Cheating allegations and lawsuit lead Texas lawmakers to ponder abolishing state lottery
Allegations of cheating and a new lawsuit have lawmakers in Austin considering something a lot of people across Texas may not like: Abolishing the state lottery.
Multimillion-dollar purchasing groups can pretty much buy big jackpots. CBS News Texas was the first to report on this in 2023. Now the state legislature is looking at options to address the issue.
When we first met Dawn Nettles in 2023, the lotto blogger from Garland could do something remarkable. She could predict a day ahead of time if a winning ticket would match all six numbers in the weekly Texas lottery jackpot.
"I knew that they were selling all the combinations, that's what I knew," said Nettles, blogger for Lottoreport.com.
Lottery tickets are only allowed to be purchased at authorized retailers or on apps if someone physically picks up the tickets.
But in 2023, a group of investors from overseas got around that by using couriers and unconventional storefronts like one in Colleyville to purchase and print out every possible combination of numbers that lottery watchdogs like Nettles could see in advance.
Since then, purchasing groups have won more than $170 million worth of jackpots, which are worth a lot more than the $25 million it costs to buy every combination of numbers.
In a video posted to social media, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick confronted the seller of the winning ticket of a recent $83 million jackpot, who also used multiple machines and couriers to make sales on behalf of online buyers.
"You sold an $83 million ticket yesterday. Was that to a courier?" Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked the manager of Winner's Corner in Austin in a video posted to X.
Like Hooked on MT, Winner's Corner operates using multiple lotto machines and couriers capable of making large-scale sales on behalf of online buyers.
"I finally did get in the back of the house," Patrick said in the video. "They wouldn't let us take any photographs or video or ask anyone any questions, but there was terminal after terminal after terminal. Many more terminals than you would see in a normal place where you would buy lottery."
A state Senate committee grilled the head of the Texas Lottery Commission last week over whether it's turning a blind eye to businesses that cater to purchasing groups.
"That was their brick and mortar with a dozen of your machines that y'all provided to them, and then somebody showed up with about $11 million in cash to buy tickets. Would you consider that an ordinary operation? Is that something… Explain how you allowed that to happen," state Sen. Bob Hall asked Texas Lottery Commission officials in a committee hearing last week.
"This goes back to that bulk purchase event that happened in April 2023. Bulk purchasing is when a group of buyers or a syndicate get together and attempt to buy all or substantially all of the combinations of a particular lottery game," Commission Executive Director Ryan Mindell said.
Mindell said the April 2023 incident was the first known bulk purchase. He assured senators that guardrails are now in place to reduce the chances of it happening again.
A class-action lawsuit filed this month by Nettles accuses a former lottery commissioner of allowing the purchasing groups to obtain ticket machines and also of inflating jackpots, knowing that one ticket would be a winner and that everyday players could win only half that amount.
Hall accuses the Lottery Commission of violating laws.
"I think the only solution is to end the lottery," Hall said in an interview with CBS News Texas. Hall accused the lottery commission of willfully violating existing laws and allowing schemes that criminal organizations could use to launder money.
Under the state's regular sunset review process, the lottery commission is up for review this year. Hall said he was ready to be done with it.
"If we don't pass the sunset bill, it shuts them down. So, we have a bill that will do that, if that becomes the will of the body," he said.
Even Nettles, who plays the lottery every week, doesn't want to see it continue without major changes.
"I'm only in favor of the lottery if it's fair and there's nothing fair about the Texas Lottery," Nettles said.
