A woman who won a $83.5million lottery jackpot may end up empty-handed because of an app she used to purchase her ticket.
The woman used the Jackpocket app, which lets users purchase lottery and scratch-off tickets remotely and charges a service fee.
She bought $20 worth of Texas Lotto tickets and won the jackpot for the drawing on February 17.
But shortly afterward, Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate her win and a $95million jackpot won in 2023.
‘Sometimes there are reasons to investigate things, but I don’t think mine is one of them,’ the woman, who did not want to reveal her identity, told Nexstar this week.
‘I’m being treated as the bad guy.’
The woman is arguing that her case and the older winner are far different.
In 2023, a group purchased more than $25million in tickets using courier services and entered the drawing with nearly every combination of numbers. They bought the tickets from four retailers. At the time, local lawmakers were concerned over how many tickets were printed within 72 hours and the group was suspected of money laundering.
The Texas Lottery Commission did pay out the $95million jackpot to the Rock TX entity and moved to stop bulk purchasing – but did not shut down the courier services.
‘We played by all the rules, and we’re still playing by all the rules and we expect that my client should be paid,’ the woman’s lawyer, Randy Howry, told the news outlet.
The woman presented her ticket to the commission in Austin on Tuesday and was told that the organization’s general counsel would not decide on paying out the money until the Texas Rangers finished the investigation.
A Jackpocket spokesperson said they are suspending their lottery courier operations in the Lone Star State.
‘Despite our proven track record of compliance and commitment to responsible gaming, the Texas Lottery Commission has issued a new policy prohibiting our services, effective immediately,’ the spokesperson told Nexstar.
The woman was considering taking legal action if the jackpot was not paid within three days, according to her lawyer.
‘If they had any qualms about that they should have done something then,’ the woman said.
‘This is an opportunity for me to do other things with my life and I want to be able to go do those.’
It comes less than a year after the family of a Maine man who won a $1.35billion lottery jackpot sued him claiming he broke a promise to share the money.
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