Jackpot.com is “in it for the long game” in Texas, says CEO
Lottery courier’s boss, Akshay Khanna, says ban came as a surprise but the operator believes the disruptive model and consumer choice will drive legislative change
Jackpot.com CEO and co-founder Akshay Khanna has said lottery courier operators have hope they will be able to return to Texas and convince regulators the vertical is beneficial to consumers.
Speaking at an industry conference this week in New York, Khanna said the decision from the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) to ban couriers last month came as a “surprise.”
However, the CEO said there are hopes to return to the Lone Star State, citing lottery couriers’ disruptive nature as similar to Uber or Airbnb.
The TLC took the decision to ban lottery couriers following growing pressure in Texas, with several bills filed in the 2025 legislative session to outlaw the vertical.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick also came out swinging against lottery courier operators, arguing the integrity of the lottery could potentially be compromised.
Khanna said: “It was a massive state for us. It was definitely not a positive [and] was a surprise in a way.
“Anyone who has been following Texas politics [knows] there is a lot of backlash among some of the folks who have a lot of political power against gambling in general — the concept of spending money on any kind of risky asset.”
On potentially making a return to Texas, Khanna said there was confidence in the sector’s ability to convince lawmakers that lottery couriers are a positive asset in the lottery ecosystem.
The operators allow consumers to buy lottery tickets via their phone, before a lottery courier agent visits a store, buys a physical ticket, and then stores the ticket until the draw.
The sector has exploded in recent years, with DraftKings $750m acquisition of Jackpocket as a marker of the vertical’s growth and reach.
Khanna added: “You have to believe [that] over time you are going to convince regulators that what we are doing makes sense for the consumer. We believe that is going to be the case in Texas. We have the patience to wait it out and fight it out.
“The Texas issue is still going through the legislation, but we still believe there is a very clear path to allow online lottery couriers in Texas. It’s a long, long game and we are in it for the long game.
“We fundamentally believe one thing: the first thing people do when they wake up in the morning is look at their phones. And if consumers want to use their phones to transact, then it is our jobs to give those consumers the ability to transact in the way that they want to.”
Touching on the comparisons to other disruptive companies in previously entrenched industries, Khanna said behaviors would continue to shift as tech evolved.
The CEO concluded: “With all forms of regulation, there is a school of thought that it’s written in a certain way and so everything should adhere to that.
“Cars were not meant to serve as passenger vehicles to take people to the airport and homes were not meant to serve as rentals for people visiting from another town.
“And lottery tickets were not meant to be sold on people’s phones. But the world changes, technology has evolved, and consumer behavior has evolved.”