Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0675 Page: 1 of 5
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
October 30, 2008Mr. James A. Cox, Jr.
Chairman, Texas Lottery Commission
Post Office Box 16630
Austin, Texas 78761-6630Opinion No. GA-0675
Re: Whether section 521.126 of the Transportation
Code permits the Texas Lottery Commission to use
electronically readable information encoded on the
magnetic stripe of a driver's license to verify the age
of persons using self-service terminals and vending
machines to purchase lottery tickets (RQ-0705-GA)Dear Mr. Cox:
You ask whether section 521.126 of the Transportation Code permits the Texas Lottery
Commission (the "Commission") to use electronically readable information encoded on the magnetic
stripe of a driver's license to verify the age of persons using self-service terminals and vending
machines to purchase lottery tickets.1
We first address the authority of the Commission. Chapter 466 of the Government Code
relates to the state lottery. See TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. 466.001 (Vernon 2004) ("This chapter may
be cited as the State Lottery Act."). Under this chapter, a "sales agent or an employee of a sales
agent commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly sells or offers to sell a [lottery]
ticket to an individual that the person knows is younger than 18 years of age." Id. 466.3051 (a). An
offense under this subsection is a Class C misdemeanor. Id. 466.3051(e).2 You explain the
operation of a self-service terminal or vending machine as related to compliance with this statutory
restriction:
[This] approach would be to access the electronically readable
information encoded on the magnetic stripe on the back of the Texas
'Letter from James A. Cox, Jr., Chairman, Texas Lottery Commission, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Attorney
General of Texas (Apr. 24, 2008) (on file with the Opinion Committee, also available at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov)
[hereinafter Request Letter].
2Likewise, a person under the age of eighteen years commits an offense if he or she purchases a lottery ticket
or falsely represents himself or herself to be at least eighteen years of age in order to purchase a lottery ticket. TEX.
Gov'T CODE ANN. 466.3051(b) (Vernon 2004). Such an offense is punishable by a fine not to exceed $250. Id.
466.3051(f).
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0675, text, October 30, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275571/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.