| (3) Powerball 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.
(4) Powerball 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 cash 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.
(5) Powerball Prize Rollover. If the Grand Prize is
not won in a Drawing, the prize money allocated for the Grand Prize
shall roll over and be added to the Grand Prize Pool for the following
Drawing.
(6) Funding of Guaranteed Powerball Prizes. The Powerball
Group may offer guaranteed minimum Grand Prize amounts or minimum
increases in the Grand Prize amount between Drawings or make other
changes in the allocation of prize money where the Powerball Group
finds that it would be in the best interest of the game. If a minimum
Grand Prize amount or a minimum increase in the Grand Prize amount
between Drawings is offered by the Powerball Group, then the Grand
Prize shares shall be determined as follows:
(A) If there are multiple Grand Prize winning PB Plays
during a single Drawing, each selecting the annuitized option prize,
then a winning PB Play's share of the guaranteed annuitized Grand
Prize shall be determined by dividing the guaranteed annuitized Grand
Prize by the number of Grand Prize winning PB Plays.
(B) If there are multiple Grand Prize winning PB Plays
during a single Drawing and at least one of the Grand Prize ticket
holders has elected the annuitized option prize, then the MUSL Annuity
Factor may be utilized to determine the cash pool. The cost of the
annuitized prize(s) will be determined at the time the annuity is
purchased through a process as approved by the MUSL Board. If the
annuitized option prize is selected by a Texas Lottery player, the
amount shall be determined by multiplying the winning PB Play's share
of the Grand Prize Pool by the annuity factor established in accordance
with Texas law and the rules of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
The MUSL Annuity Factor will not be used for Texas Lottery players.
(C) If there are multiple Grand Prize winning PB Plays
during a single Drawing, and no claimant of the Grand Prize has elected
the annuitized option prize, then the amount of cash in the Grand
Prize Pool shall be an amount equal to the guaranteed annuitized amount
divided by the MUSL Annuity Factor.
(D) Minimum guaranteed prizes or increases may be waived
upon approval of the Powerball Group if the alternate funding mechanism
set out in subsection (d)(2)(D) of this section becomes necessary.
(7) Limited to Highest Powerball Prize Won. The holder
of a winning PB Play may win only one (1) prize per PB 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.
All liabilities for a Powerball game or Powerball game promotional
prize are discharged upon payment of a prize claim.
(8) Powerball Prize Claim Period. Prizes must be claimed
no later than 180 days after the draw date.
(g) Play Validation. 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 tickets sold
through its lottery gaming system and any other validation requirements
adopted by the Powerball Group, the MUSL Board, and published as the
Confidential MUSL Minimum Game Security Standards. The MUSL and the
Selling Lotteries shall not be responsible for tickets which are altered
in any manner.
(1) Under no circumstances will a claim be paid for
any prize without an official ticket matching all game Play, serial
number and other validation data residing in the selling Party Lottery's
lottery gaming system and such ticket shall be the only valid proof
of the wager placed and the only valid evidence for purposes of claiming
or redeeming such prize.
(2) In addition to the above condition, in order to
be deemed a valid winning 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, selling agent or retailer 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 Play data must have been recorded on the commission's
lottery gaming system prior to the Drawing and the Play data must
match this lottery record in every respect. In the event of a conflict
between information as printed on the ticket and as accepted by the
commission's lottery gaming system, the wager accepted by the commission's
lottery gaming system shall be the valid wager.
(H) 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.
(I) 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.
(J) In submitting a Play for validation, the claimant
agrees to abide by applicable laws, all rules and regulations, instructions,
conditions and final decisions of the executive director.
(K) There must not be any other breach of the Powerball
Game Rules in relation to the Play that, in the opinion of the executive
director, justifies invalidation.
(L) The Play must be submitted to the Selling Lottery
that issued it.
(3) A Play submitted for validation that fails any
of the 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 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 Play of equivalent sales price;
(C) In the event a 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) Signature. Until such time as a signature is placed
upon a ticket in the area designated for signature, a ticket shall
be owned by the bearer of the ticket. When a signature is placed on
the ticket in the place designated, the person whose signature appears
in such area shall be the owner of the ticket and shall be entitled
(subject to the validation requirements in subsection (g) of this
section (Ticket Validation) and state or district law) to any prize
attributable thereto.
(2) Multiple Claimants. The issue of multiple claimants
shall be handled in accordance with Texas Government Code Chapter
466 and §401.304 of this chapter.
(3) Stolen Tickets. The Powerball Group, the MUSL and
the Party Lotteries shall not be responsible for lost or stolen tickets.
(4) Prize Claims. Prize claim procedures shall be governed
by the rules of the commission as set out in §401.304 of this
subchapter and any internal procedures used by the commission. The
MUSL and the Party Lotteries shall not be responsible for prizes that
are not claimed following the proper procedures as determined by the
Selling Lottery.
Cont'd... |
