Texas lottery panel will consider dismissing director

Jul 6, 2005, 8:51 am (11 comments)

Texas Lottery

The three-person panel that oversees the Texas Lottery Commission will meet behind closed doors Monday to decide whether the agency's executive director should be fired for inflating the advertised jackpots for the popular Lotto Texas game.

Lottery Commission Chairman C. Thomas Clowe said Tuesday that he could not comment on the matter. But in two public meetings in less than a week, Clowe has harshly criticized Executive Director Reagan Greer, saying that he had deceived the lottery-playing public and that the "integrity and the honesty" of the state agency had been put at risk.

"The agenda item speaks for itself," Clowe said, referring to the meeting notice for Monday published on the lottery's Web site. "Beyond that, it would be inappropriate for me to comment."

Meanwhile, officials confirmed Tuesday that lottery security director Mike Pitcock has left the agency. Pitcock is the second lottery executive to leave since reports that the Lotto Texas jackpot for the June 8 drawing was advertised at $8 million even though it was clear to officials that ticket sales would support a jackpot no higher than $6.5 million.

Lee Deviney, the head of the lottery's financial administration office, was fired after sending Greer an e-mail raising concerns about the jackpot for the June 8 drawing. Lottery officials said the firing was unrelated to the memo, but Deviney said last week that he believed that the events were related.

"I felt like someone was going to suffer," he said, "and it turned out to be me."

Lottery spokeswoman Kristina Tirloni said she could not discuss the reason Pitcock left.

"There has been a resignation, but we don't discuss personnel matters," Tirloni said.

The Lottery Commission's agenda for Monday's meeting allows the three-member panel to meet in private "to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of the executive director."

It also permits the panel to consider whether to reassign Deputy Director Gary Grief and several other top Lottery Commission officials. The panel may also deliberate on hiring an acting executive director for the lottery.

If the commissioners plan to act on any of their deliberations, they must do so in public under the state's open meetings laws.

Greer, a former district clerk in Bexar County, was appointed to head the revenue-generating Lottery Commission in February 2003. During his first year on the job, Texas joined the multistate Mega Millions game, which often produces jackpots in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The entry into Mega Millions cut sharply into the ticket sales for Lotto, which had been the Texas lottery's signature game since it was introduced in 1992. The sluggish sales affected the Lotto jackpots, which open at $4 million and climb each time no one picks all the numbers necessary to win.

Under Lottery Commission rules, the advertised Lotto jackpot is guaranteed only during the first four drawings after a winner. After that, the advertised jackpot is an estimate, and the winner is paid a percentage of the ticket sales.

Greer signed off on the recommendation to advertise the June 8 jackpot at $8 million but neglected to pay attention to the notations that ticket sales would not support that amount. He and other lottery officials later acknowledged exaggerating jackpots at least three other times, but it had never come to light because no one had won them.

At a June 24 commission meeting, Clowe and Commissioners James Cox and Rolando Olivera chastised Greer for being lax in his duties, saying that misrepresenting jackpots breaks faith with players.

And during a hearing before the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, Clowe told lawmakers that Greer had been deceptive. Greer, who accepted responsibility for the exaggerations and vowed to be more diligent in his oversight, said later that he feared that he had lost the confidence of the commissioners.

Fort Worth Star Telegram

Comments

Rip Snorter

Lee Deviney, the head of the lottery's financial administration office, was fired after sending Greer an e-mail raising concerns about the jackpot for the June 8 drawing. Lottery officials said the firing was unrelated to the memo, but Deviney said last week that he believed that the events were related.

"I felt like someone was going to suffer," he said, "and it turned out to be me."

If you bend down over the rail of a railroad track and put your ear to it you can hear a train coming from a long, long way.  I think I hear a lawsuit, Lee Deviney vs. State of Texas chugging down the pike.  Deviney really screwed things up.  This whole thing could have been easily resolved if he'd just held off sending that email.  Greer and his buds could hang him out the window to dry in the 90  percent humidity, blame it all on his negligence, and swear to do better in the future.

You can't keep a man on payroll who heads for the fire escape when he smells smoke.

Regan Greer?  He's outbound on the same track.  Hope his Bexar County connections have a hole in the organizational chart that needs filling when he comes limping back into San Antonio.

Jack

LANTERN's avatarLANTERN

Let us ask for a 6/49 Texas Lotto and a pick 4 game to go with the new Texas lottery crew.

lilliemae

This is just another example of how the Lottery does business.  You have to go along to get along at the Lottery.  They tell their employees at every available opportunity that they are "At Will" employees.  In other words, if you do or say something that doesn't jive with the good ole' boy line of thinking, your "at will" butt is gone.  Of course, your records will say "terminated for cause", and something will be automagically put in your files.  It's just scandalous, and I hope the media rapes the Lottery to bring this all to the forefront, getting rid of all that stinks.

orangeman

The Texas Lotto 44/44 matrix is a rip-off.  Players have given up on it, and rightly so.  The TLC was in trouble long before they joined Mega Millions.  That is just an excuse for a flawed system that no one is willing to repair, much less address in an intelligent manner. 

Orangeman                                    Green laugh

LANTERN's avatarLANTERN

There are pick 3 and pick 4 games, I have just come out with a pick 3 1/2 game or better it might be called 3 out of 4 picks.

It is a pick 4 game if you get 3 numbers right in a particular pre-chosen sequence (when you buy the tcket) you get a certain ammount, if you get 3 digits right in any sequence at all, you get less money.

If you get 4 digits right in the right straight order you get a fairly high ammount of money, if you get 4 digits right in any order you get less money than if you got them in order, but more than if you got 3 digits in the pre-chosen correct sequence, as to 2 numbers or pairs in some way, either no money at all or something could be arranged for that.

There might already be something like this somewhere, I don't know, it would be good for Texas.

 

bobby623's avatarbobby623

Crowe and his 2 buddies need to be fired, too. They meet every month to find ways to make more for the state by reducing player payouts. The Lotto game is a good example of how lotteries can rip off their players.

Gov. Perry needs to clean house.

However, I doubt if anyone will be fired. Greer will probably receive a slap on the hand and be made to promise he won't do it again - until next time.

 

orangeman

Lantern:

Not a bad idea!  New Mexico has something similar, but I like your idea better.  NM makes you select the balls in the order they are drawn which is pretty difficult, but they do award something for the last ball.  Don't know how popular it is, however.  The NM people might hate it.  Good thing to look into if there were any way to get comments on the game.

Orangeman                Thumbs Up

 

Hammer1

Does any one remember ENRON?

   They too lied to the public and some of them got jail time. Need I say more?
LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

just think texas was thinking of going computerized,thats a very dangerous thing if you think about all the possibilities...C-O-R-R-U-P-T....

CASH Only

Mass draws a 4 digit number on which you can make 3-digit bets.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

Does any one remember ENRON?

   They too lied to the public and some of them got jail time. Need I say more?

I Agree!

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