Texas Lotto jackpot winner’s lawsuit says rigged game cut his payout

FORT WORTH – The Houston Chronicle reports that like many regular lottery players, Jerry Reed played the same six numbers each time he bought his Lotto Texas ticket. On May 17, 2023, his persistence paid off. The ticket, purchased at One World Grocery in Mansfield, outside of Fort Worth, hit the jackpot. Reed chose to receive his winnings in annuitized payments over time, worth $7.5 million. Now, however, Reed is claiming he is owed considerably more. The reason: His win was the first jackpot claimed after the controversial April 22, 2023, Lotto Texas draw, in which an entity called Rook TX all but guaranteed itself the winning ticket by acquiring nearly all of the 25.8 million possible number configurations. The entity was the sole winner, collecting a one-time payout of nearly $58 million.

As reported by the Houston Chronicle, the operation was planned by a Malta man, organized through a London betting company and carried out by four online ticket sales companies. It was aided by the Texas Lottery Commission itself, which appeared to have allowed the participants to skirt several of its own rules to carry out the logistically challenging scheme. In a lawsuit being filed Tuesday in Travis County district court, Reed asserts that the violations should have voided the jackpot — in which case the prize he won would have been worth more than $100 million. “Had the defendants not engaged in their illegal money laundering and game-rigging scheme connected to the April 22nd draw, the $95 million jackpot would have rolled over, as there were no other winners,” the lawsuit claims. “Consequently, Jerry Reed’s May 17th jackpot win would have been $102.5 million instead of $7.5 million.” The Texas Lottery Commission’s former director, Gary Grief, has said that no laws or rules were violated during the April 2023 game. Grief retired in early 2024.