Austin, Texas
AP
–
The Executive Director of the Texas Lottery Commission resigned, the last upheaval of the state retail company of the State in the midst of several investigations on the jackpots in 2023 and earlier this year, totaling nearly 200 million dollars, and the calls of certain legislators closed it.
The lottery announced on Monday the resignation of Ryan Mindell without comment. Former deputy director and operations director at the lottery, Mindell had only served the first job for about a year after the abrupt resignation of his predecessor.
He then leaves that the agency faces at least two investigations commissioned by Governor Greg Abbott and the Attorney General of the Ken Paxton State in the integrity of lottery prices, and how the State has managed the introduction of mail companies that buy and send tickets for online customers.
Companies and lottery managers have denied the reprehensible acts. But Texas State legislators plan to force several changes, ranging from the legal prohibition of sales through mail companies to close the agency by eliminating all of its funding.
The Texas lottery was created in 1991 and sends part of its annual income to public education. In 2024, this meant around $ 2 billion sent to the state public school fund.
But two of the greatest jackpots in the history of the agency have caused control and media criticism, legislators and state officials who wonder if they have been won enough and if messaging companies should be authorized.
First of all, a jackpot of $ 95 million in 2023 was awarded when the winners bought almost all the combinations of possible figures – more than 25 million of them. In February, an $ 83 million ticket was won with a post bought in a messaging store. The chain that operates the store has locations in six states.
A Houston Chronicle survey initially detailed purchasing efforts behind the 2023 jackpot, but it was the second that ultimately attracted the attention of the eminent state legislators, as well as the Governor and the State Attorney General. An agency that generally attracts little attention beyond the millions that it rewards jackpots and scratch ticket games was suddenly under fire.
Abbott ordered the Agency for the State of the Texas Rangers of the State to open an investigation, and Paxton announced an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General of the State. These remain in progress.
“The governor expects the Texas Lottery Commission to work within the limits of the law and ensures the confidence and integrity of the lottery, no matter who leads the agency,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Texas lottery refused more comments on Mindel’s resignation.
The legislature, on the other hand, has held public hearings to scold the officials of the lottery for having allowed the use of mail companies to bypass the law of the State which requires that the tickets be purchased in person. Mindell had told state legislators in February that the agency had previously determined that it did not have the power to regulate messaging companies, but said the agency would now prohibit them.
The Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers accused Mindell of having pushed the agency to “in an inaccurate and unjustly” allowing mail companies “to become the scapegoat for its own dubious activities”. The group insisted that its members played no role in the 2023 Jackpot program.
“The departure of Mindell offers the opportunity to reconsider the politically motivated decisions of the agency concerning lottery letters and restarting the collaboration of good faith between our companies and the TLC,” the coalition said in a press release.
State legislators approach the last month of their biennial session and have threatened measures ranging from the drafting of a messaging prohibition in state law, or even more drastic measures such as the closure of the lottery.
The State Senate has already prohibited the ban on messaging sales, but the measure has not yet obtained voting in the House. The Chamber and the Senate will soon negotiate a final version of the two -year state budget. The version of the house currently does not include any money for the agency, which would indeed close it.
But this effort is probably more a message that legislators are seriously aiming to make changes than to seriously think of closing an agency that generates billions of sales and for public schools each year.
The law of the State authorizes the jackpots of Texas anonymously and the jackpot of April 2023 was collected two months later in the form of a single payment of $ 57.8 million to a company called Rook TX.
The payment of the February jackpot is however pending pending state surveys. A lawyer for a woman who claims to hold the winning ticket said he was legally bought from a group of 10 that she had bought via the Courier Pocket.
