Cheaters at Hair Lotto- Page 2

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 10:45pm

"Funny, the same thing happened at 9 to 5 tonight. What had happened what a fellow's mom had already signed him up and he didn't realize that (neither did the lotto guy) and he got called twice in a row. Simple mistake, but rules are rules."

I was there when this happened as well...it sucks but I'm glad the lotto guy was enforcing the rules.

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 11:58pm

I was there that night that they cheated! And I must say I am so glad they got caught, because if they had not gotten their tickets taken away, I would have not gotten mine! My name was the last one to be called! And it was an amazing show.

[little_sally]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 12:17am

I always figured you couldn't put someone else's name in along with yours. But I guess it doesn't matter so long as the person is there with an ID if their name is called.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 10:24am

For the last time, the WSS lottery is not rigged. If a cast member helped you get a ticket, it was sheer luck that your name was called. Ever thought you might have just won?

[Just_John]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 10:31am

The West Side Story is, or at least was definitely rigged. I played it last night and it was not rigged. But I played 7 times earlier in the run and 6 out of the 7 times the guy went in to the theater to pick the names. The 4th or 5th time I tried it I saw a group of 10 win the first 10 tickets. They didn't even try to look like they weren't together. They all cheered for each other when each name was called. You know it's being rigged if he decides to go behind the doors. Why are you trying to say its not rigged?

[dihope0914]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 11:09am

I was skeptical at the WSS lottery as well. It was a very large group, and coincidentally, 3 people with the same UNUSUAL last name were called, as well as another person who was part of their group.

Just saying......

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 11:57am

"Why are you trying to say its not rigged?"

I'll take that one. Simple. Because it isn't. Rigged, that is.

"You know it's being rigged if he decides to go behind the doors".

No, you don't. All you know if he decides to go behind the doors is that he decided to go behind the doors. Maybe it was windy. Maybe he wanted a flat surface. He's still in plain sight. The WSS lottery isn't rigged. Neither was ACL's. Continuing to say so over and over doesn't make it any more true.

[broadwayhoofer]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 4:17pm

You're wrong. Occasionally, it is. Not trying to brag about the fact that I cheated my way into seeing a show, but hell, why lie?

[Pianist3912]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 4:41pm

Yup, it's true. Totally rigged sometimes.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 11:05pm

He's still in plain sight.

Except he's not. Sometimes he goes through the closed doors into the theater itself (not the lobby that's visible through large glass doors).

[winston89]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 12:28am

Rigged or not it is still fishy when situations like this occur. Clearly there were problems with the lotto for A Chorus Line otherwise they wouldn't have changed it to being student rush. Same goes for West Side Story, if enough people have been complaining about the same foul play going on then it might lead others to rethink what is going on when the person calling the lotto names is calling them.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 12:37am

I say some of us call the BO and report the rigged behavior.

[winston89]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 12:43am

CSonBroadway, nice try. If you try to look up the number for any Broadway theatre in a directory like the phone book etc it will just give you the number for either telecharge or Ticketmaster.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 12:52am

Why bother with a phone call? If you're close enough to NYC to go to the lotto in the first place, it's easy enough to go to the theater in person and complain there if there's a problem. The West Side Story website also mentions an e-mail address for inquiries: [e-mail]

(Lovely to hear this about the WSS lotto, by the way. There's another reason not to put that show at the top of my list.)
Updated On: 7/12/09 at 12:52 AM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 12:55am

The lottery was rigged often in previews when the sales associates who work for Creative Goods, Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller's merchandising company, had a hand in the names being drawn and would arrange it so all their friends would win.

Now that the CG manager has taken over the duty of drawing the names, it's only usually rigged when someone associated with a company member "plays" to get tickets (though that doesn't make it any less wrong.)

If anyone would like to lodge a formal complaint, it should be done through The Producing Office, not the box office.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 1:25am

I've seen people cheat at West Side Story. It sounds like they took some measures to stop the cheating, but people definitely cheated at points in the past.

And yes, you could know a cast member, enter the lottery, and easily just get lucky with your win having nothing to do with your friend. But whoever posted that story clearly implicated that he or she cheated, and was able to do so because of the connection.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 11:06am

Exactly.

The cheating definitely has occurred (and continues to do so, albeit to a lesser degree.)

Here's hoping the system is amended.

Updated On: 7/12/09 at 11:06 AM

[little_sally]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 12:11pm

The box offices do have phone numbers, winston.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 3:29pm

I've only tried the WSS lotto twice, but both times the "winners" didn't seem overly surprised that they won ~ especially given the number of people out there.

I have seen the guy at Wicked catch girls trying to put their names in again. He recognized them and said "You can only enter once girls." They left, so he didn't pull their names from the pile ~ but they didn't win either.

I was at ITH lotto once where the name called was "Vanessa..." and a CLEARLY male voice said "Here" but the girl doing the lotto didn't question him or ask to see his ID verifying that he was Vanessa before she let him in line. That was, however, counterbalanced by the next time I was there when the guy was doing it and he refused to let a girlfriend stand in line for her boyfriend whose name was called just after he "ran to the bathroom".

I did find it funny/odd that the other night when my friend and I tried Hair's lotto, ONLY guys were called. No girls. I know it's random, but that just seemed weird. LOL.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 3:43pm

I did the Shrek lotto once and people from the same groups won a few times. It mostly happened for the matinee. I doubt it was rigged though because nobody seemed like they were expecting it.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 3:49pm

First of all, Creative Goods is not Seller & McCollum's merchandise company. They just happen to have the accounts for their newer shows.

The lotto guy goes inside to pull the names because there are 100+ people there every night who crowd in and pester him when he doesn't. I know for a fact he doesn't rig the lottery, and goes out of his way not to. Where do your stories come from?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 4:05pm

Is there an actual rule that says a cast member cannot play the lottery? If not, how is having a cast member enter for you cheating?

Even though it may not seem fair, it is what it is. I think this is all nonsense people trying to spread rumors about the West Side Story lotto, true or not. This is silly. Look what happened to Chorus Line partially because of rumors of the lotto being rigged.

If you want to see the show that bad, buy a ticket.

Updated On: 7/12/09 at 04:05 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 4:11pm

Stories come from seeing it happen. I'm not saying it was an every day occurrence, but I am saying I saw it happen. I saw a girl who arrived too late to put her name in have her name called. I know for a fact that she did not put her name into the bucket. There is no other way that could have happened then having someone else either put her name in -- it could have been called by happenstance, but likely because someone made sure it got pulled. Either way, it was cheating; one is just worse than the other.

Having a cast member enter for you isn't cheating -- they're allowed to enter. I saw Rent cast members win occasionally. But having a cast member be sure that you win BECAUSE you are a friend of a cast member is cheating.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 4:12pm

If you want to see the show that bad, buy a ticket.

this.

also, I think there should be a rule that you can't enter for someone else.

[winston89]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 4:14pm

millie_dillmount, I don't think that there is a rule that says that an actor cannot enter the lotto for their show. I just think that people find it a little fishy when they do and they win.

I remember hearing a story awhile back about how Matt Caplan entered the Rent loto for Karen Olivo and won. There were some who thought that they rigged it so that Matt could win. I think that it is just pure luck and nothing more and that there was no foul play whatsoever. But, that is just me when it coms to things like that.