Remember that big fat slob, Eddie Tipton of the Hot Lotto scandal, the individual who got short-changed, sued and MUSL settled for an undisclosed amount. This case has a good chance of getting settled for an undisclosed amount but definitely not for $100M. The Lottery loves ❤️ its money and will fight very hard not to pay at all.

The "plot" thickens....

Lots of lottery chaos happening in Texas these days.  If they were to ask my advice, I would coach them to make their top priority getting the Texas legislature on the same page as the lottery.  Any daylight between the legislature and the lottery breeds more chaos.  Work out policies that don't capitulate to the nitwits who want to ban everything (including the lottery itself).  There is too much at stake to allow the chaos to continue unchecked.

* As Don King used to say " Only in America!

* Happy Friday to all- now go out & win something.

* Happy Friday to all- now go out & win something

I will heed your advice.

I have my one MM ticket for today's draw and will buy my PB ticket for tomorrows draw.

I hope to win something 🤞

I think this guy is out of luck here and has no cause of action. Courier services were not illegal and he did not allege any actual provable fraud.  There was no money laundering by using a courier. Lol.  Bizarre allegation.  Very different than the Tipton situation with a lottery employee. And any law or policy that is unclear will not make this a winning case. It is also too remote and involves different drawings. He is trying to show "but for" causation which is very difficult to prove. This is not a tort or criminal action.

What am I missing? They are allowed to buy the ticket even if it cost them 26M since there is no rule saying otherwise.

Exactly. Texas (all involved entities) needs to pay the prior winner that used a courier service and get their own internal debate and investigation done with and make some decisions going forward. They are all looking like a disorganized mess.

My thought about the lawsuit (the one filed by the winner of $7.5 million jackpot who's claiming that it should have been $102.5 million) is, is what the London based company did legal?  That's the sole question at hand; if it's legal, then he doesn't have a leg to stand on.  If it's not, then he's got a great case.  Either way, dude just made generational wealth, so there's really no way he doesn't end up a winner... unless he acts like all those lottery winners who spent his money on stupid stuff really quick, that is...

You mean this guy?  

Destiny did not have a prize of more than $100 million scheduled for the winner of the $7.5 million Lotto Texas.

Although the assignment of numbers on a ticket is purely a mathematical process, winning on the other hand and more often than not, impels other subjective and indeterminable factors such as the energy levels and mindset of the players and Yes - the hands of the Gods.

The internal operations of the lottery is based on mathematics - in more specific terms - the permutations of numbers and the lottery's calculations that a dollar and a dream is a steep hill to scale.

The Brits defeated the Texas Lottery purely on mathematics and a $26 million dollar pot.

Because there are no laws that can be invoked  in all fairness to determine the levels of these other subjective factors that are necessary to win, no rational court can exercise jurisdiction where the laws are absent.

The Texas $7.5 million winner should be contended with his win - it is still a lot of money even after all taxes.

I agree. And there does not appear to be a law banning such couriers.

I don't think his case has any merit whatsoever. Reason 1, He is claiming illegal activity by purchasing all the number combinations, but as of that drawing was legal.

Reason 2,  He is stating his win would have been greater than his current winnings if there was not a winner for the 95 Million draw. He is correct in that the next drawing would have been greater but he can not prove that he would have won that drawing anyone that bought a ticket would have the same opportunity he did.

Reason 3, If the Jackpot was to rollover how can he prove that the numbers he used to win the next Jackpot of 7,5 Million would have been the same exact numbers drawn to win the 100+Million rollover Jackpot.

Summary: When you change 1 thing in the past it affects the future as a whole not just the part that you want it to affect, if the Lottery declares that the Rook TX committed any illegal act to gain any monies doe not mean it would be your money by default.

Accept your win as a win and enjoy the future, if you continue your fight the only winner will be YOUR Lawyers sucking you dry convincing you they can win with NO GUARANTEE, BET ON IT.

Yuuuuuuuuup!

Sorry, You don't have a case. Playing all the combinations is not forbidden. Lotteries has to make sure the game is shielded against that. They surely know when this is going on. Playing all the combinations requires almost a constant operation. They would detect the pattern immediately!

