Texas Lottery Director Resigns Over Suspicious Wins

The man at the center of Texas' lottery chaos just stepped down.

Ryan Mindell, who had only served as executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission for about a year, abruptly resigned on April 21. The move comes after months of investigations, legislative pushback, and widespread public doubt surrounding how, exactly, people were winning big, especially at one particular North Austin store.

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A Store That Wins Too Often

Earlier this year, all eyes turned to Winner’s Corner TX LLC, a lottery courier service that’s been at the center of multiple high-dollar wins. One of them was an $83.5 million jackpot, printed at the exact same location where other multimillion-dollar tickets had been sold in recent months. Even Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick personally visited the shop, raising concerns about a business model where a courier company owns both the online platform and the physical store printing the tickets.

The State Cracks Down

The Texas Rangers were called in to investigate both the North Austin jackpot and another $95 million win from 2023. Governor Greg Abbott and state lawmakers began questioning how easily the system could be gamed, especially with courier services doing the legwork for online customers. Senate Bill 28, already passed by the Texas Senate, aims to shut that down entirely by banning app and online ticket sales.

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The Fallout Begins

Mindell’s resignation doesn’t confirm wrongdoing, but the timing says plenty. With trust in the Texas Lottery already shaken, and more regulation on the horizon, the agency now finds itself in damage control. The Commission’s CFO, Sergio Rey, has been appointed acting deputy director while a permanent replacement is considered.

Whether or not the lottery was rigged, the system clearly wasn’t built to stop it.