Texas Lottery Director Resigns Amid Scrutiny of Rigged 2023 Draw
The executive director of the Texas State Lottery resigned abruptly on Monday in the latest fallout from the agency's decision in 2023 to help professional bettors in Europe purchase and print millions of its tickets and guarantee themselves a $95 jackpot win.
The resignation of the official, Ryan Mindell, came amid doubts that the Texas lottery can survive the scandal. The Texas Rangers, a state law enforcement agency, and the Texas attorney general's office have opened investigations into the 2023 draw, in which the European bettors worked with several American lottery ticket purchasing companies to buy nearly every ticket, at $1 each, in a Lotto Texas game that had 25.8 million possible combinations.
The lottery raises money for the state's schools — providing about $2 billion last fiscal year — but recently some state leaders have suggested doing away with it altogether.
No reason was given for Mr. Mindell's resignation, which the commission said in a statement was effective immediately on Monday. A spokesman declined to comment further.
The resignation came a day after The New York Times published video of the ticket printing operation and details of the agency's shortcomings. That followed months of reporting by The Houston Chronicle and other outlets looking into the 2023 draw.
Earlier this month, the Texas House eliminated the lottery from its version of the state's budget. In February, State Senators sharply questioned Mr. Mindell and others during hearings on the 2023 draw. Some suggested the lottery had been used to facilitate money laundering, though no evidence of such activity had emerged.
'Is buying $25 million of $1 tickets a sign of money laundering, yes or no?' Senator Paul Bettencourt asked Mr. Mindell during one exchange.
'I can't answer that question,' Mr. Mindell said.
'Wow,' Mr. Bettencourt responded.
Mr. Mindell took over the commission last year after the resignation of the previous executive director, Gary Grief, who had been in charge at the time of the 2023 draw.
Lawmakers found that the commission, under Mr. Grief, assisted the professional bettors by expediting delivery of dozens of extra lottery terminals, used to buy and print tickets, to three American companies, Lottery.com, Luck Zone and Lottery Now. The extra machines enabled the companies to successfully print millions of number combinations during the 72-hour window between lottery draws, helping to ensure that they had the winner.
Mr. Grief has denied any wrongdoing, as have the companies involved and the European bettors.
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