Lottery Post exclusive interview
By Kate Northrop
The lawyer who is currently representing the anonymous winner of the $83.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot warned that additional state investigations may be on the way that could further delay his client's prize payout.
Last week, a woman who purchased the sole jackpot-winning ticket for an $83.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot, alongside her lawyer, spoke to several media outlets to call attention to the state of Texas' refusal to pay out her prize.
Although the Texas Lottery confirmed that an individual has come forward with the jackpot-winning ticket, it is delaying the prize payout due to an ongoing state investigation.
The winner asserts she bought the ticket legally through a third-party courier but is being unfairly punished for others' actions, namely a London-based betting company that "bought" a $95 million Lotto Texas jackpot with the private assistance of some lottery courier services.
The connection of the jackpot-winning ticket with a courier has prompted legislators to mount a witch hunt of all lottery courier services, namely calling for a statewide ban against the third-party apps, accusing the Texas Lottery of corruption, and even holding the jackpot payout hostage while the state conducts their own separate investigation of the win.
Despite this, there might still be more investigations to come, the winner's lawyer warned, meaning there is no definitive answer as to when the payment will come, if it even comes at all.
Lottery Post spoke with Randy Howry, who represents the jackpot winner, to learn more about the winner's personal lottery habits that helped play the win into existence, the mounting investigations that continue to delay her $83.5 million payout, and the potential legal actions his client is prepared to take if the situation is not resolved.
Howry, one of the founding partners of Austin-based law firm Howry Breen & Herman, explained that he and the winner met after she was referred to him by another lawyer. She gave him two main reasons why she preferred to use lottery couriers as opposed to going to a physical retailer.
The first reason was obvious – playing from the comfort of your home means the convenience of playing on your own timeframe, Howry related. It's something she's been doing for several years, especially for scratch-off games, and she's never had any issues with receiving her prize payouts in the past.
The second reason she prefers to buy her tickets online is personal safety.
"She is a single person," Howry said. "She feels more safe at home versus walking into a convenience store with people watching, with people around. Typically, if she wins something, she just doesn't feel as safe doing it [playing the lottery] there versus from the safety of her home."
She described to Howry how she had first learned of her big win through Jackpocket, the third-party lottery courier through which she purchased the winning ticket.
"She got confirmation the night or the afternoon that she purchased her lottery ticket from Jackpocket. It was confirmed she bought it – she knew what her numbers were," Howry told Lottery Post. "The next morning, Jackpocket sent her an email indicating that and congratulating her that she had won the lottery."
While each courier service has its own security and storage measures, a courier will typically provide the player with a scan of the ticket and will store the ticket in a secure location after buying the ticket on the player's behalf.
When the Lotto Texas jackpot winner won, she had to arrange to physically pick up her ticket from one of Jackpocket's physical locations.
"Once you purchase from one of these third-party couriers, you actually have to go to a location where they have a brick-and-mortar facility," Howry explained over the phone. "In this case, Jackpocket has an office in Austin, Texas, and the ticket had to be picked up from that location. I actually picked the ticket up on her behalf and had it in my possession, put it in a bank deposit box until we were ready to present it to the Lottery Commission, which we did last week."
Last week, the Texas Lottery advised Lottery Post that the holder of the jackpot-winning ticket had indeed come forward with the winning ticket, but that the claim was being reviewed under the Texas Lottery Commission's claim validation requirements.
"Once you deliver the ticket to the Lottery Commission, they do not return it to you," Howry said. "They're in possession of the lottery ticket now."
However, Howry confirmed with Lottery Post that the Lottery has validated the ticket, and that the delay is solely a result of the state's own investigation related to couriers.
"They've validated that it's a proper ticket," Howry continued. "They're delaying their payment based upon an investigation, or more than one investigation, that's ongoing to investigate these third-party couriers and how they do business."
The Lottery could not provide him or his client with a timeline for the investigation and about when it would wrap up, but the Commission left them with another unsettling piece of information that could delay the payout even more.
"Specifically, they [the Lottery] said, 'We cannot tell you when or if you will be paid,'" Howry said, recalling his interactions with Lottery officials. "And I asked specifically, 'When is this investigation going to be completed?' 'We don't know.' 'Can you give me any estimate how long it will take?' 'We cannot.'... And [the Lottery] mentioned that, potentially, there's another external investigation that will be initiated."
