And possibly for the Lottery, though not immediately.
The Texas Senate unanimously approved a bill that would abolish the Texas Lottery Commission, move the state’s game to a different agency and add several new restrictions on how lottery tickets can be purchased.
Senate Bill 3070 would move the Texas Lottery and the state’s charitable bingo operation to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and create new criminal offenses for people who buy lottery tickets online or en masse. The bill also mandates a review in two years by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission that will determine if the game should continue in any capacity.
“They have a two-year lease on life — we’ll see what happens under the new agency,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said as the bill was passed on Thursday.
SB 3070 provides one of only two paths forward for the lottery past September, as the lottery and its agency were already on the chopping block without the added action by lawmakers. The department is currently undergoing a routine review by the Sunset Commission, and requires legislation for it to continue. Senate Bill 2402 is the “sunset bill” that would maintain the lottery commission but it has an additional hurdle: legislators removed all of the lottery commission’s funding in its next budget proposal, and it would have to be placed back into the budget for the commission to continue operating.
Either bill must still pass out of a House committee by May 23 for the lower chamber to weigh in on the game’s fate. The House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee recently heard Senate Bill 28, which would ban couriers, and left it pending in committee.
For months, legislators have placed the lottery commission under scrutiny that has sparked investigations, resignations and calls to abolish the game completely. That criticism has largely stemmed from lawmakers concerned about a $95 million jackpot won in April 2023 by a single group that printed 99% of the 26 million possible ticket combinations in a 72-hour period, a process known as a “bulk purchase.” Under SB 3070, buying more than 100 tickets in a single purchase would be a class B misdemeanor.
See here, here, here, and here for some background. I have no love for the Lottery, but that indifference carries over to the online ticket broker scheme that has everyone up in arms as well. Honestly, I wish that there had been another winner on that $95 million jackpot because it would have basically ruined the scheme in the funniest way possible. Alas, the universe’s sense of humor is fickle. And if the issue here is oversight, then maybe someone should be asking who appointed all those good-for-nothing Lottery commissioners in the first place. We’ll see which of those two paths for the Lottery ends up being the way forward.