Kristen Moriarty’s $83M Texas Lottery Settlement: Freeze and Lawsuit

Kristen Moriarty, a Houston-area mother of two, received the full cash value of her Lotto Texas jackpot in a Kristen Moriarty Texas lottery settlement reached on July 30, 2025, nearly six months after the state refused to pay her $83.5 million prize. The agreement entitled her to a lump sum of $45,889,188.92 before federal tax withholding, ending a dispute that began when the Texas Lottery Commission declined to validate a winning ticket she bought through the Jackpocket courier app.¹²

The Winning Ticket and the Block

Moriarty spent $20 on tickets for the February 17, 2025, Lotto Texas drawing through Jackpocket, a mobile app that took orders online and had physical tickets printed at a licensed retailer. Her ticket was processed at Winners Corner TX LLC, an Austin store affiliated with the courier. The winning numbers were 19, 21, 25, 45, 47, and 52.³⁴

When she tried to cash the ticket about a month after the drawing, lottery officials refused to validate it, citing pending investigations into “suspicious and potentially illegal lottery” activity involving courier services. The commission later acknowledged that Moriarty was the “lawful bearer of the winning ticket” and the “prize winner,” but it still would not release the money.³¹

Why the State Froze the Prize

Moriarty’s ticket landed in the middle of a political fight over lottery courier apps. The controversy traced to an April 2023 drawing in which an international gambling syndicate operating out of Malta, London, and several Texas cities spent $26 million to buy nearly all 25 million possible ticket combinations and won a $95 million Lotto Texas jackpot. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick named eliminating courier services a legislative priority, and Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate multiple drawings, including the February 17, 2025, draw Moriarty won.⁵⁶

One week after her drawing, on February 24, 2025, then-Executive Director Ryan Mindell announced that courier services “are not allowed under Texas law” and that the commission would pursue rules to formally prohibit them. Moriarty’s lawyers argued the commission was trying to apply that position retroactively to a ticket bought before any rule change.⁷¹ Lt. Gov. Patrick publicly voiced suspicion about the Austin store where her ticket was processed, saying, “This is not the way the lottery was designed to operate.” Her lawsuit alleged the commission withheld payment “at the behest of one or more elected office holders.”³⁸

The Lawsuit

In May 2025, Moriarty sued the Texas Lottery Commission and Acting Deputy Executive Director Sergio Rey through the Austin firm Howry, Breen & Herman, LLP. The suit was initially filed under the pseudonym “Jane Doe” and sought a temporary restraining order and injunction to prevent the commission from disbursing the prize elsewhere.⁹¹⁰ Lead attorney Randy Howry argued that Moriarty had no connection to the 2023 syndicate scheme and was “entirely within her legal rights to purchase a ticket through Jackpocket” when she bought it. State attorneys initially claimed sovereign immunity in an attempt to avoid processing the payout.¹¹⁶

What the Settlement Gave Her

The case settled on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, two days before a scheduled court hearing that could have forced the state to release the funds. The deal was formalized in a Rule 11 Agreement Letter accepted by the Office of the Attorney General and filed in court on July 31, 2025, with guidance from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.³²

Moriarty received the full cash value of the estimated $83.5 million annuitized jackpot, a lump sum of $45,889,188.92. Of that total, 76 percent, roughly $34,875,783.82, went into a trust account for her, and 24 percent, about $11,013,405.10, was withheld and sent to the IRS for federal taxes.¹¹ In exchange, Moriarty waived all present and future claims against the commission and its officials regarding the February 17 drawing. The commission made clear the payment was not an admission of wrongdoing, and the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.¹² The commission confirmed on August 5, 2025, that the prize claim had been processed.¹

What Moriarty Said

The wait took a personal toll. In a June 2025 interview with the Texas Tribune, Moriarty said, “I’m sad, stressed, angry that this has become a political thing. I’ve lost faith in our elected officials.”² After the settlement, she described what the win means for her family: “We were all crying. We’ve been through a lot. It was a really happy moment to know we could now do things.” She said she plans to start a scholarship in her late husband’s name and fund an animal sanctuary.³

Howry was blunter. “What should have been a life-changing celebration in her life, winning the Texas lottery, turned out to be a stress-filled, painful ordeal,” he said. “They held her winnings hostage as they sought to dismantle the Texas lottery.”¹³

What Changed for Texas Lottery Players

Moriarty got paid, but the system that let her play that way is gone. Jackpocket voluntarily shut down its Texas operations in February 2025 and laid off about 40 Texas-based employees in mid-March. CEO Peter Sullivan said the suspension was meant to show a “willingness to comply with legislators and regulators.” The commission also seized dozens of ticket-printing machines from courier-affiliated retailers.¹⁴ On April 29, 2025, the commission voted unanimously to formally ban courier companies from selling tickets online.¹⁵

The legislature went further. Senate Bill 3070, signed by Gov. Abbott in June 2025, abolished the Texas Lottery Commission entirely effective September 1, 2025, and transferred lottery operations to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The law banned courier companies, prohibited sales via telephone, internet, or mobile apps, capped in-person ticket purchases at 100 per transaction, and tightened rules on sales to minors.¹⁶¹⁷ As of September 1, 2025, lottery and charitable bingo operations became a division within TDLR, led by Executive Director Courtney Arbour. The law authorizes the lottery to continue until 2029, when the Sunset Advisory Commission will review the program.¹⁸

1
People. Woman Spent Months Waiting to Receive $83 Million Jackpot
2
Texas Tribune. Texas Lottery Winner Payout Settlement $83 Million
3
Houston Chronicle. Houston Lottery Winner Jackpot Blocked
4
Texas Lottery. Lotto Texas Winning Numbers, February 17, 2025
5
The Center Square. Texas Lottery Courier Controversy
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KXAN. Texas Lottery Winner Gets Payout 6 Months Late
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Texas Lottery Commission. TLC Prohibition of Lottery Courier Services
8
AOL. Woman Spent Nearly 6 Months Waiting for Payout
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Texas Scorecard. Rule 11 Agreement Letter
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CNN. Texas Lottery Lawsuit
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Howry Breen & Herman. Howry Breen Herman Secures Full Prize Settlement
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Texas Scorecard. Texas Lottery Winner Finally Receives Jackpot After Lawsuit
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KTSM. Texas Lottery Winner Gets Payout 6 Months Late After Court Battle With State
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Texas Tribune. Texas Lottery Tickets Couriers Legislature
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Texas Tribune. Texas Lottery Courier Ban Vote
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Texas Lottery Commission. Lottery Commission Final Results
17
Governing. Texas Abolishes Lottery Commission Imposes New Restrictions
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Texas Lottery. TLC Moves to TDLR