Senator Bob Hall, a key proponent of reform to the Texas State Lottery system, has put forward another bill, though one which is much more moderate than his last.
Hall proposed SB 3070 on 5 May and it was subsequently sent to the Secretary of the Texas Senate, and has since been voted on in the Committee. In contrast to SB 1988, the bill is far less foreboding for the Texas Lottery, but still does not bode well for the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC).
Both SB 1998 and SB 3070 propose that the TLC be abolished, but the former goes a lot further in also proposing that the Texas Lottery itself be disbanded entirely.
This seems to stem from a belief held by Hall and others that the Texas Lottery has been too heavily implicated in and impacted by corruption. The viewpoint seems to be that the slate needs to be wiped clean.
“If there isn’t enough of an appetite to get rid of the lottery outright, then this bill represents the next best thing,” Hall said of SB 3070 in the Senate earlier this week.
Hall’s desire to see the TLC abolished in particular, and perhaps the Texas Lottery along with it, is the crescendo of a long-running drama around the state lottery and allegations against its integrity.
This began in 2023 when a now infamous buyout occurred, with a group of people spending $25m to purchase around 99% of number combinations and subsequently winning a $95m jackpot.
In February this year, things escalated when a customer bought a ticket via a lottery courier app which was purchased at a store owned by the same courier. This event brought the topic of couriers into the mix, which the TLC subsequently attempted to ban, prompting lobbying and even legal action from couriers themselves.
The layers of this multi-dynamic and often very politically charged conversation were discussed in detail by the SBC Media team on the latest episode of the iGaming Daily podcast, which you can listen to here.