State Senator Bob Hall calls for the end of the Texas lottery in the middle of the scandal

Austin (Nexstar)-Senator Bob Hall, R-Rockwall, was one of the first legislators to investigate the Texas Lottery Commission in a controversial drawing of Lotto Texas 2023 in Texas because of their alleged role. Months later he stated the case for the abolition of the Commission.

“I apologize for the length of this,” Hall said to the Senate Committee on the Senate Committee when he went in detail why the lottery should be abolished. “It is very important that you know some of the details of the laws in which it may still be broken by a criminal organization that is deeply embedded in our government.”

Hall submitted the 1988 Senate Act, which abolished the lottery law, relocated the remaining means of the lottery commission to the Foundation School program and left the state's non -profit Bingo operations in the hands of the Texas Ministry for License and Regulation (TDLR).

Inactivity is action

While SB was eliminated in the committee in 1988, the Texas lottery is not clear. For the beginning, the committee could come back and send it to the Senate, although it is only 10 days to the deadline of Texas House Bill, SB would be unlikely to move quickly enough in 1988 to be adopted at the end of the legislative period.

However, the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) is also ready for a planned sunset check, ie the legislator must pass a legislative template to extend the agency. Neither Senator Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, Senate Bill 2402 or Rep. Lacey Hulls, R-Houston, House Bill 1505 were heard in a hearing of the committee. In addition, the Texas House met all the means for TLC in its proposed version of the Texas Budget and asked their conference to fight for the development of the TLC while negotiating the budget with the Senate of Texas.

If there is a little bit of hope for the Texas lottery, it comes from Lt. last Monday Governor Dan Patrick's comments.

“Look, people like to play the lottery. They like their scratch-off ticket games. They know that they don't have a great chance of winning, but they like to play and they like to hope,” said Patrick. “If we have a lottery game, we have to close the lottery commission and hand it over to it [TDLR]. “”

There is no proposed invoice to move the Texas lottery to another agency. However, the measure could be issued by changing an existing invoice.

During the hearing, the deputy managing director of TLC Sergio Rey campaigned for his current employees.

“I can tell you that the remaining 300 employees honor the integrity, honesty and fairness of the agency,” said Rey. Rey started the TLC at the end of 2023 (according to the remarkable lottery texas) and took on his role when the managing director Ryan resigned at the last month.

“It would actually have a sales tax blushed”

One of the common arguments in favor of state lotteries is the money made available to the public sector. In Texas, the majority of the lottery wins go to schools or veterans. According to an analysis by Rob Kohler with the Christian life commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the money comes from the people who can afford to lose them.

“When [Texas] the lottery started again in [the] 90s, the discussion was to be financed near-ending, whether there would be sales tax or go to a lottery, ”said Kohler.

Kohler argued that the areas in Texas with the lowest wealth were most spent on the lottery. He said that House District 119 in the area of ​​San Antonio sold most tickets ($ 102.9 million) while earning a Pro Head Income of $ 26,414. On the contrary, House District 108 in the Dallas region has the highest per capita income of $ 104,418. They sold less than a quarter of the lottery tickets than HD 119 and only sold tickets worth 24.3 million US dollars.

“[Ticket sales are] When we come from communities and areas in our state in which we pour in money to help people – and I represent people who believe in it – but at the same time it makes no sense to bring $ 70 million into a district to help them and then trick them out of $ 70 million in the same year. “