In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbot directed the Texas Ranger Division, a law enforcement agency in the state of Texas, to investigate "two incidents" involving the Texas Lottery, namely the $95 million Lotto Texas bulk purchasing event and the most recent $83.5 million win that occurred this year. They were ordered to "identify any potential wrongdoing."
"We have to wait until that investigation is complete, and then it was also alluded that the Attorney General of the state, Ken Paxton, may or is doing another investigation, and it may be held up by that as well," Howry added.
In February, Attorney General Ken Paxton had announced his own investigation into the "suspicious and potentially illegal lottery 'winnings'" that involved bulk lottery ticket purchases and the utilization of courier services.
A statistics report released to Lottery Post from the Texas Lottery Commission confirmed that only 5% of all possible number combinations were sold in the Lotto Texas drawing on Feb. 17, 2025 for the $83.5 million jackpot, indicating that there was no clear buyout attempt for the drawing won by the anonymous woman.
Howry and his client are prepared to take legal action if or when the time is right.
"We'll file a lawsuit, if we have to, against any responsible parties," he asserted. "And those parties range from the Lottery Commission itself and potentially can include, [the] Jackpocket, Winner's Corner, Draft Kings grouping of defendants. We're not certain at this point."
"She is a single person," Howry said. "She feels more safe at home versus walking into a convenience store with people watching, with people around. Typically, if she wins something, she just doesn't feel as safe doing it [playing the lottery] there versus from the safety of her home."
I find this laughable 🤣🤣.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the argument on convenience and doing it from home, but, doing it from home because it's not safe out there, come on, that's taking it too far.
All single people better stay at home, your life is in danger 😜
But again as they say "Safety is a state of mind"
Psychologist say that most people think that they stand out in a crowd - truth is nobody even notices you are there, unless you do something dramatic 😮
Wishing her good outcomes and hoping that once she gets her winnings she will be able to leave the house and go spend it.
Oops, forgot we have delivery services 🤣
Perhaps she lives in a high crime area or does not drive or weighs 600 lbs. If you ever watch my 600 lb life, everyone cannot help but stare at them in public places. So this could explain her discomfort. Or perhaps agoraphobia?
I have watched the show and if that's the case well that's different, but as it is that's an assumption.
If the crime is such that people can't go to the store, I am yet to see that.
So that excuse does not hold any water for me.
The way I see this is she bought the ticket legally so she should get her money. Making an example of her because of some practices of the courier services accomplishes nothing.
If the Texas lottery survives this mess, I wonder if sales will suffer because of it. If you're close to the border, come to Louisiana, we pay our winners.
i agree and what does it even matter what her reasons are? pizza delivery has been around for at least 50 years. do people need to justify their reasons for getting their pizza delivered to their place rather than going to the restaurant?
The delays in this matter make zero sense to me. Sounds like she has a good attorney. Bringing media attention to it it a good strategy at this point.
If she is scared to go outside now, can't wait to see her after she's got the cash.
And judging by media appearances with her lawyer, and going to lottery HQ to present the ticket, more people are going to know her.
I say she should be paid too. But now that it's become a legal issue it's a matter of how far the state will go to overcorrect.
Sooner or later we'll hear her friends telling how she never had a problem shopping, eating out, or anything they were aware of.
And if she has a car it might be in her favor to forget that afraid to go out line.
This matter is not about why she used a courier service or what her friends may say on her activities.
It has zero applicability to her getting her $ or going to or not going in her favor.
Nor is there a filed legal matter. She retained counsel due to the delay in payment and ongoing investigation. She did the right thing.
It goes back to the 13 points of state law the state is saying were violated.
You know, I really, really want Mexican food now. I could call it in, but they don't deliver. I have to pick it up.
13 points of state law????
Correction: There is nothing filed. The state has no reason to file.
She does. And her lawyer said they were prepared to go to litigation at the time they presented the ticket.
no door dash or uber eats? if you have to drive out of your way you might as well eat it in the restaurant.
You haven't been following this at all. Look at some of the other articles. The senators outlined 13 points of state law that they say were ignored.
No dash, no Uber. You want it, you get it the old fashioned way. You go get it.
