Maybe there's something about the Tennessee political climate that make her job tougher here.

Maybe it's something inherent in the way that lottery business is conducted.

Paul is probably the best-paid "public servant" in the state.

All of this is to say, frankly, that I'm not surprised. When the lottery first came to Tennessee, some folks I was talking to said that it was only a matter of time before a scandal developed.

____________________________

I'm a guy in a Reagan mask -- and I'm running for President!

The lottery machine just keeps on screwing up.

This is almost funny. Ya think the people of Tennessee will continue to buy lottery tickets even if the odds are doubled (pretty high odds as it is) due to stupidity on the part of the lottery providers? Is it stupidity or intentional? Does someone have a plan to rip-off the lottery and these instances are trial and error to see what can be gotten away with?

The Lottery is a tax on the stupid.

So why do we have to wait behind them in line? Why don't lottery purchasers have to go into a segregated area like say, smokers?

It's one thing to say ther was a glitch in the system! I have been an avid player of cash3 and cash4 for over a year now. It seemed to me as soon as the computer drawings started it was like all the payout amounts went down to under 10'000 dollars for each drawing! It seems to me that someone knows what numbers are being played. Computers can be controlled!

I have no problem with a computer selecting numbers for tickets, but not the actual drawing. Computers selecting the winning numbers sounded like a scam from the start. Ping pong balls can't be programed and are not that difficult to operate.

it quit easy to have preselected balls hidden under the table behind the curtain and lifted up while all the others just keep on spinning. if the auditors took their job seriously, they would show the balls in order before loading into the machine and then flush them into a tube after the game for all to see. can the balls be rigged ? if people are involved, you bet !

Every poker player knows that the game is not about skill but 90% luck, and 10% manipulation of luck through cheating. That's considered skill in all poker, especially no limit Texas Hold'Em.

The lottery is no different, but just the house is controlled by different shysters. Why is Vegas switching to computerized poker rooms with no human dealers? Because controlling a computer is far easier than controlling many people. Everyone knows the shuffle machines at all poker rooms can be controlled with radio transmitters that can arrange the cards any which way for any hand. The lottery is a lot easier to control than a poker hand dealt to 9 or 10 players, with a seemingly genuine cut by the dealer to make it look random.

The lottery balls, whether by computer or solid balls, are easy to control in a controlled environment designed to look random. Everyone who's been to a carnival knows that the point to making anything look fair is to hide the fact that it is not even close to fair or random. If you've ever been the house or the one choosing winners to lotteries, you will know a hundred and one ways to rig the outcome to let only those you want to win, win. This is true for every lottery exceeding $10,000 in value that human nature will constantly find ways to outrig each other's fixed jackpot system.

Magnets, weights, air pressure, radio control, false bottoms, mirrors -- these are but a handful of the modern magician's bag of tricks. Ever notice that most lotteries are won in rural areas even though most tickets are bought in the city? That makes a nice annual report for the lottery commission.

Since someone's dredged up this year-old thread on the HOPE Lottery Scholarship, I'll share a question/concern I had just recently...

I became aware this past summer of the qualifying criteria for the HOPE Access Grant, a lottery program expansion made in 2004.

Freshmen with only a 2.75 *weighted* high school GPA and an ACT score as low as 18 qualify for this 1-year non-renewable grant of $2,750 to attend a 4-year school or $1,750 to attend a 2-year school. Their families must have a household income of $36,000 or less.

In their sophomore years and beyond, HOPE Access Grant recipients must apply for the regular HOPE Lottery Scholarship and meet that renewal criterion, namely a 3.0 GPA in college coursework.

As it affects scholarship retention rates, I'm curious to know the incidence of HOPE Access Grant recipients actually *raising* their GPAs to 3.0 or higher in their first year of college.

I would expect to find that HOPE Access Grant recipients have a greater tendency to lose their funding than even students narrowly qualifying for the regular HOPE lottery scholarship in their freshman year.

Shouldn't the qualifying criteria for the HOPE Access Grant be stiffer? Is this lottery program a "black hole" of particular concern, you think? What colleges even admit a student with an 18 on his/her ACT (I know Pellissippi locally doesn't)?

Details here: (link...)

This is an email i sent to the Tennessee Lottery .......

I'm writing in regards of how this lottery drawing is being conducted. I play Lottery on a daily basis and have been for quite some time now. I've noticed that the generated computer has been changing 1 number on a regular basis and that doesn't appear to be a coincidence. However I realize that a computer can be programmed to do exactly what one wants it to do. My most important question is will Tennessee ever return to the live drawings in which the balls are in play (or) place with human involvement . I've also noticed Tennessee has been the lowest payout state on a single number. In regards to this email I would appreciate some feedback in hopes of seeing some changes in how Tennessee's lottery is being conducted.