Former Texas Lottery Boss Accused of Rigging $95M Jackpot

A class-action lawsuit has accused former Texas Lottery chief executive officer Gary Grief of facilitating a “criminal conspiracy” that allowed a European-based syndicate to manipulate the system and win a massive $95 million jackpot. 

Grief, who headed the Texas Lottery Commission for a decade and a half, has denied any wrongdoing through his lawyer.

Close to 26M Purchased Tickets 

The scheme allegedly unfolded during the Texas Lottery draw on April 22, 2023, when the syndicate bought an astonishing 25.8 million tickets, covering every possible combination of numbers. 

This was the result of 93 consecutive rollovers, which made the jackpot mathematically exploitable. 

With the jackpot standing at $95 million, the syndicate spent $25.8 million to secure a share of the jackpot and a significant portion of secondary prizes. 

The cost of the tickets ensured that the syndicate would profit, regardless of the outcome.

The key question was how the syndicate could acquire 25.8 million tickets for a draw that traditionally sold only one to two million tickets. 

According to the lawsuit, Grief played a pivotal role over several years in creating the conditions that allowed this exploitation of the system. 

Plan Dating Back to 2017 

The suit, filed by Dawn Nettles of LottoReport.com on behalf of Texas Lottery players, argues that Grief “fraudulently” set the stage for this manipulation.

The alleged conspiracy’s origins date back to 2017, when Grief reportedly traveled to California to lobby the founders of Lottery.com, an online lottery courier service, to relocate their operations to Austin.

The lawsuit claims that from that moment, “the Lottery Commission and Lottery.com became a combined single criminal entity.” Lottery.com, which is also named in the lawsuit, worked with the syndicate to purchase and process millions of tickets.

Grief Bypassed Legislation to Benefit the Syndicate 

The lawsuit further accuses Grief of circumventing the usual legislative processes to implement changes that benefited the syndicate. 

These included allowing tickets to be purchased via smartphones opening the door for online couriers like Lottery.com. 

Grief also allegedly permitted 24-hour ticket printing and the anonymity of lottery winners, both of which made it easier for the syndicate to operate. 

It is alleged that a Malta-based company was used to generate QR codes, which were scanned into Texas Lottery terminals to print nearly all possible ticket combinations. 

Eyewitnesses reported seeing Lottery.com co-founders Tony DiMatteo and Matthew Clemenson scanning the codes, though neither were with the company at the time. 

The complaint also alleges that the terminals violated Texas Lottery rules by being placed in a location not open to the public, exclusively selling tickets. 

The lawsuit cites a 2019 letter from Grief to Lottery.com’s co-founders, in which he stated that Texas Powerball tickets could be purchased from “foreign jurisdictions” as long as local laws permitted.

A January report from the state’s Sunset Advisory Commission noted that “Grief appeared at ease working within the gray areas of the State Lottery Act, particularly when the agency’s authority was unclear or when the Legislature had not addressed emerging issues.”

The suit seeks the recovery of these funds, along with declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent further misconduct. 

Grief retired in early 2024, just months before the Houston Chronicle revealed how the syndicate had exploited the lottery system.

The former lottery director used the voice of his attorney to “adamantly” deny “being part of any dishonest, fraudulent or illegal scheme during his tenure denied any involvement in wrongdoing during his tenure” and expressed his willingness to cooperate with any official investigation into the allegations.