Texas Lotto Winner Says She’s Caught In ‘Political Tornado Of Controversy’

The Texas Lottery lunacy continues, with the woman who used the since-banned Jackpocket app to purchase $20 worth of Texas Lottery tickets — and who won an $83.5 million jackpot with one of those tickets last month — still waiting to find out if she will ever collect her money.

Appearing anonymously alongside her lawyer, Randy Howry, on NBC News, the woman expressed disbelief that she cannot take her winnings to the bank.

“I just feel like I’ve been caught up [in] this political tornado of controversy that I don’t think I need to be involved in,” she said. “It’s taking a toll for sure.”

Her lawyer, Howry, was a little more direct in his take.

“She spent $20 the night of this lottery. She played by all the rules. Now it’s time for her to be paid,” he said. 

How it went down

The unidentified woman’s troubles started the day after the drawing, when Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pulled out his phone to record what he found at Winner’s Corner in Austin, where the $83.5 million winning ticket had been sold. His impromptu investigation revealed the store was owned by Jackpocket, a lottery courier service under DraftKings’ umbrella.

Patrick didn’t like what he found, threatening to kill the Texas Lottery entirely if courier services weren’t banned, pointing to the lottery’s ongoing “sunset” review this legislative session. The Texas Senate sprang into action, passing a bill outlawing couriers less than two weeks later.

Other dominoes fell quickly. Texas Lottery Commissioner Clark Smith quit. The commission, which had previously claimed powerlessness to regulate couriers, suddenly announced couriers “are not allowed under Texas law” and slapped down an immediate ban. Executive Director Ryan Mindell was tasked with enforcing it.

Not stopping there, the TLC launched investigations into every courier service in Texas and capped lottery terminals at five per retail location.

Gov. Greg Abbott then upped the ante by ordering the Texas Rangers to dig into both the recent $83.5 million jackpot and a $95 million prize from two years ago.

“Texans must be able to trust in our state’s lottery system and know that the lottery is conducted with integrity and lawfully,” Abbott said.

Adding fuel to the fire, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton jumped in with his own investigation, hinting that the jackpot winnings may be “unlawful.”

Meanwhile, the woman won a lottery jackpot and she can’t get her money.

‘We’ll let you if we’re going to pay you’

“For the last six years, the Texas Lottery Commission has allowed these apps to be used and have paid off hundreds of millions of dollars for those who’ve won using an app to purchase their ticket,” Howry said in the NBC interview. “What we’re being told right now is that although the Texas Lottery Commission has done this investigation, has identified that this is the winning ticket, that she’s the holder of the winning ticket, they say we’re not going to pay you. We’re not going to pay you now. We don’t know when we’re going to pay you. We’re waiting on the completion of at least one investigation that’s been ordered by Governor Abbott and potentially another investigation that’s been ordered by the attorney general, and we’re being told, when those investigations are complete, we’ll let you know if we’re going to pay you.”

The woman revealed in the interview that she found out she won while at work.

“I didn’t find out until the next morning when I was at work, and I saw the email,” she said. “It said ‘big winner,’ and I thought, OK, I won a little bit of money, no big deal. And then I clicked on it and it said $83.5 million, and I had to stare at it for a little while for it to kind of sink in. And then it was just happy tears, excitement. And I got real shaky, and my co-worker was telling me, you know, ‘You need to sit down, you need to sit down.’ Just pure happiness.”

That happiness has been tempered in recent weeks, and the money — some of which she said would go toward starting an animal sanctuary in memory of her late husband — is still with the state of Texas.

“And so I’m very concerned for my client,” Howry said. “She may not see this money.”