The former Texas Lottery Commissioner has been indicted once again for abuse of power in Travis County following the quiet dismissal of a recent indictment.
On Wednesday, Gary Grief was indicted on a felony count of abuse of official capacity, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. The charges stem from a 2023 Lotto Texas draw in which Grief allegedly helped engineer the win of a $95-million jackpot.
Grief was also indicted last month on the same charge, but the case was dismissed three days later at the request of Travis County Assistant District Attorney Rob Drummond, who cited “prosecutorial discretion,” according to the Texas Tribune. That indictment also alleged Grief misused his position to defraud the state during the April 2023 draw.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Chron’s request for comment.
A two-year Houston Chronicle investigation revealed that an overseas gambling group had used lottery ticket printers in four different locations to buy almost all of the 26 million possible number combinations in the April draw.
In a statement, Grief’s attorney Sam Bassett told the Chronicle, “the indictment returned by the Travis County Grand Jury is the product of politics, not facts demonstrating a crime.”
“When all facts are revealed in court, the public will see that Gary’s leadership at the Lottery Commission generated millions of dollars for Texas schools and veterans and there was no crime,” Bassett added.
Grief resigned from the lottery commission in February 2024, retiring as the commission’s longest-serving employee, according to the announcement. In 2025, the Texas Lottery Commission was dissolved and its operations and staff were transferred to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, according to KXAN.