Money Laundering Claims Rock Texas Lottery. Now What?

In a very interesting turn of events, the Texas Lottery is being accused of being vulnerable to money laundering. Yeah, raise your hand if that was on your 2025 bingo card.

On the surface, it seems like it wouldn't exactly be the best way to launder money, but when a member of the Senate Finance Committee brought it up during a hearing, they gave an example of how money is more than likely laundered through the lottery.

A couple of months ago, the Texas Lottery was accused of skirting the law by allowing the purchasing of tickets via mules and online apps.

It was this exact thing that people began to point to about how easy it would be to launder money, and further, WIN money while they're doing it.

This wasn't something unfounded that just came up. They gave an example of something that happened back in 2023 with a jackpot that was won. Sure, lotto is all about luck...or is it? I mean, if you figure out all the different number combinations, you can guarantee a jackpot win.

Back in April 2023, an individual made a multi-million dollar purchase of lottery tickets from an establishment in North Texas. Sen. Paul Bettencourt said,

"If I was trying to launder money into this country, I would buy $25 million worth of lottery tickets and not only launder my bad money, my suspect money, I (would get) a 2-to-1 return on a $50 million jackpot"

He's not wrong. Sure, it's a MASSIVE purchase when it comes to lottery tickets, but hey, if you have the money, why not turn it into more if you can? He grilled lottery officials about that asking them if that seemed strange or funny to them.

Lottery Executive Director Ryan Mindell said he "couldn't commit" to that being true. Bettencourt didn't stop there as he grilled tow other lottery executives. They ultimately stated that in hindsight, they should've at least suspected money laundering in that case.

Lawmakers are saying that in order to be able to curb money laundering from being possible through the lottery, they have to shut down the ability to purchase tickets through a mobile app, and that's what they're pushing for.