Texas Lt Gov. Threatens to Can Lottery After Monday’s $83.5 Million Lotto Texas Jackpot

Posted on: February 20, 2025, 06:51h. 

Last updated on: February 21, 2025, 09:23h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Monday’s $83.5M Texas Lottery winner bought ticket through a Jackpocket lottery courier
  • Confidence at an all-time low in lottery, although the win is legitimate
  • Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to chase online courier services out of the state

Someone won $83.5 million on the Lotto Texas drawing on Monday night, but confidence is currently so low in the Texas Lottery that state residents are questioning whether the win was legitimate.

Texas Lottery, Lotto Texas Jackpot, Dan Patrick, lottery couriers
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), left, at “Winners Corner,” a licensed lottery ticket (and board game) vendor in North Austin. The outlet is owned by DraftKings’ Jackpocket courier service and was the seller of Monday’s winning ticket. (Image: Dan Patrick/X)

Faith in the lottery has been eroded since April 2023, when a shadowy European lottery syndicate won a $95 million jackpot by buying up 25.8 million tickets, enough to cover all possible winning combinations. To achieve this, they used online lottery courier services.

Belief in the integrity of the lottery was tested further by a much-publicized class-action lawsuit filed last week by self-proclaimed lottery watchdog Dawn Nettles, the founder of LottoReport.com.

In her lawsuit, Nettles accuses former Texas Lottery chief executive Gary Grief of “fraudulently” laying the groundwork for a “criminal conspiracy” that allowed the European syndicate to game the system – essentially, by encouraging lottery courier services to operate in Texas.

The state’s Lt. Gov., Dan Patrick, shares the public’s wavering faith in the lottery commission and has threatened to scrap the lottery altogether unless online courier businesses are swiftly prohibited.

What’s a Texas Lottery Courier?

Monday’s winning ticket was purchased via a so-called lottery courier, Jackpocket.com, which is owned by DraftKings.

These businesses allow Texans to choose their numbers and buy tickets through an app. Then the courier will fulfill the order for tickets by purchasing them through a licensed brick-and-mortar lottery retailer. The tickets are then scanned by the courier and sent back to the customer.

Because lottery couriers deal with a large volume of tickets, they use licensed retailers that are specially equipped with enough lottery terminals to fulfill these big orders. The courier company may also own such outlets.

Patrick went to visit the outlet that processed Monday’s winning ticket, Winner’s Corner in Austin, and found it was nothing like a regular convenience store. Instead, it housed “racks and racks” of lottery terminals that were “just spitting out tickets.”

Because under Texas Lottery rules selling lottery tickets cannot be the sole business of a licensee, this place also sells board games.

“This is a mess, and if people don’t have confidence in the lottery, they’re going to stop playing,” Patrick told The American-Statesman this week. “And right now, as lieutenant governor of the state of Texas, I have no confidence in the lottery.”

Patrick believes the Lottery Commission has nurtured these conditions by welcoming lottery couriers without the explicit approval of the legislature.

Was This Week’s Lotto Texas Jackpot Legit?

In a statement, DraftKings said the winning ticket was purchased through the Jackpocket.com app by a regular player in the state of Texas who chose their own numbers. It wasn’t part of a bulk buy by a shadowy syndicate.

Moreover, it wasn’t strictly illegal for the syndicate to buy up all the possible combinations in 2023. You could argue those pesky Europeans were just being smart in exploiting a loophole. And they did buy a hell of a lot of tickets ($25.8 million-worth when the average is around $2 million per draw), the proceeds of which go to funding education and other good causes.

While not technically illegal, critics believe the syndicate’s actions weren’t fair to other players, namely the ordinary Texans who bought their tickets unaware they barely had a chance of winning. Patrick believes the syndicate’s tactics weren’t in the spirit of the law that created the lottery 34 years ago.

A bill that would have prohibited lottery couriers through legislation passed in the state Senate last year, but failed in the House. Patrick vowed that the same bill would pass this year.

If it doesn’t?

“The lottery is out of business,” he warned.