Texas Lieutenant Governor demands investigation into lottery courier services
Dan Patrick calls sector into question in social media clip after customer wins $83m in the Lone Star State
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has called for greater scrutiny of lottery ticket couriers after a retail store in North Austin, reportedly owned by Jackpocket, sold a $83m winning ticket.
In a video posted on social media platform X, Patrick argued that courier services “violate the spirit of the law” and questioned whether the public could lose confidence in the lottery sector due to the use of couriers.
Patrick stated that in a legislative session in 2023, the Texas Senate passed bill 29-2 to ban courier services, before it died in the House
Calling for a “deep look” into courier services and retail units owned by the same company, Patrick said in a speech, delivered outside retail store Winners Circle where the winning ticket was purchased, that this is not the way the lottery was designed to operate.
The lieutenant governor alleged there were “20, 30, 40 machines putting out tickets” for courier services in the store away from the public.
He said: “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.
“Again, we’re not suggesting anything illegal, but this is not the way the lottery was designed to operate.
“It was designed to operate by someone coming into a store, giving someone cash and getting a ticket back, not for machines behind walls and not for a courier service and a retailer all being connected.
“And so, when someone wins a ticket here for $83m, it makes everyone ask a lot of questions.”
Speaking to Fox 4 News, Patrick added: “Either the lottery is going to have to answer a lot of questions, and make a lot of changes, or they’re going to be out of business. But the couriers are going to be gone one way or the other. They have to go. That’s not the way the system was set up.”
Also, as per Fox 4 News, DraftKings SVP of lottery Peter Sullivan said: “What we do is allowed. People within the state, which have been verified within the state of Texas, order official state lottery tickets.
“I think there is a misconception that Jackpocket as a courier is buying all these tickets to try to win itself. No, we are buying them on behalf of customers who have been age and geo-verified and are playing the games on an individual basis, not a bulk purchase basis.”
Lottery courier services allow customers to buy lottery tickets via an app, with the courier buying the ticket in person on the customer’s behalf.
Jackpocket was acquired by DraftKings in February 2024 for $750m.