CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Commission OKs New Lottery Games

Conceding that players have lost confidence in California’s games of chance, the state Lottery Commission agreed Thursday to gradually eliminate nearly all the current games and replace them with a variety of games that have proven successful in other states. The commission, acting on a recommendation from new Lottery Director Sharon Sharp, voted unanimously to replace its Lotto, Decco, Little Lotto and Topper games with a new Super Lotto game, a daily numbers game, a Nevada-style keno game and a smaller Lotto-type game to be called Fantasy Five. “The players think we are not giving them their dollar’s worth,” she said. “These (new) games are the necessary foundation to bring them back.” She said her first plan is to replace the current Lotto game with a new Super Lotto game on Dec. 15 that will give players better odds of winning by allowing them to pick six numbers from 51 instead of six from 53.