Posted on 03/21/2025 12:43:03 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Last month, one Texas lottery winner got lucky, scoring an $83.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot. Maybe a little too lucky, in Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's opinion.
The winner purchased her ticket Feb. 17 through Jackpocket, a third-party lottery "courier" service that sells tickets to customers through an app online and processes them at a brick-and-mortar storefront called Winner's Corner. The Texas location sits at 7817 Rockwood Ln #101b in Austin.
Here's a rundown of the legal issues preventing this Texas lottery winner from claiming her prize.
Patrick's investigation On Feb. 18, Patrick conducted an in-person investigation at the Winner's Corner store front.
"We're not suggesting anything illegal, but this is not the way the lottery was designed to operate," Patrick said in a video update to X. "It was designed to operate by someone coming into a store, giving someone cash, and getting a ticket back."
The lottery winner says she played by the rules.
"I literally spent $20. I didn't spend $26 million to run every single possible combination of numbers," she told the Austin-American Statesman. "If (the Lottery Commission) didn't do an investigation into the (April 2023 jackpot winner), that's on you. That's not my fault."
According to Patrick, the fault may lie within the lottery game's legal loopholes.
During his investigation, the store would not allow Patrick's team to film beyond the front room. However, Patrick claimed he saw "terminal after terminal after terminal" processing lottery tickets purchased by customers through Jackpocket.
"The bottom line is, if people are going to have confidence in the lottery, we have to be sure that no one has an advantage."
How it works Winners Corner is owned and operated by Jackpocket, which is a DraftKings subsidiary. According to Jackpocket CEO Peter Sullivan, the purchasing process is straightforward, KXAN reported.
"Jackpocket receives the order from the customer and then that Jackpocket employee goes into the retailer and purchases the ticket — a physical ticket — from that retailer," Sullivan told KXAN. If it's a winning ticket, the prize is either credited to the customer's account or given to the customer physically, depending on the amount."
The Texas Lottery Commission states that licensed lottery retailers "cannot be in the sole business of selling Texas Lottery tickets" in order to legally operate in the state.
Sullivan says Winners Corner is operating within the bounds of that law.
"Winners Corner is a licensed lottery retailer ... We are not in the sole business of selling lottery tickets," he added. "We are open to the public, so someone can go in and order an official lottery ticket directly in the store."
The Texas Lottery Commission ban In a Feb. 24 news release, the Texas Lottery Commission stated that — under mounting pressure from state lawmakers — it would move to ban third-party lottery couriers like Jackpocket to ensure "the integrity, security, honesty and fairness of lottery operations."
"Ticket courier services are not allowed under Texas law," the agency wrote, noting that they "will move forward with proposed rule amendments prohibiting lottery courier services within the state" and that any "retailer that works in concert with a courier service would have their lottery ticket sales agent license revoked."
On Feb. 27, the Texas Senate voted to approve Senate Bill 28 which would ban online lottery ticket sales and prevent third-party services from operating in Texas.
According to the Statesman, the ticket winner's lawyers said Texas Lottery officials did not give a timeline on when, or if, she may be able to claim her prize money. As of Friday, the Texas Lottery's "Lotto Texas" winning number details page says "there was no Lotto Texas jackpot winner for drawing on 03/17/2025."
"The holder of the Feb. 17 Lotto Texas jackpot-winning ticket has come forward," the Texas Lottery said in a statement. "The claim is being reviewed under the Commission’s claim validation requirements and is the subject of external investigation."
Texas is afraid that, as has happened in the past, someone figured out the distribution for rolls of scratch off lottery tickets and is upping their chances of winning.
That used to be the case in Colorado. If a jackpot was not claimed in the time allowed, the money was rolled into the next jackpot. A few years ago Colorado crooks...er, politicians, changed the law so that if no one claims the prize, it is spent on something else the thieves...er, representatives choose.
It used to be work hard and save, and live the American dream.
Now, it is win the lottery!
After 2023 Texas rigged lottery, all the Texas lotteries are suspect. Legal loopholes are there for a reason; not accidental.
Texas could have a non-rigged lottery if they really wanted to.
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