Tag Archives: Texas Lottery

State news

Bye, bye casinos

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

You can count me as one Texan who is glad that the Legislature fell short in a plan to put a measure on the ballot that would determine whether we should allow big-time gambling at casinos in the state.

I need to stipulate that when the Texas Lottery came into being in 1991, I argued on behalf of the newspaper where I worked at the time against the creation of the lottery; it was approved by something around 70 percent of the vote.

Whatever. The Sands Hotel of Las Vegas decided to invest a good deal of money and its standing trumpeting the casino idea for Texas. You’ll recall those TV ads, I’m sure, prior to the end of the Texas Legislature. They told us how so much money was leaving the state when Texans were gambling their savings away in casinos in neighboring states. The TV spots sought to persuade us that it is better to keep the money in this state; thus, the campaign for casino gambling took root.

I also want to declare that I will not use the euphemistic term for gambling, which is “gaming.” There are those associated with the gambling industry who don’t want to refer to this activity what it is: You gamble on the chance that you’ll strike it rich at the blackjack table, the roulette wheel, the craps table, the slot machine … or whichever form of gambling you prefer.

The Texas Tribune reported that the Sands proposal was to build casinos in the state’s four largest metropolitan areas, making them “destination resorts.” Well, that includes the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area where I live with my wife No thanks, Sands. I have no interest in squandering my money at one of those destination resorts.

The Tribune published a story explaining how the gambling expansion failed. You can read it on the link I have attached below.

Here’s why the effort to legalize casinos in Texas by Las Vegas Sands failed | The Texas Tribune

And so, the Legislature adjourned without getting the gambling idea placed on the ballot. That is more than just fine with me.

***

Just so you know, I have played the lottery twice. Shortly after the lottery came into being, I bought a ticket and won $3. That put me $2 ahead, given that I paid a buck for the ticket. I played it a second time. I didn’t win anything. So, I quit while I was a dollar ahead.

I don’t need — or want — to be tempted again.

Note: This blog was published initially on KETR-FM’s website, ketr.org.

national news

Mega Millions has a winner, for better or worse

I have two quick comments about the winner of the $1.6 billion Mega Millions lottery. Bear with me.

First, stay anonymous. The winner purchased the ticket at a convenience store in Simpsonville, S.C. South Carolina is one of few states that allows the winners of these games of chance to keep their identity hidden.

I strongly encourage this individual to do precisely that. I don’t need to know who he or she is. Nor does anyone else. Exposing one’s identity also exposes one to scammers, relatives real or imagined, crooks and thieves.

Protect yourself from those who would seek to take advantage of you.

Second, wait for the rush that will occur at KC Mart #7 in Simpsonville. It never fails: the retailer that peddles the winning ticket at these high-dollar games suddenly becomes the most popular such establishment among those seeking to win the next big payoff.

What they don’t realize is that the odds of the same retail outlet selling the next winner are even more astronomically remote than they were for the first one.

A fellow won a $40-something million Texas Lottery drawing some years ago in Amarillo. He bought the ticket at a convenience store. That same store had a gigantic rush for the next drawing.

It’ll happen now with the KC Mart #7. I’ll be giggling from afar.

local news

At $1.6 billion, I should be all over this game … but I’m not

I remain adamantly opposed to games of chance, even those that offer up prizes totaling $1.6 billion, which the Mega Millions lottery is offering at this moment.

In the early 1990s, when Texas was discussing whether to allow a lottery, I wrote editorials from my post at the Beaumont Enterprise opposing it. The state voted — I think it was in 1991 — to approve the lottery in a statewide election; the approval was overwhelming. So much for the “power of the press.”

I have played the Texas Lottery exactly twice. The first time, I purchased a $1 ticket at a Beaumont convenience store and won $3.

Woo hoo! I was $2 to the good.

I played again the next week. I plunked down another buck. I came up empty. That’s when I quit. I was still $1 on the plus side.

The lottery, the Mega Millions, the Power Ball games have no appeal to me. Honest! They don’t.

I know a few friends who’ve squandered a lot of their life savings trying to win “the big one.” Yes, I know a few who’ve done well. The most astonishing story involves a young man with whom I worked at the Amarillo Globe-News. He went to Lubbock one day, purchased a ticket — and walked away with a million bucks.

I was told by another friend that this fellow hardly ever plays the game. He just thought he’d lay down a few bucks. And then? Boom!

That kind of dumb luck is foreign to me.

Thus, I won’t get sucked into this game. Not even for a smooth billion-six.

Good luck to whoever wins. You’ll need it. Bigly.

local news, national news, State news

What we might expect from a winning ticket?

games_of_chance

OK, I’m about to offer a not-so-bold prediction.

One day, maybe soon, someone — or some people — is going to win the Powerball prize that totals more than $1 billion.

That’s a billion bucks, man.

The prediction? The place where the winning ticket was purchased will become the target of suckers seeking to win the next big payoff.

It happens whenever they give out a lot of money.

I recall it happening in Amarillo not many years ago when someone here won a Texas Lottery payoff; I think it totaled a paltry $100 million, or something like that.

The convenience store — the location escapes me — where the guy bought the ticket became flooded with customers looking to buy the next winning ticket.

It’s an amazing aspect of human nature, I suppose. Those who like the play these games of chance are drawn to where the winning ticket is sold.

They apparently forget that the chances of the same outlet selling a winning ticket twice in a row are infinitely more remote than the outlet selling a winning ticket in the first place.

Whatever . . .