Strangely, the pizza place that did offer door dash shuttered the doors in the last month.
Anyone know what he is rambling about? The Texas lottery has released no details on this matter beyond referencing ongoing investigations.
* Every State lottery has it's weird rules. In CA it's no anonymity & waiting month after month to receive your lottery winnings payout. This is one of Texas goofy rules.
The Texas Lottery has already verified that it's a valid winning ticket, and they are prepared to pay it out immediately. The Texas Lottery is not holding it up. The Texas Rangers are the ones doing the current investigation, and they are the ones holding it up.
Thank you Todd. Not sure why someone is promoting fake news in this news story with bizarre claims of 13 violations.
People are conflating multiple independent events and news stories that have been coming out of Texas in the past few weeks. Plus, you add in all the FUD that local lottery antagonists (one in particular who I will not name because she craves attention) constantly try to muddy the waters in Texas with, and people are obviously getting confused.
To add to this, as Lottery Post has pointed out multiple times, the local media has gotten several aspects of different stories wrong. We correct the record with factual information derived directly from the source, but people will continue pointing back to the stories in the general media that are wrong.
That's why I have been commenting on these Texas stories more often than I normally do. I try to correct the record, but you can see I end up in a debate with people who are posting wrong info. It's frustrating.
I believe she may have to move elsewhere - it's evident from the legal counsel claims that the place is not safe for her.
I wonder what her neighbours think about that allegations 🙊
I too would want her to get paid, I believe it's her right and if there is no reason to suggest otherwise she needs to get paid.
I am tempted to believe that her legal counsel used the "safety" argument to justify the use of courier and there is no need to justify that - if the courier is there and one wants to use it, it's there to be used.
Yeah! I know what I'm rambling about. Had you read about the Senate investigation and could comprehend English you would too.
But you want to be Mr. Smarty Pants, so go search for it.
The Senate hearings are just hearings. The Texas Senate cannot block a lottery payment, unless they did so through legislation that is passed and signed into law by the governor. Anything they want prosecuted would be referred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
As far as the actual investigation blocking the payment of this jackpot, that is being conducted by the Texas Rangers, as I previously mentioned. The Rangers have released no information at all about their investigation, other than that it is occurring. So I too would be interested to see a link to a website showing specifics about 13 violations being investigated by law enforcement.
Actually, you continue to make a fool of yourself. As Todd explains again above, it is unrelated to this winner. See the explanations from Todd. It is pretty simple to follow.
There is no news story to support your claim of 13 violations. Perhaps the number 13 is calling to you to play it.
I have a notebook in storage of the hundreds of $! I spent trying to win the $95 mil when I lived in TX
I shld file to get my $$ back for them being a fraud
what u think will happen?
Nada. No soup for you.
Look in the mirror if you want to see a fool, fool.
No direspect to Todd but you can't take a coffee pot apart and expect to make coffee.
There are three separate investigations: the Rangers, the state attorney general, and the Lt Governor's office. All are involving the the operation of the the lottery commission under Gary Grief.
The Rangers can no more release her money than you can. Even after the investigation of possible criminal charges is complete it's going to take someone a lot higher to say, "Give her the money."
Yes, I do think some of these investigations do have something to do with "that woman in Texas" who has been screaming for years. But it also has to do with the finance committee, the Senate hearings, and what the Lt Governor saw when he toured the facility.
It's all pointing to what the Senate sees as a major problem. And you know how Texas responds to problems?
Look at how they solved the marijuana problem. They instituted a state tax stamp. You could have the illegal marijuana if you purchased the tax stamp. Of course by buying the stamp, the cops knew you were in possession of illegal marijuana.
Texas is smart like that.
And no response to Todd's request for a link to the alleged mysterious 13 violations.
The violations gave been posted in the other news stories.
They can be found in many news stories online.
By the way, stay in your own lane. Todd and I are both adults capable of respectful discussion. Let us handle what's between us between us.
here is the link the the 13 laws that the texas lottery commission says couriers might have violated.
https://www.texaslottery.com/export/sites/lottery/About_Us/Meetings/tlc-prohibition-lottery-courier-services.html
i don't know how it's relevant to this lady's situation because it doesn't appear she violated any of these laws, and i think she used the courier at a point in time when they were still allowed to operate.