The Indianapolis Star reported yesterday on a class certified in a case filed in Marion County, Indiana against the Hoosier Lottery alleging that the lottery defrauded purchasers of its Cash Blast scratch game tickets by misrepresenting the odds of winning the top prizes after most of those prizes had already been awarded.

I haven't been able to hunt down a copy of Judge Gerald Zore's opinion, but based on the descriptions of the order in the Star article, there are a couple of potentially troubling aspects to the case.  First, the court reportedly based the certification decision in part on 49 affidavits from people saying that they bought tickets "because they thought there were more prizes than existed."  Based on the Star's description of the allegations in the case, the argument is that tickets continued to be sold with no change in the description of the odds even after most of the larger money prizes had already been claimed.  However, it does not appear that this left purchasers without the opportunity to win any prize at all.  Consequently, this does not appear to be the type of fraud case where the plaintiffs will be able to prove that no reasonable person would ever have bought a lottery ticket if the true odds had been made known.  Common sense and experience suggests that there were probably thousands of people who bought tickets without a thought for the odds.  If so, it is curious that the court would find relevant the fact that 49 affiants said that they did rely on the advertised odds in deciding to buy a ticket.  Certainly, there would be some purchasers who relied on the published odds, and others who did not.  Individualized reliance and causation issues would seem to come in to play in this case just as in most other consumer fraud class actions.

Second, one of the named plaintiffs, Jeff Frazer, reportedly paid $40,000 for 4,000 $10 tickets and considered his purchases an "investment" based on the advertised odds.  His co-plaintiff, Jeff Koehlinger, paid another $2,470 for tickets.  It's hard to imagine how the court was able to get around the significant typicality and adequacy problems seemingly inherent in these individuals trying to represent a class of lottery scratch game buyers.

See this MSNBC link for more on Mr. Frazer's story.  The blog WalletPop has a commentary on broader societal implications that this case brings to light about the human cost of state-sponsored gambling.

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Denver firefighters evacuated a building this morning after a chemical used to kill rodents started smoking, authorities say.

Denver's hazardous-materials unit was called at 9:19 a.m. to a commercial building at 3725 E. 48th Ave., said Alex Paez, Denver Fire spokesman.

Paramedics checked some people who were exposed to the chemical, but no one was injured, Paez said.

A crew of rodent-control workers was applying the chemical in the building when the reaction happened, he said.

"It started smoking pretty excessively," Paez said. "They evacuated the building as a precaution."

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For All your Rodent control and Get rid of bed bugs, Pest Control

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Kevin Abraham, a.k.a. "The Bee Man," has been stung more than 3,000 times during his 28-year career in pest control.

You'd think surviving such an onslaught would crack a dent in his courage, if not his work uniform.

But he doesn't seem too concerned.
  
"I'm immune to it now, I've been stung so many times."

Abraham visited Scott Township Library last Thursday morning so that children could get the "buzz" on bees, Yellowjackets, hornets and other flighty pests.

But "pests" would be a misnomer. Abraham told children that foods as diverse as apples and hamburgers wouldn't be possible without their pollination efforts.

"Honey bees are so important to human beings," he said.

The presentation was part of the library's Summer Reading Program -- "Catch the Reading Bug" -- which this year is focusing on insects, butterflies, worms and other slimy critters of the animal kingdom.

Abraham first got into the "bees-nesss" by managing a bee farm in Daisytown, Pa. He said people would continuously contact him to help with infestations.

A resident of Wexford, "The Bee Man" serves the tri-state area and specializes in controlling bees, yellow jackets, carpenter bees hornets and wasps that may become a nuisance.

Owner of a masters degree in psychology, he also has written a book on controlling African killer bees.

There are three types of bees: common honey bees, which live in large families of hives; bumblebees, which socialize in smaller groups; and minor bees, which live by themselves.

Abraham said small hives can reach 15,000 bees and large ones can hold a population of 50,000.

On their back legs, they use two sacs to carry pollen --or "bee bread" --back to the hive. The protein also helps babies of the family receive nourishment.

Abraham also spent time debunking a few of the many bee myths.

Among them: Yellowjackets are wasps, not bees, and do not produce pollen. They dine on other bees to help keep their population in check.

"(Without them) we'd be up to our knees walking in bugs and flies."

He said it is true that bees die after one stings you, as the stinger is left behind, inside an unlucky arm or leg.

After being stung by a bee, Abraham suggested cleaning it with soap and water, and placing ice or meat tenderizer on the area.

