Texas lottery drawings that paid out big jackpots are the focus of widening investigations

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two major lottery drawings in Texas that put nearly $180 million in the pockets of winning ticket holders have set off widening state investigations over concern that ticket sellers and buyers may have exploited the rules.

The Texas Lottery, one of the largest in the U.S., is facing mounting scrutiny from state leaders over how the winners of an $83 million jackpot this month and a $95 million prize in 2023 purchased their odds-defying tickets. Both are among the largest jackpots in the history of the Texas lottery.

At the heart of the issue, Texas officials say, is whether the games are on a level playing field.

On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched his own investigation on top of one announced earlier this week by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Part of the issue lies with couriers, the companies that purchase lottery tickets for customers remotely. One was used by this month's winner.

“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.

Here's what else to know about Texas' mega lottery winnings:

Couriers are companies that buy and send lottery tickets on behalf of customers online. The practice bypasses state law that requires tickets to be purchased in person. Couriers, which operate in 19 states according to a 2024 report from the Florida Office of Program Analysis and Government Accountability, do not have any regulatory oversight or licensing requirements in Texas.

Some lawmakers have expressed concern about children and people outside the state purchasing tickets.

The head of the Texas Lottery Commission said this month that the agency will ban couriers, walking back years of resistance to pushing them out of the market.

“Lottery courier services operating in Texas have been a significant concern for many of our stakeholders,” executive director Ryan Mindell said in a statement. “Previously, the agency interpreted its authority as not extending to the regulation or prohibition of these services.” The agency has since reconsidered after reviewing state laws, Mindell said.

Neither winner of the big drawings has come forward publicly and they are under no obligation to do so under Texas law.

The $83 million ticket was purchased by a customer at a courier store called Winners Corner in Austin on Feb 17. The chain has locations in six states.

The $95 million drawing from 2023 was won after the winners purchased nearly every possible number combination, according to Abbott's office. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle found the ticket was purchased at a retailer that added a dozen lottery terminals to print tickets the day before the drawing.

Experts told the newspaper that QR codes can be read by the machines to process large volumes of tickets in a short time. Normally, the QR images generate directly from the Texas Lottery Commission's mobile app.

One of the state's five lottery commissioners has since resigned amid the criticism and the commission said it will no longer allow tickets to be purchased through couriers.

“We do not engage in bulk ticket purchasing, we are not part of some organized crime syndicate,” Paul Prezioso, an executive at courier site Jackpot.com told lawmakers Monday. “We believe that a regulated courier industry is a net positive for the state of Texas."

The Texas Lottery is still in full swing and residents will be allowed to use courier services until the state's Lottery Commission changes the rules, which is expected to happen in April.

The commission's plan to ban couriers comes after years of insisting that the body had no authority over the companies. It also follows criticism from Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a former television sportscaster in Houston who earlier this month walked into a Winners Corner store with a camera rolling and began asking questions.

Texas gambling has had a complicated history in recent years. Efforts to expand gambling in the nation's second-most populous state have failed despite expensive lobbying blitzes to bring casinos to the state and legalize sports gambling.

Supporters have sought to put a constitutional amendment to voters, but the proposals have not gotten far in the Legislature.

The state lottery has brought in more than $40 billion in revenue and awarded more than $90 billion in winnings since its establishment in 1992, according to the commission's website.

Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

A Texas Lottery sales terminal screen is shown at Fuel City in Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

A Texas Lottery sales terminal screen is shown at Fuel City in Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

A Texas Lottery sales terminal shows the jackpot amounts up to win at Fuel City in Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Edith Patlan grabs printed tickets from a Texas Lottery sales terminal at Fuel City in Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Edith Patlan uses a Texas Lottery terminal to complete at purchase of lottery tickets at Fuel City in Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.

Donald Trump isn't leaving it to future generations.

As the first year of his second term wraps up, his administration and allies have put the president’s name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships.

That’s on top of the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

On Friday, he plans to attend a ceremony in Florida where local officials will dedicate a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.

It’s unprecedented for a sitting president to embrace tributes of that number and scale, especially those proffered by members of his administration. And while past sitting presidents have typically been honored by local officials naming schools and roads after them, it's exceedingly rare for airports, federal buildings, warships or other government assets to be named for someone still in power.

“At no previous time in history have we consistently named things after a president who was still in office,” said Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “One might even extend that to say a president who is still alive. Those kind of memorializations are supposed to be just that — memorials to the passing hero.”

