Kickapoo Tribe Condemns ‘Illegal’ Texas Lottery Couriers

The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas has lashed out against the proliferation of online lottery services in the state, which it says amounts to unlawful gambling expansion, and it wants to know what the legislature is going to do about it.

In a letter to the Senate State Affairs committee last month, Kickapoo general counsel Jason C. Nelson said the courier services were “directly and adversely” affecting the tribe’s finances. That’s because they’re able to “enable otherwise unlawful internet gaming and create an online user experience simulating real-time games of chance.”

The tribe owns and operates the Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel on its reservation in Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande, a class II gaming venue offering electronic bingo machines and poker.

Lottery courier services … do not simply act as ‘delivery services’ whose employees travel to brick-and-mortar retailers to purchase lottery tickets on behalf of their customers,” Nelson wrote. “Rather, they provide comprehensive online gaming experiences to their users that have the ability to mimic otherwise unlawful internet gaming.

“Each purchase of a lottery ticket’ is in essence the placement of a bet, and each lottery drawing is the ‘outcome’ of that bet, he added. “This is an express attempt to work around the state’s ban on internet gaming.”

Misleading Report

Contrary to a report this week by rightwing news site The Texas Scorecard, Nelson didn’t threaten that the tribe would seek full-fledged class III gaming unless the legislature enforced a prohibition on lottery courier services.

Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), tribes are free to offer class II gaming on their lands provided it is offered legally in some form elsewhere in the state. Class III gaming requires a tribe to negotiate a compact with the state, which must then be approved by the federal government.

While the tribe has sought class III gaming in the past, it has always been resisted by the state.

25.8M Tickets

Lottery couriers have been a hot topic in Texas recently. A group of courier companies that acquired their own affiliated state-licensed retail outlets enabled a gambling syndicate to buy up every single possible combination for the April 22, 2023, Texas Lottery draw — some 25.8 million tickets. On a normal week, the lottery sells 1-2 million tickets.

While Texas law prohibits the sale of lottery tickets by telephone and online gambling is illegal, lottery couriers claim their business practices fall into a legal loophole because they merely provide a delivery service for lottery tickets. The Kickapoo argue that’s simply not true.

The legislature is expected to tackle the issue during the 2025 session.