A request by students of San Antonio college to alter the wording on the Mega Millions website was fair and reasonable, Philip Bates, acting director of media relations for the Texas Lottery Commission, said during an April 8 conference call interview.

With Bates on the call were Ryan Mindell, director of lottery operations, and media relations specialist Steve Helm.

Another option was to change the odds displayed on the site from one in 24 to one in 69.9.

However, the wording will not be completely revamped, nor will the odds displayed be changed.

Instead, the lottery operations division, which is in charge of the language on the site, plans to include a phrase similar to the one on the back of scratch-off tickets.

“We are looking to do something along the lines of ‘including break-even prizes,’” Bates said.

He said the addition might be in the form of an acronym because of the limited space available on the website.

The lottery operations division received a letter sent to the Texas Lottery Commission and state government officials April 4 and has been working since then to make changes to the site in response.

The letter, sent by Math Professor Gerald Busald and his MATH 1442, Elementary Statistical Methods, students requested the commission change the language to state the odds of winning include break-even prizes, or winning the amount paid for a lottery ticket.

Mindell said the changes would be made “in the next couple of weeks.”

Bates said it is important to understand that they only have the authority to change items relating to the Texas lottery, and they are not responsible for other states operating the same way that were mentioned in a Ranger article published April 8.

Gov. Greg Abbott has been contacted for a statement regarding the letter, but did not respond by deadline.

This is the fifth time Busald’s students have brought errors or false advertising to the
commission’s attention.

http://theranger.org/2019/04/15/texas-lottery-commission-agrees-to-fix-website-wording/