The Oregon Lottery has filed a proposal with the state government that will see a regulatory framework for couriers come into effect, having taken note of developments in Texas and other states.
Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State, the proposal argues that courier services pose ‘significant legal and integrity concerns’ if left unregulated in the state. Couriers are active across multiple states in the US, but for the most part they are unregulated, chiefly due to no regulations on these types of businesses existing prior to their foundation.
As it stands, only two states regulate couriers, New Jersey and New York. The Oregon Lottery now wants its state to join this small list, though it does seem this group’s membership will grow with the likes of Arizona also looking to regulate couriers.
The Oregon Lottery argues that clear rules are needed on what lottery couriers can and can’t do in the state. It argues that not doing so may participate in Oregon’s participation in national games, namely the Powerball and Mega Millions, impact its relationships with national and international partners, and potentially lead to legal breaches.
To remedy this, the Lottery wants to ban sales to people who live outside the state at the time of purchase and introduce more restrictions on retailers that partner with courier services.
Retailers would be mandated to check the age and locality of customers, safeguard tickets held on behalf of customers and secure the personal and financial information of players – the latter may not go down well with some customers, however.
Taking heed from others
The Oregon Lottery has been spurred to act on the topic of couriers after observing international lottery organisations like the World Lottery Association (WLA) and European Lotteries (EL) call for bans.
It has also taken note of developments in other states, however, particularly California, Texas and Indiana, with the latter state moving to ban couriers entirely while the second in this list has been at the staging ground for the biggest drama around couriers.
Back in 2023, a group of people purchased $25m worth of Texas lottery tickets to win a $92m jackpot. Two years later, in early 2025, a woman purchased a $83.5m winning ticket via the Jackpocket courier service which was subsequently bought at a DraftKings-owned retailer – DraftKIngs also being the owner of Jackpocket.
These incidents raised significant concerns about the integrity of the Texas lottery system, with the latter casting a particular shadow on couriers. The Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) tried to ban couriers in March, meeting legal resistance from the industry.
The Commission was ultimately abolished itself by state legislators, who saw this as the best way for the Texas Lottery to wipe the slate clean – although the winner of the £83.5m ticket is still pursuing legal action to claim her winnings.
Oregon appears to have been watching the developments in its Southern counterpart quite closely, and does not want couriers to end up playing a key role in legal drama in its state in the same way the firms have in Texas.
The Oregon Lottery’s filing summarised its viewpoint: “The Oregon State Lottery needs to adopt and amend rules described in this notice to address significant legal and integrity concerns associated with courier sales.
“These concerns have been raised by industry stakeholders, media outlets, and both domestic and international lottery organisations. They underscore the urgent need to establish a regulatory framework for an area that has historically operated without formal oversight in Oregon.”