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Texas officials are investigating after a company called Rook TX, based in Scotch Plains (Union County) claimed a $95 million jackpot in April 2023 by spending $25 million to buy nearly every possible number combination, the New York Times reported.
Rook TX worked with four retailers in Texas to order a significant amount of lottery terminals to achieve every possible number combination, Ryan Mindell, the executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission told the Times.
In the three days before the drawing, people went to stores and entered millions of number combinations using QR codes loaded onto iPads, Mindell said. There were 27 million lottery tickets sold in less than 72 hours. Mindell said. A typical Lotto Texas drawing has 2 million in sales.
Rook TX claimed a lump sum payment of $57,804,000 before taxes. It is unknown who is behind Rook, as Texas law allows people who claim prizes of more than $1 million to remain anonymous.
Mindell said there is no law against one person buying as many lottery tickets as they wanted but lottery officials have limited the number of terminals retails can order and capped the number of tickets a terminal can print.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called for an investigation, which Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched.
“Texas citizens deserve far better than bad actors getting rich off of a lottery system that is open to exploitation, and we will hold anyone who engages in illegal activity accountable,” Paxton said in a statement.
To view the Times story, click here.
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