AUSTIN – The Texas Senate gave a unanimous 31 – 0 nod last week to a bill to ban the sale of lottery tickets by a third-party service by phone or digitally in the state.
Now, SB 28 is heading to the House for next steps.
Texas Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood spearheaded the bill and said of its Senate passage, “Over the past weeks, scrutiny has correctly increased on the Texas Lottery
Commission (TLC) and their inability to restore public confidence in their operations.”
It was in April of 2023, Edgewood pointed out the “biggest theft of citizens’ money happened when a foreign syndicate purchased 26 million $1 tickets in the Lotto Texas game. The winning prize had reached $95 million.”
He said those tickets were bought within 72 hours of the winning numbers being announced.
“The Lottery Commission not only inexplicably allowed this to happen but also provided extraordinary assistance in facilitating the printing of these tickets in several courier locations, one of which had little to no experience in printing tickets.”
To that end, both Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Governor Greg Abbott called for a Texas Rangers investigation as well as investigating the entire Lottery Commission, dating as far back as 2016.
It was at this time the Commission, through its own rulemaking, “changed the way the lottery operated by introducing couriers into the process of buying and printing tickets on behalf of people on a phone app,” Hall explained.
Last week the Lottery Commission announced they were ending all courier services in Texas.
“Sen. Hall, who has done a fantastic job carrying SB 28, passed SB 1820 out of the Senate last session 29-2 to ban lottery couriers in Texas. Unfortunately, that bill died in the Texas House. Today, Sen. Hall passed SB 28 to put an end to couriers once again; the bill passed the Senate 31-0,” Patrick explained in a media release.
Patrick said two weeks ago he visited a lottery courier location and was stunned to see how the operation worked.
“The location had two lottery terminals in a tiny retail space — not the usual convenience store, and they had 30-40 terminals behind the wall in a backroom that were spitting tickets out by the second,” Patrick said. “While I was eventually allowed to tour the back room of the store, I was not allowed to take photos or videos or ask questions.”
Patrick said for years the Lottery Commission had said they could not regulate lottery couriers even though the commission paved the way for them to creep into Texas.
“To be clear, the state does not pay the jackpot for winning tickets; it is paid for by the people who bought tickets believing they had a chance to win. The $95 million jackpot that appears to have been stolen came from honest Texans who bought lottery tickets over the time it took to build up that jackpot,” Patrick added. “The Texas Lottery cannot continue unless the people of Texas have faith that the game is not rigged in advance or that it is not being used as a criminal enterprise to launder massive amounts of money.”
More recently a second lottery ticket incident also took place in which a $83.5 million Lotto Texas ticket was sold at the Winners Circle in Austin. That location and the courier involved is owned by DraftKings, a sports betting company.
The Austin win is also being investigated alongside the Rook, TX win from last year.
If the bill successfully passes in the Texas House as it did in the Senate, the next step will be the governor’s desk. If Abbott also signs the bill, then it would no longer be possible to buy lottery tickets if not in person.
“Today, the Senate made it clear that the first step in restoring public trust in the commission, if even possible, is to ban lottery couriers,” Patrick concluded. “The decision on whether the lottery will continue will be made in the coming days and weeks of the legislative session.”
After SB 28 passed out of the Texas Senate the Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers emphasized its push for a regulatory solution.
To that end, the coalition is putting its hope in a bill filed by Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, HB 3201, which would allow for the ability to order lottery tickets through couriers, but with the idea a state licensing system for couriers would be implemented.
Rita Cook is a world traveler and writer/editor who specializes in writing on travel, auto, crime and politics. A correspondent for Texas Metro News, she has published 11 books and has also produced low-budget films.
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