After an $83 million lottery jackpot was won in Austin, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick paid the outlet that sold the winning ticket an impromptu visit and discovered a warehouse of printing machines run by an illicit lottery ticket reseller.
Patrick’s visit to the printing warehouse came a week after members of the Senate Finance Committee eviscerated the Texas Lottery Commission for shepherding lottery resellers into the state and allowing one—Lottery.com—to operate what State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) called a money laundering operation in April 2023.
In a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton sent after the hearing, Texas Lottery Executive Director Ryan Mindell asserted lottery resellers were using couriers to purchase tickets in stores.
Patrick’s video exposes the lie in Mindell’s claim.
Illicit lottery ticket resellers operating in Texas call themselves couriers to circumvent the letter and spirit of the law governing the lottery, which states that it is to be played in-person, with cash, at a brick-and-mortar location conducting regular business.
Resellers like the one Patrick visited allow players who may be out of state, or even in another country, to play Texas Lottery games online with credit. This leaves the door open to criminality and the expropriation of millions of dollars from Texas lottery players.
When it comes to resellers, the lottery is being used as a means for a state sports betting expansion. Draft Kings, one of the nation’s largest sports betting companies, owns the lottery reseller Jackpocket, which sold the winning $83 million ticket.
After Patrick posted his video, State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) wrote that his office was harassed by a lottery “contractor” during the last session. Cain called for lawmakers to shutter the agency.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) called the lottery a “rogue agency” that “is clearly run by the gambling vendors.”
Another member of the Texas House, State Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Allen), posted, “Well done, Lt. Governor. This doesn’t pass the smell test. Not even close,” before adding, “We must fully investigate and crack down immediately.”
Leach later deleted the post. During the 2023 legislative session, Leach authored legislation to expand gambling in Texas via sports betting.
The Texas Lottery was sold to Texans as a panacea for funding public education. As Texas Scorecard explored in a recent series of Exposed, not only were funds not initially dedicated to education, but since its inception, the lottery has yet to generate enough money to fund even a single year of public education.
While Texas kids have not significantly benefited from the lottery, the vendors who administer it have made billions. IGT, which has run the lottery in Texas since its inception, is a $4 billion entity. The company was recently sued for its role in a rigged $95 million jackpot won in 2023.
The Texas Lottery Commission has been trying to expand its footprint since the 1990s. It has been repeatedly embroiled in scandals that have often been linked to its vendor—GTECH, now IGT—and lottery leadership.
This session, gambling interests like casinos and sports betting apps hoping to expand in Texas face an uphill battle. Several members of the Texas House who voted in favor of one or both forms of gambling expansion were defeated in their primary elections in 2024.
For his part, Gov. Greg Abbott appears to have regressed on the issue of gambling expansion in the state. At the end of the last legislative session, he told the Texas Lottery that it could ignore instructions to stop lottery resellers from operating in the state.
The Republican Party platform opposes expanded gambling.
Abbott’s former right-hand man, David Whitley, is a lobbyist for Jackpocket, the illicit reseller Patrick visited. The company also has a noteworthy investor—Mark Cuban.
At the end of his video, Patrick said it was time to “take a deep look” at the resellers peddling Texas lottery tickets online. The only path to rebuilding trust in the product is to conduct an independent investigation that examines the bureaucracy empowering resellers.
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