money for the state's pre-kindergarten and HOPE college scholarship programs, but it isn't enough to keep state officials from worrying about HOPE's future.

The Georgia Lottery Corp. announced Wednesday that profits increased again during the 2010 fiscal year — providing a dozen consecutive years of growth.

As a result, the lottery increased its payments to the popular pre-k and HOPE programs. During the 2010 fiscal year, which ended June 30, the lottery transferred about $883.9 million — an increase of about $11.7 million, or 1.4 percent, over the previous year.

"In spite of this gray, darkish economy, we are very grateful that Georgians continue to respond to what we put out there," Georgia Lottery President and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco said in an interview. "We feel very fortunate that we are able to do what we've done."

While the Georgia Lottery is considered one of the most successful in the country, it is unable to keep pace with the rapid growth and cost of the education programs it was created to support.

Lottery revenue didn't generate enough money for HOPE during the 2010 fiscal year, and state officials for the first time in nearly a decade tapped into a $1 billion reserve fund. The reserves are projected to drop to about $373 million by the end of the 2012 fiscal year, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which oversees HOPE.

The commission is scheduled to meet with members from the state House and Senate education committees Aug. 2 to discuss the program's finances and possible changes. Commission leaders have recommended lawmakers amend the program during the next legislative session, warning the program could run out of money if long-term changes aren't made. Read the whole story...

Virginia State Lottery Releases Redskins Scratch Tickets

Scratch the logo off DC's favorite (or most hated in Dallas) team, The Redskins. Today the Virginia lottery released Redskins scratch tickets. Scratch and win a lottery prize... hopefully! Here's the story from DC sports blog.

Redskins lottery tickets go nostalgia

So, what would they call their new Virginia Lottery scratcher? "Redskins Legacy," naturally, featuring little old-timey helmet logos right at the top. Pretty soon, they can just scrap the games altogether and show old glory-days highlights on the massive new HD screens. Or at last scrap the preseason games. Bet fans wouldn't mind. Read the whole story...

3 Companies Bid on Texas Lottery

Big profits are in order for which ever company wins competition to run Texas' state lottery. Here's the article from the associated press.

3 big companies bid to run lucrative Texas Lottery

AUSTIN, Texas — Three major gambling companies entered the competition by Tuesday to run Texas' lottery — a massive operation that could pay $100 million per year to the winning bidder.

Scientific Games Corp., Intralot Inc. and GTECH Corp., which holds the current Texas operations contract, submitted cost proposals for the games, said Texas Lottery Commission spokesman Bobby Heith.

All are prominent companies in the lottery and gambling business worldwide and frequently compete with one another for U.S. state lottery contracts. They've been analyzing the Texas operation for months leading up to Tuesday's bid deadline. Commission officials did not release financial details of their proposals, and the companies would not comment. Technical proposals are due Wednesday.

A decision on the winning bid is expected by late September.

"The evaluation process starts," Heith said. "That's the next step."

The bidding has been tied up in controversy this year because a consulting company the Texas commission hired to help write the bid request had been doing business with GTECH. That led to questions about whether GTECH has an unfair advantage. The commission has canceled its contract with that consultant, Gartner Inc. Read the whole article...