Saw this the other day on KXAN and meant to mention it.

For those who are wondering in the first Senate hearing these are a few of the prohibitions that were violated under Texas law as outlined in those hearings ...

Playing by phone prohibited 

Sale at a price greater than face value 

Sale by unauthorized parties 

Sale at an unauthorized location

Sale by credit card

Sale to or by minor (under 18)

Establishing a group purchase or pool for financial gain

Claim by fraud

No unauthorized QR codes to enter draw games 

These are among the laws the Senator noted. They've spent quite a number of hours researching the laws governing the lottery since this all came to light in early 2024. These laws may not apply to your state. 

If you noticed Mr Reed says QR codes were sent by phone to the machine to print the tickets.

Clearly a violation of state law.

This is basically the same suit the Iowa person used in the Eddie Tipton scam. 

So the scorecard is now 3 investigations and 3 lawsuits. Hard to imagine with the Governor's office, the Lt Governor's office, the state attorney general's office and three different lawyers looking at it everything will come up clean, fair, and legal.

Jerry Reed bought his ticket knowingly the advertised jackpot was appx 7.5 million.  My opinion is he is just getting greedy.

Sort of reminds me of when the Iowa Lottery and the MUSL were sued by Larry Dawson, who won a $6 million Hot Lotto jackpot several months after Tipton rigged draw. Dawson later received a $1.5 million settlement from MUSL. 

"Had a group known as Rook TX not spent almost $26 million to buy to buy nearly every number combination"

The only way any wager on any drawing can guarantee winning is by purchasing every combination. What really makes this lawsuit bizarre is it's claiming they would be the only winner had the jackpot been over $100 million 11 drawings after what Reed claims was rigged. Including the group buy, 7,386,385 tickets were purchased for the Saturday before the $95 million drawing and averaged sales of about 800,000 in the 11 draws before Reed's win.

If it can be proved the Rook TX group is guilty of fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, shouldn't there be a class action brought by the players that didn't buy tickets because jackpot was advertised as at least $90 million lower than it should have been?

Looking at the sales, it's obvious Texas Lotto players buy many more tickets when the jackpot gets over $50 million.

There is a class action, possibly 2 including the lawsuit filed in Harris county. The argument being put forth is the Lottery Commission knew the intent of the group, rushed terminals and pallets of ticket paper to the courier service to enable their ability to print the necessary tickets.

And even knowing there would be a winner, they continued selling tickets that promised the purchasers the chance at 93.5 million. They did this with inside knowledge that they had one winner and no one else was buying a ticket worth more that 47 million, although they continued to sell tickets on the premise of a $93.5 million dollar payout.

Also, there looks to be 10 Roll overs before Reed won.  (per the Texas lottery page)

https://www.texaslottery.com/export/sites/lottery/Games/Lotto_Texas/Winning_Numbers/index.html_1171556276.html

It looks like the Texas Lottery in fact helped the Rook TX group buy out the Texas Lotto and the question seems to be the legality of doing that. Reed is claiming it is illegal and your guess is a good as mine as to why he is suing the Rook TX group and not the Texas Lottery. Brought up the similar Dawson lawsuit because it was directed at the Iowa Lottery and MUSL. 

Hopefully the Texas Legislators don't go overboard trying to correct the situation and throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Dawson won the Hot Lotto jackpot before Hexham Investments' attorney Crawford Shaw presented the ticket for validation almost a year after the drawing.

IMO, the problem with Reed's argument, he is basically assuming the number of tickets sold would remain the same in the 10 draws before he won. Looks like he is ignoring the fact had nobody won the $95 million, sales for the next 10 drawings would be much higher.

"Had a group known as Rook TX not spent almost $26 million to buy nearly every number combination in a Lotto Texas drawing  ..."

The cash value of the prize would have been approximately $8 million less than it was.

"Had the defendants not engaged in their illegal money laundering and game-rigging scheme ..."

It would be a shame if he lost what he did win defending and losing a lawsuit for defamation.

"Remember that big fat slob, Eddie Tipton "

You mean the guy that worked for the lottery, violated lottery rules and committed real crimes, and actually rigged the game? That Eddie Tipton?

