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AUSTIN, TX – In 1991, Texans voted to approve the Texas Lottery and entrusted the Texas Legislature and the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) with the responsibility of protecting its integrity. Upholding the faith of Texans in a fair lottery should be of paramount importance.
The TLC’s inconsistent policy and a lack of accountability have left Texans with many reasons to be concerned:
- After years of legal and responsible operations in the state of Texas, while always maintaining a transparent and professional relationship with the TLC, the agency claimed to have no regulatory authority over lottery couriers, despite couriers’ persistent requests to be regulated, just as we are in other states. Under intense scrutiny of its operations by the legislature and the media, the TLC abruptly reversed course and issued a policy statement asserting that millions of Texans should no longer be able to use lottery courier platforms to order lottery tickets.
- The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Lottery USA have exposed the details behind the scheme that led to an international syndicate purchasing and printing 25.8 million lottery tickets to game the system and win a $95 million jackpot in April 2023. Although the TLC itself provided the terminals used to print the tickets, the agency is advocating for a ban on lottery courier platforms, which had nothing to do with the scheme, are incapable of processing such a bulk purchase, and support a ban on bulk purchases.
- Although integrity and responsibility are considered core values of the TLC, the agency is being investigated by the Texas Rangers regarding its involvement in the April 2023 scheme. As a result, the agency is withholding an $83.5 million payout to a Texan with an authenticated winning ticket.
- While claiming it had no regulatory authority to regulate lottery couriers, the TLC has consistently requested the Texas Legislature provide it with direction through legislation. There are currently two bills pending in the legislature regarding the operations of lottery couriers, yet the TLC has chosen to act on its own to ban them. In response to legislation regarding the ongoing funding of the Texas Lottery, the TLC said: “The agency respects the legislative process and has no comment to provide.” This demonstrates the TLC’s inconsistent “respect for the legislative process.”
- In October 2024, the TLC announced that it recorded its second-best year with $8.39 billion in sales for FY 2024. Executive Director Ryan Mindell characterized this as, “a testament to the commitment of the entire Texas Lottery team and its partners to generate important revenue for public education and veterans’ services,” and pledged to “maximize support for our beneficiaries.” In an abrupt reversal, the TLC is recommending lottery couriers, a “partner” that generates almost 10% of the TLC’s draw game sales -– $173 million in FY 2023 –– be banned.
The inconsistencies of these decisions and actions have undercut Texans’ trust in the integrity and fairness of the Texas Lottery. The answer is not an abrupt agency decision to shut down businesses and prohibit millions of Texans from continuing to use lottery courier platforms.
The Coalition urges the Lottery Commission to stay its rulemaking and allow the Legislature to establish clear, consistent regulatory guidelines, such as those proposed by HB 3201.
