Texas Lottery pulls controversial scratch off card after hundreds complain

The Texas Lottery Commission has announced it will pull the Fun Five's scratchoff card from circulation after hundreds of people complained the rules were ambiguous. 

Angry players started calling in just one day after the card was released September 1, according to lottery watchdog Dawn Nettles of Lotto Report.com.

About 300 people now are preparing for possible legal action to claim up to $10 million, action the Lottery Commission appeared to dismiss out of hand, Tuesday.

"The agency has received feedback from some players expressing confusion regarding certain aspects of this popular game," said the Texas Lottery Commission in a statement announcing the closure of the game, "Additionally, a few opportunistic individuals appear to be exploiting the situation."

Confusion centered around the fifth game on the card. Wording underneath the game said scratching off three fives in a row would win the prize amount in the prize box. A second sentence read: "Reveal a money bag symbol in the 5x box, win five times that prize" (see the card for yourself in the slideshow above).

The Texas Lottery Commission said players were required to complete both parts of the rule in order to win. Lawyers for the players argue that the two sentences were not connected and suggested that it appeared a money bag symbol alone would result in a prize.

"If that's the case, they should have used the word 'and' or used one sentence and they didn't do either," said Houston attorney Manfred Sternberg in September' "Even a fourth grader would tell you those two sentences are not joined together."

Sternberg said Wednesday that a petition has been filed with Travis County Court requesting permission to take preliminary depositions in preparation for any potential lawsuit against the Texas Lottery Commission and GTech Corporation who manufactured the card.

"We'd like to talk to the Lottery Commission and GTech on the record, then we'll figure out who, if anyone, we're going to sue." said Sternberg. "It's not a lawsuit, just a request to take depositions."

Nettles at the Lotto Report says Texas Lottery Commission should pay up without anyone having to go to court.

"They should have pulled it immediately in September when they learned of the issue," said Nettles. "We want our money, what we want from the Texas Lottery now is to tell us how to collect it."

According to the Lottery Commission statement, Fun Five's was averaging more than $3 million in weekly sales and was a top-selling $5 card across the state, with some revenue going towards the Foundation for School Fund which it says supports education in the state.

"I am sorely disappointed in the press release they issued. They are portraying themselves as victims whereas it's the people of Texas that are victims," said Nettles, highlighting the allegation of opportunism. "They are trying to blame someone else for their mistakes."

The game was recalled Tuesday beginning a 45-day period where officials will try to recover all the cards in circulation. The official end of game date will be December 5, 2014, but players will be able to claim prizes for any winning ticket until June 3, 2015, according to the Lottery Commission statement.

A court hearing over the petition is due on November 12.