| Party Lotteries or other lotteries participating
in the Mega Millions game. A Party Lottery may elect to make the initial
payment from its own funds after validation, with notice to MUSL.
(7) Payment of Prize Payments upon the Death of a Prize
Winner. In the event of the death of a prize winner, payments may
be made in accordance with §401.310 of this chapter (relating
to Payment of Prize Payments Upon Death of Prize Winner), otherwise,
payment of prize payments will be made to the estate of a deceased
prize winner in accordance with Texas Government Code §466.406.
(8) Prize Payments. All prizes shall be paid through
the Selling Lottery that sold the winning Play(s). All low-tier cash
prizes (all prizes except the Grand Prize) shall be paid in cash or
warrants in accordance with Texas statutes and these rules. A Selling
Lottery may begin paying low-tier cash prizes after receiving authorization
to pay from the MUSL central office.
(9) Prizes Rounded. Annuitized payments of the Grand
Prize or a share of the Grand Prize may be rounded to facilitate the
purchase of an appropriate funding mechanism. Breakage on an annuitized
Grand Prize win shall be added to the first payment to the winner
or winners. Prizes other than the Grand Prize, which, under this section,
may become single-payment, pari-mutuel prizes, may be rounded down
so that prizes can be paid in multiples of whole dollars. Breakage
resulting from rounding these prizes shall be carried forward to the
prize pool for the next Drawing.
(10) Limited to Highest Prize Won. The holder of a
winning MM Play may win only one (1) prize per Play in connection
with the Winning Numbers drawn, and shall be entitled only to the
prize won by those numbers in the highest matching prize category.
A JJ Play is not eligible to win non-Grand Prize category prizes.
All liabilities for a Mega Millions prize are discharged upon payment
of a prize claim.
(11) Claim Period. Prizes must be claimed no later
than 180 days after the draw date, or in accordance with Texas Government
Code §466.408(e).
(g) Ticket Validation.
(1) To be a valid Play and eligible to receive a prize,
a Play's ticket shall satisfy all the requirements established by
the commission for validation of winning Plays sold through the computer
gaming system, as well as any other validation requirements adopted
by the Product Group, the MUSL Board and published as the Confidential
MUSL Minimum Game Security Standards. The MUSL and the Party Lotteries
shall not be responsible for Plays or tickets that are altered in
any manner.
(2) Under no circumstances will a claim for any prize
be paid without an official Mega Millions ticket issued as authorized
by the commission and matching all game Play, serial number and other
validation data residing in the commission's computer gaming system
and such ticket shall be the only valid proof of the wager placed
and the only valid receipt for claiming or redeeming such prize.
(3) In addition to the above, in order to be deemed
a valid, winning Mega Millions Play, all of the following conditions
must be met:
(A) The validation data must be present in its entirety
and must correspond, using the computer validation file, to the number
selections printed on the ticket for the applicable drawing date(s);
(B) The ticket must be intact;
(C) The ticket must not be mutilated, altered, reconstituted,
or tampered with in any manner;
(D) The ticket must not be counterfeit or an exact
duplicate of another winning ticket;
(E) The ticket must have been issued by an authorized
sales agent on official Texas Lottery paper stock or, for third-party
point-of-sale systems approved by the commission, printed on paper
stock or otherwise issued in a manner approved by the commission to
provide tangible evidence of participation in a lottery game;
(F) The ticket must not have been stolen, to the knowledge
of the commission;
(G) The ticket must be submitted for payment in accordance
with the prize claim procedures of the commission as set out in §401.304
of this subchapter and any internal procedures used by the commission;
(H) The Play data on the ticket must have been recorded
on the computer gaming system prior to the drawing and the Play data
must match this computer record in every respect. In the event of
a contradiction between information as printed on the ticket and as
accepted by the commission's computer gaming system, the wager accepted
by the commission's computer gaming system shall be the valid wager;
(I) The player or Quick Pick number selections, validation
data and the drawing date(s) of an apparent winning Play must appear
in the official file of winning Plays, and a Play with that exact
data must not have been previously paid;
(J) The Play must not be misregistered, and the Play's
ticket must not be defectively printed or printed or produced in error
to an extent that it cannot be processed by the commission;
(K) The ticket must pass confidential validation tests
in accordance with the MUSL MM Rules. In addition, the ticket must
pass all other confidential security checks of the commission;
(L) In submitting a ticket for validation, the claimant
agrees to abide by applicable laws, all rules and regulations, instructions,
conditions and final decisions of the executive director of the commission;
(M) There must not be any other breach of the MUSL
MM Rules, or this subchapter, in relation to the Play, which, in the
sole and final opinion of the executive director of the commission,
justifies invalidation; and
(N) The Ticket must be submitted to the commission,
or the Selling Lottery that issued it.
(4) A Play submitted for validation that fails any
of the preceding validation conditions shall be considered void, subject
to the following determinations:
(A) In all cases of doubt, the determination of the
commission shall be final and binding; however, the commission may,
at its option, replace an invalid Play with a Mega Millions Play of
equivalent sales price;
(B) In the event a defective ticket is purchased or
in the event the commission determines to adjust an error, the claimant's
sole and exclusive remedy shall be the replacement of such defective
or erroneous ticket(s) with a Mega Millions Play of equivalent sales
price; and
(C) In the event a Mega Millions Play is not paid by
the commission and a dispute occurs as to whether the Play is a winning
Play, the commission may, at its option, replace the Play as provided
in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. This shall be the sole and
exclusive remedy of the claimant.
(h) Ticket Responsibility.
(1) Prize Claims. Prize claim procedures shall be governed
by the rules of the commission. The MUSL and the Selling Lotteries
shall not be responsible for prizes that are not claimed following
the proper procedures as determined by the commission.
(2) Stolen Plays. The Product Group, the MUSL, the
Party Lotteries and the commission shall not be responsible for lost
or stolen Plays.
(3) The Party Lotteries shall not be responsible to
a prize claimant for Mega Millions Plays redeemed in error by a Texas
Lottery sales agent.
(4) Winning Plays are determined by the numbers drawn
and certified by the independent auditor responsible for auditing
the Mega Millions draw. MUSL, the Party Lotteries and the commission
are not responsible for Mega Millions winning numbers reported in
error.
(i) Ineligible Players.
(1) A Play, or share of a Play, for a MUSL game issued
by the MUSL or any of its Party Lotteries shall not be purchased by,
and a prize won by any such Play, or share of a Play, shall not be
paid to:
(A) a MUSL employee, officer, or director;
(B) a contractor or consultant under agreement with
the MUSL to review the MUSL audit and security procedures;
(C) an employee of an independent accounting firm under
contract with MUSL to observe drawings or site operations and actually
assigned to the MUSL account and all partners, shareholders, or owners
in the local office of the firm; or
(D) an immediate family member (parent, stepparent,
child, stepchild, spouse, or sibling) of an individual described in
subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section and residing in the
same household.
(2) Those persons designated by the State Lottery Act,
Texas Government Code, Chapter 466, as ineligible to play its games
shall also be ineligible to play any MUSL lottery game sold in the
state of Texas.
Cont'd... |
