| (C) By agreement with the Mega Millions Lotteries,
the Mega Millions Lotteries shall independently calculate their set
pari-mutuel prize amounts. The Party Lotteries and the Mega Millions
Lotteries shall than agree to set the pari-mutuel prize amount for
all lotteries selling the game at the lesser of the independently-calculated
prize amounts.
(4) Except as may be required by subsection (f)(1)
of this section, the official advertised Grand Prize annuity amount
is subject to change based on sales forecasts and/or actual sales.
(5) Subject to the laws and rules governing each Party
Lottery, the number of prize categories and the allocation of the
prize fund among the prize categories may be changed at the discretion
of the Mega Millions Lotteries, for promotional purposes. Such change
shall be announced by Mega Millions Lotteries.
(e) Probability of Winning Mega Millions Prizes. The
following table sets forth the probability of winning and the probable
distribution of winning Plays in and among each prize category for
MM Plays, based upon the total number of possible combinations in
Mega Millions.
Attached Graphic
(f) Mega Millions Prize Payment.
(1) Mega Millions Grand Prize. The prize money allocated
from the current Mega Millions prize pool for the Grand Prize, plus
any previous portions of prize money allocated to the Grand Prize
category in which no matching MM Plays or JJ Plays were sold will
be divided equally among all Grand Prize winning MM Plays and JJ Plays
in all Participating Lotteries. The Annuity Grand Prize amount will
be paid in thirty (30) graduated annual installments. Grand Prizes
won shall be funded by the Selling Lotteries in accordance with the
formula set by the Mega Millions Lotteries. The Mega Millions Lotteries
may set a minimum guaranteed annuitized Grand Prize amount that shall
be advertised by the Selling Lotteries as the starting guaranteed
annuitized Grand Prize amount. At the time of ticket purchase, a player
must select a payment option of either a single cash value payment
or annuitized payments of a share of the Grand Prize if the Play is
a winning Play. A player's selection of the payment option at the
time of purchase from the commission is final and cannot be revoked,
withdrawn, or otherwise changed. If no selection is made, payment
option will be as described in the chart below:
Attached Graphic
(2) Mega Millions Prize Rollover. If in any Mega Millions
Drawing there are no MM Plays or JJ Plays that qualify for the Grand
Prize category, the portion of the prize fund allocated to such Grand
Prize category shall remain in the Grand Prize category and be added
to the amount allocated for the Grand Prize category in the next consecutive
Mega Millions Drawing.
(3) A player(s) who elects a cash value option payment
shall be paid his/her share(s) in a single cash payment upon completion
of validation procedures determined by the commission. The cash value
option amount shall be determined by the Mega Millions Lotteries.
(4) All annuitized prizes shall be paid annually in
thirty (30) graduated annual installments upon completion of validation
procedure determined by the commission. The initial payment shall
be paid upon completion of the validation procedures and the subsequent
twenty-nine (29) payments shall be paid annually to coincide with
the winning draw date, and shall escalate by a factor of 5% annually.
Prize payments may be rounded down to the nearest one thousand dollars
($1,000) increment. The annuitized option prize shall be determined
by multiplying the winning 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.
(5) If individual shares of the Grand Prize Pool funds
held to fund an annuity is less than $250,000.00, the Product Group,
in its sole discretion, may elect to pay the winners their share of
the cash held in the Grand Prize Pool.
(6) Funds for the initial payment of an annuitized
prize or the lump sum cash value option payment shall be made available
by MUSL for payment by the Party Lottery on a schedule approved by
the Product Group. If necessary, when the due date for the payment
of a prize occurs before the receipt of funds in the prize pool trust
sufficient to pay the prize, the transfer of funds for the payment
of the full cash value option payment amount may be delayed pending
receipt of funds from the 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;
Cont'd... |
