Lottery Post exclusive interview

By Kate Northrop

The lawyer who is currently representing the anonymous winner of the $83.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot warned that additional state investigations may be on the way that could further delay his client's prize payout.

Last week, a woman who purchased the sole jackpot-winning ticket for an $83.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot, alongside her lawyer, spoke to several media outlets to call attention to the state of Texas' refusal to pay out her prize.

Although the Texas Lottery confirmed that an individual has come forward with the jackpot-winning ticket, it is delaying the prize payout due to an ongoing state investigation.

The winner asserts she bought the ticket legally through a third-party courier but is being unfairly punished for others' actions, namely a London-based betting company that "bought" a $95 million Lotto Texas jackpot with the private assistance of some lottery courier services.

The connection of the jackpot-winning ticket with a courier has prompted legislators to mount a witch hunt of all lottery courier services, namely calling for a statewide ban against the third-party apps, accusing the Texas Lottery of corruption, and even holding the jackpot payout hostage while the state conducts their own separate investigation of the win.

Despite this, there might still be more investigations to come, the winner's lawyer warned, meaning there is no definitive answer as to when the payment will come, if it even comes at all.

Lottery Post spoke with Randy Howry, who represents the jackpot winner, to learn more about the winner's personal lottery habits that helped play the win into existence, the mounting investigations that continue to delay her $83.5 million payout, and the potential legal actions his client is prepared to take if the situation is not resolved.

Howry, one of the founding partners of Austin-based law firm Howry Breen & Herman, explained that he and the winner met after she was referred to him by another lawyer. She gave him two main reasons why she preferred to use lottery couriers as opposed to going to a physical retailer.

The first reason was obvious – playing from the comfort of your home means the convenience of playing on your own timeframe, Howry related. It's something she's been doing for several years, especially for scratch-off games, and she's never had any issues with receiving her prize payouts in the past.

The second reason she prefers to buy her tickets online is personal safety.

"She is a single person," Howry said. "She feels more safe at home versus walking into a convenience store with people watching, with people around. Typically, if she wins something, she just doesn't feel as safe doing it [playing the lottery] there versus from the safety of her home."

She described to Howry how she had first learned of her big win through Jackpocket, the third-party lottery courier through which she purchased the winning ticket.

"She got confirmation the night or the afternoon that she purchased her lottery ticket from Jackpocket. It was confirmed she bought it – she knew what her numbers were," Howry told Lottery Post. "The next morning, Jackpocket sent her an email indicating that and congratulating her that she had won the lottery."

While each courier service has its own security and storage measures, a courier will typically provide the player with a scan of the ticket and will store the ticket in a secure location after buying the ticket on the player's behalf.

When the Lotto Texas jackpot winner won, she had to arrange to physically pick up her ticket from one of Jackpocket's physical locations.

"Once you purchase from one of these third-party couriers, you actually have to go to a location where they have a brick-and-mortar facility," Howry explained over the phone. "In this case, Jackpocket has an office in Austin, Texas, and the ticket had to be picked up from that location. I actually picked the ticket up on her behalf and had it in my possession, put it in a bank deposit box until we were ready to present it to the Lottery Commission, which we did last week."

Last week, the Texas Lottery advised Lottery Post that the holder of the jackpot-winning ticket had indeed come forward with the winning ticket, but that the claim was being reviewed under the Texas Lottery Commission's claim validation requirements.

"Once you deliver the ticket to the Lottery Commission, they do not return it to you," Howry said. "They're in possession of the lottery ticket now."

However, Howry confirmed with Lottery Post that the Lottery has validated the ticket, and that the delay is solely a result of the state's own investigation related to couriers.

"They've validated that it's a proper ticket," Howry continued. "They're delaying their payment based upon an investigation, or more than one investigation, that's ongoing to investigate these third-party couriers and how they do business."

The Lottery could not provide him or his client with a timeline for the investigation and about when it would wrap up, but the Commission left them with another unsettling piece of information that could delay the payout even more.

"Specifically, they [the Lottery] said, 'We cannot tell you when or if you will be paid,'" Howry said, recalling his interactions with Lottery officials. "And I asked specifically, 'When is this investigation going to be completed?' 'We don't know.' 'Can you give me any estimate how long it will take?' 'We cannot.'... And [the Lottery] mentioned that, potentially, there's another external investigation that will be initiated."

In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbot directed the Texas Ranger Division, a law enforcement agency in the state of Texas, to investigate "two incidents" involving the Texas Lottery, namely the $95 million Lotto Texas bulk purchasing event and the most recent $83.5 million win that occurred this year. They were ordered to "identify any potential wrongdoing."

"We have to wait until that investigation is complete, and then it was also alluded that the Attorney General of the state, Ken Paxton, may or is doing another investigation, and it may be held up by that as well," Howry added.

In February, Attorney General Ken Paxton had announced his own investigation into the "suspicious and potentially illegal lottery 'winnings'" that involved bulk lottery ticket purchases and the utilization of courier services.

A statistics report released to Lottery Post from the Texas Lottery Commission confirmed that only 5% of all possible number combinations were sold in the Lotto Texas drawing on Feb. 17, 2025 for the $83.5 million jackpot, indicating that there was no clear buyout attempt for the drawing won by the anonymous woman.

Howry and his client are prepared to take legal action if or when the time is right.

"We'll file a lawsuit, if we have to, against any responsible parties," he asserted. "And those parties range from the Lottery Commission itself and potentially can include, [the] Jackpocket, Winner's Corner, Draft Kings grouping of defendants. We're not certain at this point."