Changes Coming To Texas Lottery After Review Reveals Major Issue

The Texas Lottery has found itself changing procedure after it was revealed an organization in the state had been taking advantage of a loophole some may have not realized existed. Here's what is known at the time of writing.

Texas Lottery Undergoing Changes After An Examination From The Houston Chronicle

In July of 2024, The Houston Chronicle revealed that an unknown individual was buying large amount of lottery tickets to increase their chance of winning. The amount of purchased was a staggering 25.8 million tickets by the entity. But, the business did not simply buy all the ticket by themselves, they had assistance.

The Texas Standard spoke the the reporter for the Houston Chronicle, Eric Dexheimer, on how everything played out. Per Dexheimer, the establishment, known as Rook TX, did the following:

"In this case, what happened is that the buyer worked with four outlets in Texas that ordered a bunch of state lottery terminals so that they could process as many tickets as they needed to over the 72-hour period between lotto draws."

This, in turn, more than guaranteed a big win for the company, as revealed by Dexheimer to The Texas Standard. But where Did Rook TX come from exactly?

"Well, Rook TX was formed about two weeks before the payout was collected in June of last year, so about a year ago. They were formed as a Delaware corporation. They have a registered agent in New Jersey, and that’s really all we know about them...members of that LLC can remain anonymous."

Get our free mobile app

Understandably, many in the state were not happy about the win, and made their voices known for change.

What Change Is Coming To The Texas Lottery?

In another interview with the Texas Standard, Dexheimer stated one of the changes involves a request of additional machines to handle a major volume of tickets is purchased. This is how Rook TX had the ability to tilt the system in their favor:

"...one of the changes they made is that if there’s an unusual request like this in the future from outlets that have not previously sold a lot of tickets – that is, who have not earned the right to have these additional machines – then it’ll have to be reviewed by the executive director. If that had been done in this case back in April, then this draw probably wouldn’t have happened."

More changes may be on the horizon, but the haven't been revealed at the time of writing. As this is a developing story, we will have more information when it becomes available.