Texas Lottery Commission says couriers no longer allowed to sell tickets

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The Texas Lottery Commission’s executive director said Monday he would move to ban couriers from buying lottery tickets after finding that state law bars the practice, an about-face from the agency’s yearslong claim it had no control over such third-party sales.

Since 2016, the commission has maintained to retailers and lawmakers it lacked authority to regulate couriers, which allow customers to buy lottery tickets remotely. But in a policy statement on Monday, the agency said it now views the practice as illegal and will revoke the lottery license of any stores that sell tickets to a courier. The shift comes just days after one of the state lottery commissioners resigned and as legislators, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, are publicly expressing their desire to prohibit couriers.

Executive Director Ryan Mindell said in a statement the commission’s new crackdown comes after a review of state law and information from “retailer investigations.” He said he would formally propose the new rule at the agency’s March 4 board meeting.

“Lottery courier services operating in Texas have been a significant concern for many of our stakeholders,” Mindell said in the Monday statement. “Since I became executive director less than a year ago, I have been keenly focused on making changes to improve the public’s perception of Texas Lottery games and how they are played and operated.”

Criticism of the lottery commission has not slowed in light of the new guidance, including from Patrick, who personally investigated the $83.5 million jackpot won earlier this month through a ticket sold by a courier. Patrick, who oversees the Texas Senate, said the new changes would not end his office’s investigation or the upper chamber’s pursuit of a law banning couriers outright. He also blasted Mindell’s statement, saying he had “never read so much garbage from a state agency press release in my 18 years in office” while framing it as too little, too late.

“Today's action is an obvious admission that the Texas Lottery Commission had the oversight authority all along and allowed these businesses to creep into Texas and undermine the integrity of the Texas Lottery,” Patrick said in a Monday post on X about the commission’s new guidelines.

Gov. Greg Abbott joined the fray hours later, announcing Monday afternoon he had directed the Texas Rangers — a division of the state’s Department of Public Safety — to investigate the recent jackpot win. Abbott also told authorities to look into a prior $95 million jackpot won in Colleyville in April 2023 by a foreign group that spent millions to make bulk ticket purchases in a way that all but guaranteed a win. Officials have yet to identify the individuals who won the $95 million jackpot.

State law requires lottery tickets to be bought in person, but couriers circumvent this process by having customers pay them to buy and send a picture of the tickets, creating a remote option for play. Couriers cannot be directly licensed to sell tickets, but most are also partnered with brick-and-mortar stores that are licensed, and in some cases are owned by the same entities and operate in the same building.

The commission’s guidance outlined 13 different provisions of state law they believe couriers circumvent, including bans on sales to minors and lottery officials as well as restrictions on influencing a drawing’s outcome. The commission also requested an opinion from the Attorney General’s office on Feb. 14 to determine their level of authority over couriers. It said official rules banning the use of couriers would be adopted by April.

Mindell, the executive director, told lawmakers in a House budget hearing Monday that he moved to ban couriers based on feedback from Senate lawmakers at another recent budget hearing, along with findings from the agency’s own investigations.

“We received that direction from the Legislature. We also had information — credible information — from our investigations, that said we need to take action now,” Mindell said. “And so, that's why I issued that policy statement.” He added that he is taking the rule to the lottery commission board “to say that we need to make sure that we can stop this activity.”

Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, questioned Mindell’s framing, telling him the Lottery Commission should not be making policy decisions based on comments from select lawmakers at committee hearings. The Legislature “speaks when we pass and enact statutes and statutory language,” Harrison said.

“That's what governs the commission, what's been governing you for a long time,” he continued. “To put the question just super simply, you have the exact same authority this morning that you had when the commission, more or less from its inception. Why did you not take these regulatory actions a long time ago?”

The exchange came shortly before a Senate committee took up the chamber’s proposal to ban couriers, Senate Bill 28, which is co-authored by a majority of the chamber. The bill will be heard at a State Affairs Committee meeting at 2:00 p.m. Monday.

Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, also filed a bill Friday in the House which would create a state licensing system for couriers. While 18 states have laws regulating couriers, only three have courier licensing programs. The Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers, who represent the three largest couriers in Texas, said they would work with Bucy and others to find ways to responsibly implement the practice. Couriers contribute over $173 million in lottery ticket sales, according to a Legislative Budget Board estimate.

“Issues such as facilitating bulk purchases, the international distribution of Texas Lottery games or underage orders cannot be tolerated,” the coalition said in a statement Monday. “The public’s trust and confidence in courier operations and the Texas Lottery must be honored, and we look forward to working with Rep. Bucy to advance this bill.”

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