Lottery couriers can’t stay out of politicians minds’ in the US it seems, as the platforms remain at the centre of debate in Texas and are now at the centre of a new one in Connecticut.
In the latter, Senate Bill 1235 made progress in the state Senate this week, having been first proposed back in February. The Bill seeks to ban lottery ticket resales and courier services and require lottery vendors to provide books and records, among other new requirements around betting and gaming, including a ban on sweepstake casinos.
The Bill is now heading for Senate reading, debate and vote after being approved by the Legislative Commissioners’ Office on Monday 5 May. This followed the Bill’s approval by the Connective Judiciary Committee in a 37-0 vote in April.
This legislation will now be debated and voted on by the 36 members of the Connecticut State Senate, and if approved will then head for consideration by the 151 members of the state House of Representatives.
If approved, it will set clear terms around couriers, reading: “No person shall operate a ticket courier service in this state.” The bill’s progress comes as lottery couriers face mounting pressure across the US, with prospective bans on the horizon in Indiana and Texas.
Turbulence continues in Texas
On the topic of Texas, it seemed that the drama around couriers in the Lone Star State may have been finally put to bed last week when the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) firmly decided that the platforms would be banned.
However, couriers may be in for some much needed luck as House Bill 3201 is still on the state agenda. Texas lottery couriers are now rallying behind the bill in the aftermath of the TLC’s decision to ban.
The Commission began looking into the idea back in February after a winning $83.5m jackpot ticket was purchased at a Jackpocket-owned store via the Jackpocket app. This raised concerns about the integrity of the lottery and couriers.
Couriers fought back against this, with the Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers (CTLC) representing Lotto.com, Jackpot.com, Jackpocket and Lottery.com. This coalition testified in favour of HB 3201 in the House of Representatives on 6 May.
“Since 2019, millions of Texans have trusted lottery courier platforms to safely and conveniently order lottery tickets, resulting in millions in customer winnings and hundreds of millions of incremental revenues generated for Texas education and veterans’ programmes,” a CTLC statement read.
The Bill would place couriers under the regulatory remit of the TLC – an interesting stipulation given that the TLC’s previous assertions that it has no regulatory remit over couriers was raised by these platforms as a reason as to why the Commission could not ban them.
In addition, the bill would also set strict rules around what couriers can do and what their services can be used for. This includes prohibiting lottery sales to minors, banning out of state sales, banning sales via credit card, and perhaps most importantly, banning bulk purchases.
This latter caveat is very important as it was a bulk purchase of $25m worth of tickets to claim a $95m jackpot back in 2023 that spared the extensive debate around an investigation into the integrity of the Texas lottery.
HB 3201 is not the only piece of legislation around lotteries being heard in Texas right now though. Legislators have turned their attention to the TLC itself, which now faces a potential ban as questions about its integrity reach fever pitch, while Senators are also concerned about legislating around the integrity of retailers.