Are the days of the Texas Lottery numbered? Why some lawmakers want it abolished
Questions are swirling at the Texas Capitol over the future of the Texas Lottery and the Lottery Commission.
It comes after state leaders say questionable jackpots have been awarded. Lawmakers have not approved a budget for the Lottery Commission for the next two years as of yet. The agency was already under a sunset review, which all state agencies face every 12 years.
If lawmakers don't approve its continuation, it will be shut down.
The Lottery Commission is under a number of state investigations by the Texas Rangers, requested by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Attorney General Ken Paxton is also looking into the Lottery Commission.
Various officials at the commission have resigned.
After questionable multi-million-dollar jackpots, the state Senate banned the use of couriers who helped customers buy lottery tickets, which lawmakers said violated state law. The agency stopped allowing the practice of couriers to sell lottery tickets after it maintained for years that it didn't have the authority to do so.
In addition to all that, some lawmakers, including State Representative Matt Shaheen, R-Prosper, want to abolish the lottery. He told Eye On Politics on CBS News Texas, "I absolutely do. The state really shouldn't be in the business of driving what I call an addiction to gambling. The lottery was meant to be this thing where you go to the grocery store, you buy a lottery ticket, you go home, and see what happens. Now, it's evolved into this real expansion, as far as you can buy lottery tickets online. We had these courier services that were literally buying lottery tickets in bulk. In our state budget, we fund just K through 12, about $90 billion. Less than $3 billion of that comes to the lottery, and we're flush with huge surpluses because our economy is doing so well. In the State of Texas, we could easily replace that."
Shaheen has filed a bill to abolish the lottery. It was referred to a committee. State Senator Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, has filed an identical bill in the upper chamber and could be debated during a Senate committee in the next week.
State Representative Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie told Eye On Politics that he hopes the lottery can be saved.
"I am concerned, but I am confident, though at the end of the day, the legislature is not going to abandon more than 30 years of mostly successful work that the Texas lottery has done. The lottery raises significant money for public education in our state and raises importantly valuable funds to serve our veterans," Turner said. "Back in my first legislative session, I passed the veterans lottery scratch of bill that has raised over $260 million for veterans just in the last 15 years. That money is not going to get replaced. People who say let's get rid of the lottery, tell me how you're going to replace a quarter billion dollars in funding for our veterans? While lottery revenues are a small percentage of the overall education budget, it's still a couple billion dollars. Where is that money going to come from? To the extent that there are problems in the Lottery Commission or with the lottery game itself, let's identify those and let's work to fix them. I am confident we can do that."
State Senator Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, has filed an identical bill to Shaheen's legislation in the upper chamber, and it could be debated during a Senate committee next week.
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