The Texas Lottery's top executive resigns as scrutiny over big jackpot winners intensifies

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The Texas Lottery's top executive resigns as scrutiny over big jackpot winners intensifies

2025-04-23 03:50 Last Updated At：04:00

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission has resigned, the latest shake-up at the state's retail gambling enterprise amid multiple investigations into jackpots in 2023 and earlier this year totaling nearly $200 million, and calls from some lawmakers to shut it down.

The lottery announced Ryan Mindell's resignation on Monday without comment. A former deputy director and operations director at the lottery, Mindell had held the top job for only about a year following the abrupt resignation of his predecessor.

He leaves as the agency faces at least two investigations ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton into the integrity of the lottery prizes, and how the state handled the introduction of courier companies that buy and send tickets on behalf of customers online.

The companies and lottery officials have denied wrongdoing. But Texas state lawmakers are considering forcing several changes, ranging from a legal ban on sales through courier companies to shutting down the agency by taking away all of its funding.

The Texas lottery was established in 1991 and sends a portion of its annual revenue to public education. In 2024, that meant about $2 billion sent to the state's public school fund.

But two of the biggest jackpots in agency history prompted flares of scrutiny and criticism from media, lawmakers and state officials who question whether they were fairly won and if courier companies should be allowed.

First, a $95 million jackpot in 2023 was awarded when the winners bought nearly every possible number combination — more than 25 million of them. In February, an $83 million ticket was won with a ticket purchased at a courier store. The chain that operates the store has locations in six states.

A Houston Chronicle investigation initially detailed the buying efforts behind the 2023 jackpot, but it was the second one that finally grabbed the attention of prominent state lawmakers, as well as the governor and the state attorney general. An agency that typically garners little attention beyond the millions it awards in jackpots and scratch-off ticket games was suddenly under fire.

Abbott ordered the state's elite Texas Rangers law enforcement agency to open an investigation, and Paxton announced a probe by the state attorney general's office. Those remain ongoing.

“The governor expects the Texas Lottery Commission to work within the bounds of the law and to ensure the trust and integrity of the lottery regardless of who leads the agency," Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said Tuesday.

A Texas lottery spokesman declined further comment on Mindell’s resignation.

The Legislature, meanwhile, has held public hearings to scold lottery officials for allowing the use of courier companies to bypass state law that requires tickets to be purchased in person. Mindell had told state lawmakers in February that the agency had previously determined it did not have the authority to regulate courier companies, but said the agency would now move to ban them.

The Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers accused Mindell of pushing the agency to “inaccurately and unfairly” allow the courier companies to “become the scapegoat for its own questionable activities.” The group insisted its members played no role in the 2023 jackpot scheme.

“Mindell’s departure provides an opportunity to reconsider the agency’s politically motivated decisions regarding lottery couriers and restart good faith collaboration between our companies and the TLC,” the coalition said in a statement.

State lawmakers are approaching the final month of their biennial session and have threatened action ranging from writing a courier ban into state law, or even more drastic measures such as shutting down the lottery altogether.

The state Senate has already passed a ban on courier sales, but the measure has yet to get a vote in the House. The House and Senate will soon negotiate a final version of the two-year state budget. The House version currently includes no money for the agency, which would effectively close it down.

But that effort is likely more of a message that lawmakers are serious about making changes than seriously thinking of closing down an agency that generates billions in sales and for public schools annually.

State law allows Texas jackpots to be claimed anonymously, and the April 2023 jackpot was collected two months later in the form of a one-time payment of $57.8 million to a company called Rook TX.

The payment for the February jackpot, however, is on hold pending the state investigations. An attorney for a woman who claims to hold the winning ticket has said it was legally purchased among a group of 10 she bought through the courier Jacketpocket.

Employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs as job market shows resilience. Unemployment stays at 4.2%

2025-05-02 20:55 Last Updated At：21:01

WASHINGTON (AP) —

American employers added a better-than-expected 177,000 jobs in April as the job market showed resilience in the face of President Donald Trump's trade wars.

Hiring was down slightly from a revised 185,000 in March and came in above economists’ expectations for a modest 135,000. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

President Donald Trump’s aggressive and unpredictable policies – including massive import taxes – have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market and raised fears that the American economy is headed toward recession.

Transportation and warehousing companies added 29,000 jobs last month, suggesting that companies have been stocking up before essential, imported goods are hit with a wave of new tariffs, driving prices higher. Healthcare companies added nearly 51,000 jobs and bars, restaurants almost 17,000 and construction firms 11,000. Factories lost 1,000 jobs.

Labor Department revisions shaved 58,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings ticked up 0.2% from March and 3.8% from a year ago, nearing the 3.5% that economists view as consistent with the 2% inflation the Federal Reserve wants to see.

The report showed that 518,000 people entered the labor force, and the percentage of those working or looking for work ticked up slightly.

“We are not seeing right now any really adverse effects on the employment market,’’ Boston College economist Brian Bethune said before the report came out.

Yet many economists fear that the U.S. job market will deteriorate if economic growth takes a hit from trade wars.

Trump’s massive taxes on imports to the U.S. are likely to raise costs for Americans and American businesses that depend on supplies from overseas. They also threaten to slow economic growth. His immigration crackdown threatens to make it more difficult for hotels, restaurants and construction firms to fill job openings. By purging federal workers and cancelling federal contracts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency risks wiping out jobs inside the government and out.

“Looking ahead, we expect the steep tariff increases and the surge in uncertainty and financial market volatility will result in a more pronounced labor market downshift than previously anticipated,” Lydia Boussour, senior economist at the accounting and consulting giant EY, wrote this week. “Large cuts to the federal workforce and the cancellations of many government contracts will also be a drag on payroll growth in coming months.’’

A slowdown in immigration “will weigh on labor supply dynamics, further constraining job growth. We foresee the unemployment rate rising toward 5% in 2025.’’

Trump’s policies have shaken financial markets and frightened consumers. The Conference Board, a business group, reported Tuesday that Americans’ confidence in the economy fell for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

American workers have at least one thing going for them. Despite the uncertainty about fallout from Trump’s policies, many employers don’t want to risk letting employees go – not after seeing how hard it was to bring people back from the massive but short-lived layoffs of the 2020 COVID-19 recession.

“They laid millions of these people off, and they had a hell of a time getting them back to work,’’ Boston College’s Bethune said. "So for now, the unemployment rate and the number of people filing claims for jobless benefits every week remain low by historical standards.

Bethune does not expect Musk’s cuts to the federal workforce to show up much in the April jobs numbers. For one thing, job cuts orders by the billionaire’s DOGE are still being challenged in court. For another, some of those leaving federal agencies were forced into early retirement – and don’t show up in the Labor Department’s count of the unemployed.