Game of chance gets chancier

By JOHN W. GONZALEZ

July 19, 2000 Web posted at: 11:42 AM EDT (1542 GMT)

AUSTIN, Texas (The Houston Chronicle) -- There's a pretty good chance no one will win Lotto Texas tonight.

Beginning with this evening's drawing, the odds against capturing the $21 million jackpot will increase to 26 million-to-1, rather than the 16 million-to-1 odds that had been with the game since it was launched eight years ago.

The major change in odds will be achieved by adding four balls to the twice-weekly drawings. Instead of having to correctly pick six numbers from 1 to 50, players will choose from balls numbered 1 to 54. Newly revised play slips have been in the hands of 15,760 Lotto retailers since Sunday, officials said.

The new rules, designed to fatten jackpots and boost ticket sales by $166 million annually, were approved by the Texas Lottery Commission several weeks ago despite resistance from players who said the game will be too hard to win.

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But officials said changes will give the vast majority of players what they've been asking for -- bigger jackpots in the double-digit millions, larger secondary prizes and more total prizes. The amount allotted to all prizes will increase from 50 percent of ticket sales to 55 percent.

If no one wins tonight, Saturday's jackpot is expected to be about $27 million.

"Historically, most of our sales for Lotto Texas fall on the day of the drawing, so tomorrow we should get a better indication whether sales are increased or about the same," lottery spokesman Keith Elkins said Tuesday. "We anticipate a rather significant increase.

"The fact that we have a $21 million jackpot is ironic. It's one of the larger ones we've had recently. That is certainly attracting attention, which is what we thought the matrix change would do as well," he said.

Officials aren't sure how long it will take for Texans to get accustomed to the new array, and they're not specifying when they will declare the change a success -- or a failure. Several states have done what Texas is doing, usually with the intended result, but some have reverted to their original games when bigger sales didn't materialize.

The change has been in the works for a year, after the Texas Lottery Commission rejected the concept of linking Texas with other states for a Powerball-style game that would offer prizes of $100 million or more. Officials feared a multistate game would shift too many sales away from existing Texas games, reducing state revenues.

But when the 54-ball format was first rolled out for the public, it was immediately criticized by avid lottery players and retailers who predicted sales would plummet when players lost too often.

The proposal also drew criticism for a confusing "bonus ball" feature that would have given those who picked five numbers correctly a chance to win $10,000 if they correctly picked the number of the bonus ball.

Opposition was so vocal that the plan was withdrawn for several months before being retooled, this time without the bonus ball. When public reaction was gauged again this year, a dwindling number of players said they still opposed it.

Determined to end lackluster sales, commissioners approved the makeover in May. They predicted that the jackpot average of $11 million would increase to $19 million.

In addition to adding balls 51-54, the commission agreed to increase to an approximate average of $2,500, from $1,500, the prize for matching five of the six balls drawn. The prize for matching four of six was increased to an approximate average of $105 from $100; and the smallest prize, for matching three of six, was increased to a guaranteed $5 from $3. Overall odds of winning a prize will go from the previous 1 in 57 to 1 in 71.

The game's new era begins a day after lottery officials declared an end to an episode that threatened to undermine player confidence. A monthlong audit of ticket sales affected by a software glitch from 1992-94 found no negative impact on winners or players of the two games involved, Lotto Texas and Pick 3, officials said.

The audit found that more than 5,000 retailers were overcharged up to $3.76 each, and lottery operator Gtech was overpaid $756, officials said.

"At no time was the integrity and security of any Texas Lottery game ever compromised," said commission Director Linda Cloud.

The glitch caused phantom transactions in which some sales were recorded twice though only one ticket was issued, resulting in $18,932 in overcharges to retailers, who will be reimbursed.

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