White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the TrumpRx website linked to the president's deals to lower the price of some prescription drugs, along with “overdue upgrades of national landmarks, lasting peace deals, and wealth-creation accounts for children are historic initiatives that would not have been possible without President Trump’s bold leadership.”

"The Administration’s focus isn’t on smart branding, but delivering on President Trump’s goal of Making America Great Again," Huston said.

The White House pointed out that the nation's capital was named after President George Washington and the Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover while each was serving as president.

For Trump, it’s a continuation of the way he first etched his place onto the American consciousness, becoming famous as a real estate developer who affixed his name in big gold letters on luxury buildings and hotels, a casino and assorted products like neckties, wine and steaks.

As he ran for president in 2024, the candidate rolled out Trump-branded business ventures for watches, fragrances, Bibles and sneakers — including golden high tops priced at $799. After taking office again last year, Trump's businesses launched a Trump Mobile phone company, with plans to unveil a gold-colored smartphone and a cryptocurrency memecoin named $TRUMP.

That’s not to be confused with plans for a physical, government-issued Trump coin that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said the U.S. Mint is planning.

Trump has also reportedly told the owners of Washington’s NFL team that he would like his name on the Commanders’ new stadium. The team’s ownership group, which has the naming rights, has not commented on the idea. But a White House spokeswoman in November called the proposed name “beautiful” and said Trump made the rebuilding of the stadium possible.

The addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center in December so outraged independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that he introduced legislation this week to ban the naming or renaming of any federal building or land after a sitting president — a ban that would retroactively apply to the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace.

“I think he is a narcissist who likes to see his name up there. If he owns a hotel, that’s his business,” Sanders said in an interview. “But he doesn’t own federal buildings.”

Sanders likened Trump's penchant for putting his name on government buildings and more to the actions of authoritarian leaders throughout history.

“If the American people want to name buildings after a president who is deceased, that’s fine. That’s what we do,” Sanders said. “But to use federal buildings to enhance your own position very much sounds like the ‘Great Leader’ mentality of North Korea, and that is not something that I think the American people want.”

Although some of the naming has been suggested by others, the president has made clear he’s pleased with the tributes.

Three months after the announcement of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a name the White House says was proposed by Armenian officials, the president gushed about it at a White House dinner.

“It’s such a beautiful thing, they named it after me. I really appreciate it. It’s actually a big deal,” he told a group of Central Asian leaders.

Engel, the presidential historian, said the practice can send a signal to people "that the easiest way to get access and favor from the president is to play to his ego and give him something or name something after him.”

Some of the proposals for honoring Trump include legislation in Congress from New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney that would designate June 14 as “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day," placing the president with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Jesus Christ, whose birthdays are recognized as national holidays.

Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced legislation that calls for the Washington-area rapid transit system, known as the Metro, to be renamed the “Trump Train.” North Carolina Republican Rep. Addison McDowell has introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport.

McDowell said it makes sense to give Dulles a new name since Trump has already announced plans to revamp the airport, which currently is a tribute to former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.

The congressman said he wanted to honor Trump because he feels the president has been a champion for combating the scourge of fentanyl, a personal issue for McDowell after his brother’s overdose death. But he also cited Trump’s efforts to strike peace deals all over the world and called him “one of the most consequential presidents ever.”

“I think that’s somebody that deserves to be honored, whether they’re still the president or whether they’re not," he said.

More efforts are underway in Florida, Trump’s adopted home.

Republican state lawmaker Meg Weinberger said she is working on an effort to rename Palm Beach International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport, a potential point of confusion with the Dulles effort.

The road that the president will see christened Friday is not the first Florida asphalt to herald Trump upon his return to the White House.

In the south Florida city of Hialeah, officials in December 2024 renamed a street there as President Donald J. Trump Avenue.

Trump, speaking at a Miami business conference the next month, called it a “great honor” and said he loved the mayor for it.

“Anybody that names a boulevard after me, I like,” he said.

He added a few moments later: “A lot of people come back from Hialeah, they say, ‘They just named a road after you.' I say, ‘That’s OK.’ It’s a beginning, right? It’s a start.”

FILE - A sign for the Rose Garden is seen near the Presidential Walk of Fame on the Colonnade at the White House, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Workers add President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - A poster showing the Trump Gold Card is seen as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)