AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Feb. 24, the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) decided to ban lottery couriers — mobile and online applications that buy lottery tickets on people’s behalf for a service fee. Eight days later, Lotto.com and Jackpot.com are still taking orders in Texas.
The policy statement said “the TLC believes couriers are not legal under Texas law and the TLC will exercise its discretion under the SLA to take all appropriate action to stop this activity from occurring, including identifying and investigating any licensed lottery retailer suspected of working in concert with a courier and initiating an enforcement action to revoke the retailer’s sales agent license.”
During Tuesday’s Lottery Commission meeting, new rules to prevent courier services were discussed, which now have to go through a 30-day public comment period before being adopted in April.
“I struggle with how Texas ends up being different than the 18 other states that we, that couriers regularly operate in a regulated fashion currently,” Lotto.com Chief Legal Counsel Rob Porter said during public comment on the proposed rule changes. “The laws aren’t significantly different. The responsible couriers like lotto.com have the same security, we have the same technological protections, we have the same responsible play guidelines that we use in other states. We keep the lottery informed here, just as we do everywhere else, and we’re going to do it as long as we’re allowed.”
As lottery couriers remain insistent that their operation is legal under Texas state law, the Texas Lottery Commission’s policy statement provided a list of 13 established regulations couriers may be in violation of.
The Texas Lottery Commission could not be reached in time for this story. The Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers, who represents the two companies (along with Jackpocket, which has ceased Texas operations), said to reach out to Lotto.com and Jackpot.com directly, neither of which could be reached in time for this story. It is unclear whether either application went dark after the Lottery Commission announced the ban on courier services.
