Well, y'all proved me wrong! I was always in contact with Cindy at Inyo N.F. in Bishop, who ran the lottery, way back when it was the "hard-copy and leaf-blower in the stair case" version. She always said there was no way they would ever do refunds, due to the danger of losing money. Now that rec.gov handles all the money, it is a different set of rules.
I am not surprised they were giving refunds this past year due to the completely different (COVID) environment. But that is really news that futbol got a refund before this year.
Thinking about it, it is to rec.gov's advantage to give refunds, because they can sell the permits again, and collect that non-refundable part.