This Powerball mania is getting serious, folks.

I hope the winner — or winners — are ready to fend off the overtures from their millions of new best friends.

 

State news

Quitting while still ahead . . .

Lotto

I have a long and well-covered loathing for games of chance.

Such as the lottery . . .

While working as an opinion page editor for the Beaumont Enterprise, way down yonder in the Golden Triangle of Texas, I argued vehemently against the introduction of the Texas Lottery. I wrote personal columns against it; our newspaper editorialized against it.

The voters of our part of the state — not to mention the rest of Texas — didn’t heed our advice. Texans voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Texas constitutional amendment that allowed for the creation of the lottery in the early 1990s.

Well . . . I awoke this morning and decided to forgo purchasing a ticket for the $800 million Powerball jackpot that’s looming out there, tempting many of my fellow Texans way past their strength.

I’ll let other suckers lay down their money and hope they win the Big One.

But for the record, I need to make a full disclosure.

Despite my hatred of these games, I’ve played the Texas Lottery exactly twice.

Both times occurred early in the lottery’s existence in Texas.

I went to a convenience store in Beaumont, not far from where we lived. I purchased a ticket. I scratched it off. I won something! It was a paltry $3 payoff.

Cool! I was two bucks ahead of the game.

The next week, I bought another ticket. I scratched it off. Nothing.

Still cool. I was a dollar ahead.

I haven’t played since. I quit while I was in the black.

Good luck today . . . suckers!

 

national news, State news

Powerball jackpot hits $800 million!

635877522067343002-lotteryAP-Powerball-Jackpot

I’m going to bed tonight pondering whether I should buy a Powerball ticket sometime tomorrow.

The jackpot has hit $800 million. The one-time payout totals something more than $450 million, which ain’t exactly walking-around money.

I doubt that I’ll play tomorrow. But my staunch refusal to gamble in this manner has been shaken a bit by a story I heard about two weeks ago.

The story goes like this:

A good friend of mine told me of a young man — a mutual friend of ours — who decided one day to purchase a Texas Lottery ticket. I’m told he doesn’t play often. But he drove up to a West Texas convenience store the other day, got out of his car, walked into the store and bought a lottery ticket. He just had a wild hair, I guess, so he plunked down some cash.

He won a nice prize.

It totaled $1 million. My friend ended up walking away with nearly 700 grand.

Sure, the federal government got a nice chunk of change from my friend’s winnings. Big deal. He still pocketed a lot of dough. I’d settle for a tenth of that amount.

Am I going to lay down some cash tomorrow for a chance at the Powerball jackpot? Not likely . . . but I haven’t yet slammed the door shut.

national news

Woman hits it big … real big

Some people have all the luck, and occasionally it’s quite good.

Take a young North Carolina woman, for example.

Marie Holmes is a single mother of four children. She’s unemployed. One of her children suffers from cerebral palsy. Then she took a chance at the Powerball payoff.

She won — big!

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/02/nc_mother_of_4_who_had_to_quit_working_to_care_for_children_hits_powerball.html?wpisrc=topstories

Holmes is one of three winners of a jackpot totaling $564 million. Just like that, she’s a multimillionaire.

Stories like this make me almost happy that states sanction gambling in this manner. I say “almost”  because I don’t believe in these get-rich-quick schemes.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m happy for Marie Holmes and her children. She had to quit her job to take care of them, as she couldn’t afford the child care required.

Well, she can afford it now — and then some.

These kinds of stories tempt me to play the game. So far, I’m glad to say, they haven’t tempted me beyond my strength.

Hey, I’m still a dollar ahead in the Texas lottery. I bought my first lottery ticket for a dollar in 1991 and got $3 back. So, ahead by $2 at the time, I bought another ticket the following week; I didn’t win a thing.

That’s when I quit. Being a dollar ahead is good enough for me.

As for Marie Holmes, may she avoid the pitfalls that trap so many big winners. Hire a good lawyer, young lady.

 

Uncategorized

Mega Million jackpot is tempting me sorely

I won’t do it.

I will not succumb to the temptation to buy a ticket for a chance to win a half-billion bucks. That’s what the Mega Million lottery jackpot has reached.

I’ve long opposed the lottery. It’s a sucker’s bet. It preys on those who want to spend what little disposable income they have on the chance of winning the Big One.

It won’t happen, folks. CNN talked about a study in which someone calculated the odds of winning the whole prize at 150 million to one. You have a greater chance of being struck by lightning or being eaten by a shark than you have of winning the prize.

Texas voters approved a lottery back in 1991. I opposed it editorially at the paper where I worked at the time. The voters didn’t heed our advice and approved it overwhelmingly. I think the margin was something like 65-35 percent. It was supposed to bring a windfall to state government. It didn’t do it. Texans quit playing the game when they realized their chances of winning the big dough were next to nil. The state has tweaked the lottery a few times over the years to give players a little bitter chance of winning something.

Some folks said then-Gov. Ann Richards promised the money raised by the lottery would go exclusively toward education. Gov. Richards never made that promise, but somehow the accusation stuck.

Now the state has joined the Mega Million stampede. The jackpot is huge. It’s tempting to play.

I won’t go there.

I’ll rely on this bit of history. I played the Texas Lottery when it first came into being back in the early 1990s. I bought a ticket in Beaumont for $1. I won $3. I was $2 to the good. I spent a buck on the next drawing. I lost, didn’t win a nickel.

So, with that I’m a dollar ahead.

Knock yourselves out, everyone.