Winner waits nearly until the very last minute
By Kate Northrop
Less than a week before a $78 million Lotto Texas jackpot was set to expire, a South Dakota-based trust stepped forward to claim it.
Last month, the Texas Lottery put out a last call for an expiring $78 million Lotto Texas jackpot. Just this week, mere days before it expired, the winner brought the winning ticket forward.
The winner claimed under a trust based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, called Jua-Ri Trust Agreement Trident Trust Company, Inc. and opted for the cash option of the estimated $78 million annuitized prize.
Before taxes, they received $43,757,223.10. Had the May 14 deadline passed, they wouldn't have seen a single cent. They made the claim on May 8, just six days left on the clock. Lottery winners in Texas have 180 days from the draw date to validate tickets for prizes.
Whoever bought the winning ticket chose their own numbers and matched all six numbers drawn in the Nov. 15, 2025 Lotto Texas drawing: 7, 17, 23, 28, 39, and 48. They purchased the ticket at Gordon's Bait & Tackle on Padre Island Highway in Brownsville.
The jackpot started its run on Feb. 19, 2025 and reached an astounding 116 drawings without a winner across the span of nine months. It is the sixth-largest Lotto Texas jackpot in history. The biggest Lotto Texas jackpot to-date is a $145 million prize won by a ticket purchased in El Paso in 2004.
This is also not the first time a large jackpot was claimed by a South Dakota-based trust in Texas. In November 2023, the Blue Yucca Trust of Rapid City made Texas state history when they claimed a $360 million Mega Millions jackpot, the largest lottery prize ever paid out to a Texas lottery player.
But if Texas allows winners of $1 million or more to claim prizes anonymously, why bother going through the lengths to claim under a trust?
South Dakota is a popular state to incorporate a trust, not because the state imposes no income tax, but because a properly structured trust domiciled in South Dakota can shelter investment income from the income taxes of the state where the beneficiary actually lives.
For a winner living in Texas, this wouldn't necessarily be an advantage, since Texas also does not impose an income tax, including on capital gains. A South Dakota trust would be more appealing to those living in a high-tax state, such as California or New York.
However, there is also no rule against perpetuities when forming a trust in South Dakota, which means that a trust is not forced to dissolve and distribute assets after a period of time, therefore preventing estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. It's a popular way to secure a legacy for future generations while being free of additional taxes, so it would be advantageous for any big lottery winner.
There is also a stronger level of security around privacy laws in South Dakota, in which state law forbids the release of trust information to the public and does not allow a pathway to petition the court at all. In other words, determined litigators looking for more information on a winner would not even have a way to do so.
The Lotto Texas jackpot currently stands at $7.25 million for the next drawing on Wednesday, May 13. Lotto Texas drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:12 p.m. Central Time. All Lotto Texas winning numbers, prizes, and odds are published on Lottery Post's Texas Lottery Results page right after each drawing.
WOW Cashing a winning jackpot ticket a week before it expires that's what you call gambling.
Very very suspicious with so much Bulk purchase scams in Texas 😊🍹🙏
I would say that this was a well planned decision and expertly executed.
It is not easy claiming a lottery ticket and maintaining a normal lifestyle anymore because the public wanting to much information about the winner or winners.
Being secretive doesn't always equate to nefarious and sinister plots involved.
l have no problem with winners Claiming wins but with less than 7 days to spare that reminds me of one person Eddie Tipton . This was Exactly his play Book 📕 He waited till the last minute and got lots of crazy attorneys to hide his identity 😃🙏🐀
Congrats to the winner/winners. I hope your newly created wealth is enjoyed for many years to come.
Lotto Texas is not RNG.
Am fully aware but scam is scam 🍹🍹
Smart cookies!
What kind of trust?
Congrats to the lucky winners, I like they bought the ticket at a Bait and Tackle shop,
I thought Trusts were not allowed? Last time I checked it had to be a natural person and not an entity even if anonymous.
The state of the win controls so they now allowed a trust from the home of the winner for a second time. This does create an extra layer of anonymity. Interesting. I am wondering if other anonymous states would allow this as well.
This is a new strategy to me.
The more research I read on these debt asset protection trusts, the less I like them, at least for me.
"When you place assets in an irrevocable Debt Asset Protection Trust (APT), you generally give up direct ownership and control over those assets to a third-party trustee to shield them from creditors. While you lose direct control, you can still structure the trust to benefit from the assets and dictate how they are managed through a trust."
These trusts are also IRREVOCABLE so you cannot dissolve it after you get your $.
Something fishy going on SMH Texas lottery doesn't seem like it's only Texas people playing 😂 Texas lottery has lost a lot of respect in Texas from Texas lottery players
What is fishy here???
This is an allowed trust and established under law and allows even more anonymity.
This winner likely also chose this option either due to potential creditors (does not apply to current creditors) or the winner and or others did not feel capable or comfortable managing this money. Or maybe the winner wanted to avoid people hitting him/her up for money. The winner would still have to share the money with a current spouse.
i agree. i think the secrecy is to deter scammers. there are just too many out there these days. maybe the winner was a group. i'd imagine the trust has to disclose to the texas lottery who the beneficiaries are even if the public will never find out.
"i think the secrecy is to deter scammers. there are just too many out there these days."
Scammers are one reason to (try to) remain anonymous. People you already know are often another good reason. People who think your net worth is fairly typical tend not to pester you for large handouts, but a lot of us have a relative or acquaintance who would want a piece of the pie if they knew it was a multi-million dollar pie. Keeping the wealth secret tends to be a lot harder than just claiming anonymously. It's easy at the start but you need to keep people from noticing the money for far longer.
"maybe the winner was a group."
Maybe, but there's no particular reason to think it was. Not that general statistics apply to a specific instance, but I don't think we hear about groups/pools winning as much as in the past and the simple probability that it was won by a group is fairly small.
"i'd imagine the trust has to disclose to the texas lottery who the beneficiaries are even if the public will never find out. "
I'd expect all lotteries want to know who the individual beneficiaries are so they can check to see if any of them owe child support, money to the state, or any other debts the lottery withholds. Whether or not they can do that when the ticket is presented/owned by an independent legal entity such as a trust or LLC is a different matter, especially when that legal entity is well-protected by the laws of the state it was created in. As a practical matter, how does the lottery really know when the legal name of the winner is nunyabizness LLC and the state the LLC was formed in doesn't require much information to be public?
What's the chances? Play your own hand picked numbers while in Brownsville, TX and claim the price in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and claim it 7 days before the ticket expires. Nothing suspicious here, not at all.