Meet Dawn Nettles, a woman who is “seventy-four, with cropped copper hair and the bearing of a gently exasperated elementary-school teacher.” That’s how Rachel Monroe introduces us to the main character of this New Yorker piece, in which she reports on a $95 million Texas Lotto win that got away, and how Nettles acts as a tireless watchdog advocating for fair, transparent gaming at the Lone Star State’s Lottery Commission.
There are nearly twenty-six million possible combinations for Lotto Texas; Powerball, in comparison, has nearly three hundred million. A player, or a group of players, with the financial and logistical resources can effectively guarantee a win—and, if the prize pool is big enough, a hefty profit. This idea struck Nettles as immensely unfair. That week, she bought more tickets than she had in years. “I kept saying, ‘God, come on, let me hold the winning ticket so these people don’t come out ahead,’ ” she said.
More picks about gambling
The $30 Million Lottery Scam
“But he did let slip that he’d kept his lottery charts and spreadsheets—and that he still believed his system worked.”
Jerry and Marge Go Large
How a dyslexic cereal box designer with a penchant for puzzles and patterns figured out a loophole in the Cash WinFall state lottery game, earning $27 million in gross profits playing the lottery over nine years in two states.
My Mother, the Gambler
“‘Risk everything’ had always been her motto.”
