Legal Experts Weigh In On Withheld $83.5 Million Lotto Texas Jackpot Due To Courier Purchase

Stephen Piepgrass and Lauren Fincher, partners in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement (RISE) Practice Group, were quoted in the April 22, 2025 PlayTexas article, “Legal Experts Weigh In On Withheld $83.5 Million Lotto Texas Jackpot Due To Courier Purchase.”

Stephen Piepgrass, Partner at Troutman Pepper Locke law firm, spoke to PlayTexas about how he foresees this situation likely ending.

 “I think that with that kind of money involved, that’s a question that will be resolved by the courts, most likely. My sense is that that is something that will likely be litigated, especially given the fact that the purchase took place before this (ban) announcement. So, we’ll have to see what the courts do with it, but I think that’s a case that is ripe to be litigated, and we’ll see what happens with it.”

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Lauren Fincher, another Partner at Troutman Pepper Locke, told PlayTexas that lottery regulators around the nation will be closely watching the situation as it unfolds.

 “I think that’s a question on everyone’s mind (the outcome to this situation). This whole situation has gotten a lot of press, but certainly this individual who actually won has been interviewed by a lot of local news stations, and it’s certainly top of mind in this discussion.”

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To Fincher, the answer to the jurisdictional issue depends on whom you ask.

“If you would ask our state lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who posted on X pretty closely after the announcement of this winning. He essentially said just that, that the fact that now there is a change in regulatory authority to an outright ban, tells us what we’ve known all along, which is that the commission has had regular regulatory authority, but it hasn’t exercised it.”

“I think that’s been sort of the most consistent criticism that I’ve heard in the legislature, is that the commission itself has allowed these businesses to sort of flourish without regulating them, even though it had the authority to do so. But again, I think there are others who would tell you that there has been open dialog between the courier organizations and the Texas Lottery Commission, and that the understanding has always been that they were not regulated and that they didn’t have the authority to regulate. So again, I think it depends who you ask there.”