"This case has a good chance of getting settled "

Why would they settle a case that has no legal merit because none of the defendants did anything illegal and none of them owed the guy any duty of care?

"Either way, dude just made generational wealth"

After taxes it was probably less than $3 million. If nobody ever touches the principal then  in 25 years it might  still be generating $150k to be split between all of his grandchildren every year. YMMV, but I don't think that qualifies as generational wealth.

"how can he prove that the numbers he used to win the next Jackpot of 7,5 Million would have been the same exact numbers drawn to win the 100+Million rollover Jackpot. "

I don't see how we'd ever be able to be certain, but I'm inclined to think that the butterfly effect is real and that changing one little thing changes  very many other things, and it's therefore reasonable to believe than different numbers would have been drawn. That said, the guy has a solid legal argument that he had the first winning ticket after the drawing he claims should not have been won. The defendants have the less solid arguments about the possible butterfly effect, as well as the very good argument that a rollover would have  had an easily calculated probability of producing a winner before Reed. I'll note that there are lawsuits every day in which lost potential future income is used to determine the damages resulting from injuries without considering the possibility that if the injury hadn't occurred the injured party's future might have been diminished in  other ways.

"the Lottery Commission knew the intent of the group, rushed terminals and pallets of ticket paper to the courier service to enable their ability to print the necessary tickets. "

Despite your repetition of points discussed at a meeting  the only existing law that might have been broken is using a phone to buy tickets. Almost all of us agree that the lottery shouldn't allow  any entity to (almost) guarantee a win, but the lottery's real job is to sell as many tickets as possible  in order to raise revenue for the state. That means that making it possible for one retailer to sell $26 million worth of tickets is a lottery administrator's wet dream if they can do it legally, and they probably did it legally.

You wasted a whole post on proving you have very little knowledge of the entire situation.

I said meeting but if you knew anything about it you would have known there was testimony as well. And would have pointed out those were hearings as well.

To say that no laws were broken is ignorance. In the state of Texas laws are written by the legislature. Those head of departments/commissions are expected to abide by those laws which means Gary Grief had no legal ability to change those laws. He did so of his accord.

As soon as this matter broke, Gary Grief abruptly resigned. He hasn't offered any testimony, authorities say they haven't been able to locate him (in some circles it's hinted he has filed to Mexico), so you know, that doesn't look good.

So please, before you start picking apart posts based on a word, a phrase, or something you think, present some facts.

Yeah, lack of facts is why I try to avoid posts about this matter.

Excellent!!! Very well said. Facts matter not to this individual. You just busted that bubble. This individual has been hiding behind a bunch of words to attack multiple posts hoping that nobody notices. This has been going on for quite some time. When I happen to read one of the posts, I feel cheated because I just wasted my time reading a bunch of words that make absolutely no sense.

You have been here long enough to know that when you want to reply to a post, there is a box that you check to show who you are referring to. You like to attack multiple posts, while hiding behind a bunch of irrelevant words. Grow a pair and start responding the right way. Stop making yourself look like a clown and a coward and do the right thing. BTW, excellent post from @garyo1954.

Thanks. There are some who think all the info they need is to pick apart a post on word usage. In some cases that may be true, but when a person ignores basic facts to argue, it's poor form.

This matter has so many twists and turns and mitigating circumstances it could be the benchmark test for other states to upgrade their lottery policies.

One instance is Rook TX itself. That investment group was formed in Delaware. Going by the claim form it was formed in March, prior to the win. Checking the papers filed in Delaware it was formed in June, two months after the win.

So which is correct? 

It seems a minor point but small discrepancies signal a larger problem.

Now we're told that money was sent from Malta, to London, to buy tickets in Texas. 

What kind of nonsense is that? Delaware is in the continental US. Does it make sense to move money from Delaware to Malta to London back to Texas?

This is why we have senator Hall and others questioning the possibility of money laundering. This is a question that current executive director, Ryan Mindell couldn't or wouldn't answer.

To me, when there are three investigations and 3 lawsuits (possibly 4) anyone who comes on a message board and blatantly claims no laws were broken is a fool. 

