The Texas Lottery officially has a new home now that Gov. Gregg Abbott has signed SB3070, which abolishes the controversy-ridden Texas Lottery Commission (TLC).
Effective Sept. 1, the TLC will no longer exist and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) will be in charge of managing the lottery. It is a big task for an already busy agency that oversees the licensing of more than a million individuals and agencies in fields ranging from driving to massage therapy to boiler inspection.
The move theoretically puts an end to one of the most tumultuous chapters in US lottery history. Over the past year, the TLC has been accused of corruption, sued by individuals and companies and interrogated by state lawmakers questioning its ability to oversee the gambling vertical with integrity.
At the heart of the matter was a Houston Chronicle investigation that revealed a group had colluded together to buy every combination of numbers for a $95m jackpot drawing, which they were able to do when the TLC provided extra lottery terminals to print tickets. In the wake of that news, state Attorney General Ken Paxton was launching an investigation, the TLC Executive Director Ryan Mindell resigned, and a flurry of bills flooded the legislature to address the issue.
One effort suggested abolishing the lottery altogether, but lawmakers opted to spare the venture, which generates $3bn in revenue annually for the state.
What did not survive the controversy was Texas lottery couriers. A second jackpot, won by a woman who bought her ticket through a courier, is being witheld. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick paid a visit to the retailer connected to courier Jackpocket in a social video in which he accused couriers of being part of the bulk ticketing controversy.
The TLC then announced plans to update regulations to explicitly prohibit lottery couriers in the state. The group adopted those regulations in April, pushing couriers out of the state. In the wake of the change, Lotto.com sued the TLC, submitting a host of correspondence between itself and the government where lottery officials said they have no authority to even oversee lottery couriers, as the TLC only has jurisdiction over lottery retailers.
There was a bill to explicitly legalise couriers that didn’t go anywhere in Austin. The Texas legislature only meets in odd-numbered years, so it will be 2027 before there are any new pieces of legislation to change how the state lottery runs.