Texas Could Soon Ban Lottery Betting

You probably already knew betting in Texas was a tough sell. The state outlaws sports and casino betting, despite its big-time sports owners, Miriam Adelson and Jerry Jones, being big proponents of legalization.

However, it might be an even tougher sell than we imagined. There’s a new bill floating around that could result in the closure of the Texas Lottery, one of the few legal forms of betting allowed in the Lone Star State. Keep reading and we’ll take you into the heart of the issue.

The Texas Lottery Might Have Two Years Left

We’re nearing the end of the legislative session for 2025, an important one because state lawmakers only do this once every two years — not yearly like most other states. Early this May, the Texas Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 3070.

This bill does two big things. First, it scraps the Texas Lottery Commission entirely. Instead, the lottery and charitable bingo will fall under the oversight of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Second, it sets up a full review of the lottery in 2027. If lawmakers aren’t happy with how things look, then the whole game could get axed forever.

Why has Texas taken these measures? It all goes back to one jackpot — a $95 million payout in 2023 that was “gamed” by a group of savvy professionals. What they did was not illegal per se, but highly frowned upon, which caused this change of opinion on the whole story. More on what exactly they did shortly, but let’s get back to this bill.

“This isn’t about a clever hack from some outside group,” said Senator Bob Hall, who authored the bill. “This was a breakdown inside the commission itself.”

In other words, Hall is blaming the current commission for the fiasco. And it’s not just him either. The bill was also heavily supported by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is second in command after the regular Governor. Patrick has openly said scrapping the lottery might be the best solution.

Now the bill moves to the Texas House. If it clears that chamber, the countdown to 2027 begins. Lawmakers will have two years to decide if the state lottery still has a place in Texas or if it’s time to shut it down for good.

The 2023 Jackpot That Caused All This

All right, we wrote an entire article on the genius (and legal) scheme that brought the Texas Lottery to its knees. We recommend reading that in full, but here’s a quick summary of what happened:

Back in April 2023, a group of professional gamblers led by Bernard Marantelli and Zeljko Ranogajec legally exploited a loophole in the Texas Lottery. They used state-licensed machines to print 25.6 million out of the 25.8 million possible ticket combinations for a $95 million jackpot. The tickets were purchased through Lottery.com, a registered ticket courier in Texas, which allowed bulk printing on behalf of players.

The team operated out of private offices and warehouses, running dozens of terminals around the clock for three straight days. They also avoided commonly chosen number patterns to reduce the risk of splitting the jackpot. When one of their tickets hit, they claimed the prize through a Delaware-based partnership, Rook TX. The state allowed anonymous winners, and all steps taken were legal under existing Texas Lottery rules at the time.

The new bill being kicked around addresses this exploit by clamping down on how tickets are sold. The bill bans online ticket sales and courier services, making digital ticket purchases a class A misdemeanor. There’s also a 100-ticket cap per transaction, and all sales have to happen in person at licensed retailers.

Texas’ Animosity Toward Betting Is At All-Time High

If lawmakers are willing to pull the plug on the Texas Lottery — one of the oldest and most popular games in the state — what do you think the odds are for sports betting or casinos anytime soon? Slim to none if we’re being honest.

Let’s be real: this whole situation exposes just how hostile Texas politics still are to anything with the word “gambling” on it. Forty-five states in the U.S. have a state-run lottery. Not one of them has repealed it. Texas could be the first despite making $35 billion off it since 1992. That money goes toward education and veteran programs too. As it stands, Texas has the fourth-biggest lottery in the entire country, behind the likes of New York and California, so this has been big business.

That should tell you everything you need to know about how tough the road is for more “controversial” forms of betting in Texas. Casino bills have been floated for years — but never reached a vote. Sports betting bills have advanced, plus gotten huge lobbying efforts from pro leagues, sportsbooks, and even Jerry Jones, but the legislature didn’t touch the issue during the 2025 session.

All this is to say, bettors in the state should continue to look elsewhere for their gambling needs. There are popular offshore sportsbooks that work perfectly fine within state lines. Plus, there are physical casinos in nearby Oklahoma and Louisiana — conveniently placed near the Texas border, no less.

And while going those routes, enjoy your Powerball ticket while you can. Because it might be the last legal bet you place in the Lone Star State for a very long time.