At least if you're going to make fool of yourself do so with some facts based on research or wait for the conclusion of the investigations.

I only hope when this is all done, whenever that is, that legislators that want to abolish the lottery aren't successful. There are certainly things that need to change, but I fear that this gives those that want to ban the lottery a big opportunity.

"present some facts. "

There's a novel idea. If you think  something I said is incorrect you're free to offer a reason why.

"lack of facts is why I try to avoid posts about this matter. 

Didn't you manage to post a list of  things discussed at a hearing, and claim they were all laws that had been broken? Surely you have the facts to support your claims about laws being broken?

"there is a box that you check to show who you are referring to "

And? I respond to what's been said, and there's no point in quoting everything somebody said in order to make a point about some of what they said. If that confuses you because you don't remember what you said it's easy to find the entire post I've quoted from.

"To me, when there are three investigations and 3 lawsuits (possibly 4) anyone who comes on a message board and blatantly claims no laws were broken is a fool.  "

To me, thinking that the mere  existence of investigations and lawsuits proves  that law were broken is proof of ignorance and evidence of  good old-fashioned stupidity. That would be true even if lawmakers weren't so fond of grandstanding.

Fun fact: prior to any of this mess the Sunset review had a meeting with Gary Grief expressing their concern about the direction the lottery was taking and the possibility of cutting, some, if not all funding. Rather than working to find middle ground, Grief ran to the governor.

Whatever was said, it's alleged the governor told Grief to "ignore it."

Since neither are talking, nobody knows what the it was.

It could be the budgeting.

It could be his job.

It could have been the suggestions the commission offered.

It could have been anything in between.

I didn't bother getting past "facts."

You've proved you're ignorant of the facts. Why bother reading your word salad that is nothing more than bluster?

Word salad doesn't require thinking. And I've posted enough to test your critical thinking skills. 

Word salad wars don't impress me.

Impress me with some research.

Show some real thought.

Most lotteries are offering better and easier ways to play their games so became inevitable that someone would eventually figure out a way to "buy a jackpot". A $1 a ticket 6/49 game can be bought for slightly under $14 million. 

Cooperation from the lottery is necessary to purchase that amount of tickets and apparently the Rook TX group got it. If a lottery has no problem helping someone buy a jackpot, it would save time and effort to simply create an "all ways" ticket, collect the money, validate and pay them after the drawing. 

Don't know if the Texas Lottery rules address not publishing the fact the Jackpot would probably be won, but if rules don't, the players should be notified.

There you go! It's an accepted fact the lottery commission rushed terminals and pallets of paper to enable the third party couriers to complete the sale. Ryan Mindell admitted as much.

The Lt Governor made it clear he saw pallets of ticket paper and what he thought was 30 terminals (later reported as 47 terminals) and minors operating the machines in his inspection of the site.

This is why fraud is part of 2 or 3 of lawsuits filed so far. 

As you say the lottery commission knew they had a winner and continued to sell tickets advertising a prize that person could possibly obtain. In the very least it's false advertising.

If you choose to remain a clown and a coward and not follow proper procedures, then knock yourself the 4K out.

There is a new article on this mess in the Hindustan Times reporting the master.ind behind the plot to be a professional gambler who goes by the name, "the Joker" and several others.

I haven't read the total yet, but it claims the money was through an escrow account at a law office in Detroit.

It'll take a while to digest.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/how-a-secretive-gambler-the-joker-rigged-the-texas-lottery-and-won-95-million-jackpot-101744613957364.html"How a secretive gambler ‘The Joker’ rigged Texas lottery and won $95 million jackpot - Hindustan Times" https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/how-a-secretive-gambler-the-joker-rigged-the-texas-lottery-and-won-95-million-jackpot-101744613957364.html

Here's the article is anyone cares.

texas lottery should offer players a new feature where if you walk into a lottery office with exactly $25,827,165 in cash you get a voucher that says you have hereby purchased every single lotto texas combination. sure would save a lot of trouble.

Or sell vouchers at the local authorized lottery retailer to be used on the date of your choice.