Texas Lottery commissioners have approved a ban on ticket resellers Tuesday, just one month after voting to move forward with the proposal.
Resellers, also known as courier services, allow online customers to purchase lottery tickets from brick-and-mortar stores without being physically present. Ticket resellers instead buy the customer’s ticket at a premium and send them a picture of the purchase.
The practice started over the last decade, well after the lottery sold its first ticket in 1992.
Recently, resellers have been at the epicenter of scandals surrounding the lottery, including an $83.5 million winning ticket that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick discovered was sold by a retailer owned by a reseller service.
Lawmakers have also grilled lottery commissioners on their delayed decision to take action on reseller services.
While Texas Lottery statutes have always explicitly prohibited the sale of lottery tickets by phone, commissioners claimed they lacked the authority to ban online ticket resellers until mere hours before a February 24 hearing.
Commissioner Mark A. Franz, who voted against moving forward with the ban on March 4, said he changed his mind leading up to Tuesday’s meeting and would vote for it.
Franz said he initially opposed the ban because he believed changes made by the committee to curb bulk purchases and limit the number of lottery terminals per retailer were good enough.
He also cited a lack of clear direction from lawmakers on how to handle ticket resellers. Since then, senators have sent two measures to the House that would clearly ban lottery ticket resellers and the practice of bulk purchasing.
“I have, during this 30-day period, and weighing the evidence of it all, I’ve been persuaded that this is the right move to go forward, and that we should do the maximum amount allowable under our current statute,” said Franz.
That maximum allowable amount, approved on Tuesday, does not prohibit the practice outright.
However, the new rule will render it practically impossible for lottery ticket resellers to operate in Texas by revoking the licenses of retailers who are “knowingly selling tickets to, working with, or otherwise assisting couriers.”
Commissioners’ decision to ban couriers comes one week after their embattled executive director, Ryan Mindell, resigned from his position. In March, commissioners shot down a proposal to fire Mindell.
Sergio Rey is now the commission’s acting deputy executive director. From 2023 until recently, he served as the chief financial officer of the commission.
In late February, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a Texas Rangers investigation into questionable winnings overseen by the Lottery Commission, including a Houston Chronicle report of potential child labor leading up to a jackpot win.
Abbott later expanded the investigation’s scope to cover all activities by the commission since 2016 after speaking with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. The Texas attorney general’s office has also opened a separate investigation into the commission.
No ads. No paywalls. No government grants. No corporate masters.
Just real news for real Texans.
Support Texas Scorecard to keep it that way!
