Jackpot withheld, $83 million winner 'caught in crossfire' amid lottery courier investigations
In Austin on Tuesday, a woman and her lawyer met with Texas Lottery Commission administrators and lawyers for an exchange: her winning lottery ticket for the $83.5 million it was supposed to be worth.
But her lawyer, Randy Howry, said lottery commission officials told her she wouldn't be receiving the eight-figure payout until a series of investigations into her win and others were complete. Those investigations — one by Attorney General Ken Paxton and the other by the Texas Rangers, a division of the Department of Public Safety — were launched because the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought the ticket through an online app run by a courier.
'She played by all the rules in play at the time,' Howry said of her client, who chose to buy tickets from a courier because of safety concerns. 'She should be paid her winnings, but she's being caught up because the politicians are now involved.'
Lawmakers have scrutinized the state's lottery commission repeatedly throughout the current Legislative Session over the growing use of couriers — third-party services that enable online purchasing of lottery tickets — and expressed concerns the practice could enable unfair or illegal activity. The move to ban couriers in Texas has the woman who bought her 10 tickets through Jackpocket, the nation's largest courier, 'caught in the crossfire,' Howry said.
After the $83.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot was won in February, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick publicly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the win and announced he would be opening an investigation into the lottery's dealings with couriers. The investigations by Paxton and the Texas Rangers followed shortly afterward.
The commission confirmed in a statement to the Tribune that the payout is going through both internal and external review processes.
'The claim is being reviewed under the Commission's claim validation requirements and is the subject of external investigation,' a spokesperson with the lottery commission said.
Also under investigation is a 2023 lottery win in which several entities bought 99% of the game's possible combinations with the help of retailers and a lottery courier business. That win, its legality which Patrick and other lawmakers question, also has cast doubt on the commission as a whole.
Most major lottery jackpot winners choose to remain anonymous and state law provides protections for them, but Howry said his client feels she is being 'lumped in' with potentially illegal players needlessly. While there has yet to be any litigation filed regarding the jackpot, Howry said his client is considering it if the payout is withheld longer.
'The longer it takes for the lottery commission to be responsive to us, the more likely it is that that litigation will be filed,' Howry said.
Couriers have been active and unregulated in Texas for years until late February, when the lottery commission announced it would move to ban the use of couriers entirely. While lawmakers have cast doubts on the legitimacy of the business, proponents of the services say they provide convenience and may actually be a safer way of playing the lottery than buying tickets in public.
Howry's client is part of a growing number of Texans who had been using Jackpocket and other couriers to buy tickets. Jackpocket alone has sold over $550 million in tickets since it entered the state in 2018, according to the company. Jackpocket has since suspended its activities in Texas following the lottery commission's announcement, but other couriers are still selling tickets through their apps.
Howry said the refusal to pay out the jackpot to his client is not being applied equally, as others are still claiming prizes won through courier services. He pointed out that the 2023 win was paid out at the time without issue.
'If there was a concern that the couriers were not a safe way to play this game, why didn't you stop it back then?' Howry said. Why did you make this decision two years later, when this person, who did play by the rules, won the lottery?'
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