He pointed out an ecology crisis is currently gripping the globe, as honey bees are starting to disappear and no one knows the reason why.

Those of any age may jump when they spy a bee, but Abraham hopes his occupation helps lift the veil on their mysterious lives.

"I have a very special job."

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For All your Rodent control and Get rid of bed bugs, Pest Control

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[wp_caption id="attachment_252" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="New workout facility and Olympic-size pool planned at Kingman, Ariz, jail"][/wp_caption]

 

2:57 AM PDT, July 9, 2008

 

[wp_caption id="attachment_253" align="alignright" width="153" caption="Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was taken to a Las Vegas casino "][/wp_caption]

LAS VEGAS -- Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was taken to a Las Vegas casino after jail staff in Kingman, Ariz., noticed he was very lucky when gambling with inmates.

[wp_caption id="attachment_257" align="aligncenter" width="208" caption="The sect leader has won several card games and dice games during his jail stay, including a trip to Cancun and the Virgin Islands. "][/wp_caption]

 

 

 

This month I'm going with a podcast to which I have recently started listening. Restarted actually, I gave them a chance early on and lost interest, but I can give a full recommendation now to Learn Poker From The Joes.

For starters, a podcast is a show distributed over the internet. In this case it is audio, so you can think of it as a weekly radio program lasting  around an hour. Except it is better than radio in that it is commercial free.
Learn Poker From The Joes is a play on Full Tilt's podcast Learn Poker from the Pros. Full Tilt's show is also very good and also comes in a video format. However, it doesn't get "pick" status because the episodes are too short to hash out any real information.

The host "Joe," a guy called Judge, knows his stuff keeps his various guests on track, as all good hosts should. My favorite guest goes by KOOGE. There is no reason to listen to the episodes in order, so I suggest listening to a recent show featuring KOOGE first. For most, meaning iPod users, it is easiest to access the show on iTunes.

These guys are not pros, and yes, anyone can start a podcast, but the "Joes" go over more solid poker than the other popular poker podcasts (say that five times fast.) Many, like PokerRoad radio, spend the whole time complaining about bad beats at whatever tournament they are recording from.

Learn Poker From The Joes is a great podcast for beginning players and anyone who needs to re-examine their game. The "Joes" have brought up many aspects of the game I never considered or have forgot the importance. If you like this blog, give them a listen.

TEDDY DUPAY

From Deadspin via the Gainesville Sun:

 

Former University of Florida basketball player Teddy Dupay has been arrested and charged with rape in Utah.

Police say Dupay hit or kicked the victim after locking a Utah hotel room door. He also allegedly threatened to catch the woman and kill her family if she attempted to leave. Dupay has been charged with three felonies: rape, aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault.

Dupay admits he had sex with the woman and says it got "a little rough" but denies raping her. Dupay reportedly told police,

 

 

"How can you rape someone you love?"

According to the police report, the victim had bruises on her outer right thigh, scratches on her back, large bruises on her back, large bruises on her upper arm and shoulder and a swollen eye. She also suffered two broken ribs.

Dupay was a member of  the 2000 Florida team that made it to the NCAA championship game. His collegiate career was ended by a gambling scandal. It was discovered that Dupay bet on college basketball games (including Florida games.) Dupay went undrafted by the NBA. He was invited to training camp by the Orlando Magic but was cut in the preseason.

Deadpin.com ran a story about Dupay working as a telemarketer in Utah. One other note, although he is still in his 20's and was a major star in college, Teddy Dupay is a ghost on the internets today. He has no Wikipedia listing and although there are 2.9 million topics on the photo site Flicr.com, Teddy Dupay isn't one of them. Hell, he doesn't even have a MySpace or Facebook account.

In addition to all the money I spent on his cards, that is. :) I love the walk off home run last night. I just need to get that out there first. I'd just like to say that it screwed up my Sport Select ticket though, because I had the Angels winning. Not really mixed feelings. I am happy the Rangers won, and happy with a huge hit. And it was $40 I hadn't been counting on anyways. And I steadfastly refuse to bet on 'my teams' to win. It allows me to be happy with either outcome. :)

The card pickups have been lacking lately. I have been trying hard to finish off my Moments & Milestones 'set' (man, his RBI set is going to be HUGE next year), and let's face it - those cards are boring to scan, and boring to see. I'll scan everything when I'm done. I promise.

Edit: I just realized that this blog entry totally needed a picture.