Texas Lawmaker Who Wanted To Kill The Lottery Throws It A Lifeline
State Sen. Bob Hall, who has been seeking to turn the Texas Lottery to dust, introduced a bill that would keep it around
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Reports on the death of the Texas Lottery may be exaggerated, as one of the leading voices in seeking to ditch the whole thing now may be whistling a different tune.
State Sen. Bob Hall, who earlier in this legislative session sought to dismantle the state lottery as well as make it illegal to buy and sell lottery tickets online, introduced a bill Monday to keep the lottery a going concern — albeit by taking oversight away from the state Lottery Commission.
His bill would allow the lottery to continue under the umbrella of the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.
“It will be paring it down, limiting what (the lottery) can do,” Hall told the Austin-American Statesman.
Senate Bill 3070 would abolish the Texas Lottery Commission, transferring all lottery administration and charitable bingo regulation to the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.
TIcket-buying rules
The bill also introduces new restrictions, including a cap of 100 lottery tickets per transaction and a prohibition on buying lottery tickets by telephone or through the internet.
The legislation would establish a lottery advisory committee to provide external expertise and require a sunset review of the state lottery during the 2027 legislative session.
Despite these changes, the core lottery operations would continue, just under different oversight and with tighter controls.
Texas’ legislative session ends June 2, but Hall believes the bill will get heard.
“It will be coming to the floor pretty quick,” he told the paper.
Assuming it clears the Senate, the bill would have to be fast-tracked in the House to meet the legislative deadline.
Turning the lottery over to the licensing and regulation agency would mean the five-member Lottery Commission is dissolved. Members of both commissions are appointed by the governor and subject to confirmation of the Texas Senate.
If Hall’s measure is enacted before the legislative session concludes, lawmakers would likely have to reverse a previous House decision to reduce the lottery’s budget to zero in the chamber’s version of the 2026-27 spending plan.
The lottery has faced recent controversies that Hall’s bill appears designed to address.
In 2023, investment group Rook TX exploited the system by purchasing every possible number combination for a $95 million jackpot, reportedly with special accommodations from the commission for ticket printing.
More recently, a woman who bought her winning $83.5 million ticket through the Jackpocket app had her payout frozen when Lt. Gov. Patrick ordered an investigation, despite no evidence of wrongdoing from the winner.
