News writer
Drama continues to unfold in the Texas Lottery.
On Monday, the Lottery Commission’s executive director Ryan Mindell resigned, effective today, according to a press release.
Mindell had served in the position for one year.
The resignation comes in the wake of widely publicized problems that have sullied the commission’s reputation over the past few years.
The 2023 jackpot scandal
In 2023, an entity called Rook TX won a $95 million jackpot playing Lotto Texas. The win turned out to be the result of a massive, ambitious scheme. The winning entity, the brainchild of a man in Malta, bought $25 million of lottery terminals with the help of a London betting company and four Lotto Texas retailers. Rook TX then had players buy 27 million tickets featuring each possible combination.
At the time, Mindell told the New York Times that there were no laws violated, even if the “perception of fairness” was hurt.
A report by the Houston Chronicle exposed the scheme, alleging that the Texas Lottery Commission had bent the rules to make it possible.
The executive director at the time, Gary Grief, resigned in February 2024, a few months before the exposé ran. The Texas Scorecard reported that Grief has been missing for weeks, possibly on the run in Mexico.
Grief has not issued any public statements to confirm or deny his current location.
The story has received a new wave of publicity since the subsequent Texas Lotto winner, a man named Jerry Reed, sued the lottery to collect all the winnings incurred by Rook TX in addition to his own $7.5 million win.
The courier debacle
This year, Mindell was at the helm of a movement to ban lottery courier services, which allow players to purchase Lotto Texas tickets online through a third party.
The move toward banning courier services occurred after an $83.5 million jackpot win in February. The winner had purchased her ticket through Jackpocket, a courier service owned by DraftKings. It would have been a normal win, until Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick posted a video on X, noting that the winning ticket was sold and printed at a store owned by Jackpocket, sowing doubt in all lottery courier services. The state quickly banned the services, despite pleas from the courier industry.
The winner may never receive her winnings.
The anonymous woman told Nexstar, “I'm being treated as the bad guy.”
What the resignation means
The commission’s chief financial officer Sergio Ray will replace Mindell for the time being. On April 29, the board will meet to determine a selection process for the new executive director.
As more details come forward about both investigations, Mindell’s resignation signals yet more instability in the commission, which is under intense national scrutiny. Strong leadership will be critical to restore the lottery’s reputation in the state.
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