{"id":505,"date":"2025-06-01T22:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T22:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=505"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:09:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:09:30","slug":"texas-lottery-spared-four-year-extension-clears-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/01\/texas-lottery-spared-four-year-extension-clears-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Lottery Spared: Four-Year Extension Clears Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Texas lawmakers passed SB 3070, extending the state lottery for four more years.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Texas Lottery Commission will be dissolved and oversight transferred.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>A $95M jackpot won by a European syndicate sparked intense scrutiny.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The Texas Lottery has been offered a four-year reprieve after the state legislature sent a bill to Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s desk in favor of legislation that would have abolished the lottery entirely.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_353659\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-353659\" data-style=\"width: 1183px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-353659\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Texas-lottery-858x599-1.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Lottery, SB 3070, lottery courier services, Texas Lottery Commission, gambling legislation Texas\" width=\"1183\" height=\"826\" \/><figcaption>The Texas Lottery will continue for at least four more years after the House rejected legislation last week that would have abolished it entirely from September 1. (Texas Newsroom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On Friday, May 30, the Texas Senate approved House amendments to SB 3070, which now awaits Abbott\u2019s signature. The bill would do away with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-lottery-chief-quits-amid-scrutiny-over-jackpot-scandal\/\">beleaguered Texas Lottery Commission<\/a> (TLC), which has been heavily criticized over its management of the state-run game.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the lottery will continue to operate for four more years under the oversight of the Texas Commission on Licensing and Regulations. After that, its fate will be decided by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission,\u00a0a 12-member legislative body\u00a0tasked with identifying and eliminating waste, duplication, and inefficiency in state agencies.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Immediate Abolition Quashed<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The bill was first passed by the Senate on May 15 and approved by the House, with amendments, May 25. On the same day, House members struck down a competing bill that would have abolished the lottery altogether on September 1.<\/p>\n<p>One of the House amendments was to extend the period of grace for the lottery to four years from the two years initially approved by the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>The TLC has faced intense scrutiny from lawmakers after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-lottery-winner-sues-over-alleged-95m-jackpot-rigged-by-european-syndicate\/\">controversial jackpot win<\/a> raised concerns about the commission\u2019s ability to ensure the game\u2019s integrity.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>In April 2023, a shadowy European syndicate claimed a $95 million prize after executing a \u201cbulk purchase\u201d that used lottery couriers to process nearly all of the game\u2019s 25.8 million possible combinations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>While Texas law prohibits the sale of lottery tickets by telephone and online gambling is illegal, lottery couriers argue they fall into a legal loophole because they do not \u201coperate\u201d gambling \u2013 they merely provide a delivery service for lottery tickets.<\/p>\n<p>The TLC is accused of embracing the gray-area courier industry as a way to increase sales, and by extension of allegedly enabling \u2013 or at least failing to prevent \u2013 the syndicate\u2019s scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Bill 3070 aims to curb large-scale lottery ticket purchases by banning courier services from operating in Texas and setting a limit of 100 tickets per individual transaction. Tickets must be purchased in person at licensed sales locations during normal business hours.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Nothing New<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The scandal involving the syndicate\u2019s bulk-buying scheme coincided with a routine state review requiring legislation to extend the game&#8217;s existence. Despite the furor, legislation aiming to disestablish the lottery is not entirely unusual in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Since it began operations in 1992, there have been numerous efforts from socially conservative lawmakers to reform or abolish the lottery, citing concerns about morality, gambling addiction, and its impact on low-income communities.<\/p>\n<p>The lottery contributes approximately $2 billion annually to the state treasury, primarily supporting public education.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-lottery-spared-four-year-extension-clears-legislature\/\">Texas Lottery Spared: Four-Year Extension Clears Legislature<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas lawmakers passed SB 3070, extending the state lottery for four more years. The Texas Lottery Commission will be dissolved and oversight transferred. A $95M jackpot won by a European syndicate sparked intense scrutiny. The Texas Lottery has been offered a four-year reprieve after the state legislature sent a bill to Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s desk in favor of legislation that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":508,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}