A recent report found that lottery courier apps contributed 9% of the sales of the Texas Lottery
Lottery courier operators across the United States enable customers to buy tickets for official state lottery games and participate in national draw games like Powerball and Mega Millions.
Offering convenience, lottery courier apps allow customers to securely purchase a ticket and participate in a range of different games. While in some states such apps operate in conjunction with state lotteries, in others, they are seen as the sole online or mobile equivalent.
Report Looks Into the Effectiveness of the Texas Lottery Commission
In Texas, there’s a handful of lottery courier apps offering residents a chance to buy tickets for the Texas Lottery. For several years, the popular applications have significantly grown their market share, reaching nearly 10% of the total sales of the state’s Lottery. A key role in that growth may have had the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC), despite it not having authority over lottery couriers across the state.
Late last month, the Sunset Advisory Commission released a report that focused on the TLC. In the report’s Section 1, the Commission focused on “Evaluating the effectiveness of TLC’s executive leadership.” For more than a decade, the TLC was overseen by Gary Grief, who held the role of executive director. Under his leadership, lottery courier apps have significantly expanded across the state, despite initial fears about operating in a legal grey area.
In its report, the Sunset Advisory Commission wrote: “Given the trend of bringing in ever-increasing amounts of revenue during his tenure, it is impossible to discount the possibility that the desire for increased sales may have motivated Grief’s decisions on couriers.” The white paper also pointed to the growth of lottery couriers’ share of sales which reached 9% of the overall sales of lottery tickets in the state.
Favorable Legal Interpretation Plays a Key Role in the Lottery Couriers’ Expansion
The expansion of lottery courier providers reportedly started with an interpretation of the state’s lottery rules from 2019, in which Grief played a key role. According to the Houston Chronicle, TLC’s executive director sent a letter to Lottery.com executives describing what appeared to be a favorable legal interpretation of the lottery regulation in Texas.
Per that interpretation, Lottery.com and other couriers, wouldn’t have any issues selling lottery tickets for nationwide and Texas-based lottery games. Reportedly, senior-level executives with Lottery.com, the popular lottery courier, were happy with the legal interpretation and one even wrote: “It is our competitive advantage and if it gets out, a competitor may demand similar rights.”
The existing regulations in Texas ban the sale of lottery tickets online. However, lottery courier apps have found a way to circumvent that rule by accepting orders for the purchase of lottery tickets which are then delivering the tickets by couriers across the state.
However, the growth in popularity of lottery couriers resulted in an increase in demand, which ultimately enabled those service providers to develop their own lottery venues that are licensed by the state. While licensed, such venues in reality would represent a violation of the regulations.
Ahead of the release of the report by the Sunset Advisory Commission, in 2024, Grief retired from his role of executive director of the TLC. He held that strategic role for 15 years and his departure was unexpected. Although Grief was asked whether or not he helped the expansion of lottery couriers he has previously rejected such claims and argued that the TLC doesn’t regulate them.
