Here is more information about the agency, including who leads its IT department, how many staff the commission employs and its history.
FAST FACTS
Budget: Estimated at $323 million overall, with a $7.5 million IT budget, according to the commission’s FY 2024 Operating Budget.
Leadership: Joan Kotal is the commission’s IT director.
Staff: The agency has approximately 322 full-time employees.
MORE ABOUT THE AGENCY
On July 11, 1991, House Bill 54 was introduced to create a state lottery, which was approved by Texas voters that same year, according to the Texas Lottery Commission.
In 1993, the 73rd Texas Legislature passed HB 1587, which created the Texas Lottery Commission and shifted bingo from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) to the new commission, although it was not officially transitioned until 1994.
Gov. Ann Richards then appointed commission members Jan Fisher Greaves, Richard Daly and Anthony Sadberry. Today, five members appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott currently oversee the commission.
Below are tech-related goals listed in the department’s FY 2023-2027 agency strategic plan:
- Achieve optimal efficiency in the promotion of lottery games and communication with Texans about the Texas lottery
- Remain current with technology to increase operational efficiency and improve commission effectiveness
- Improve agency cybersecurity training
- Obtain and complete a biannual security audit to identify potential security risks and implement corrective actions
- Expand automation of centralized application programming interfaces for electronic signatures/approvals
- Modernize legacy applications to be more user-centric
- Implement cloud computing service solutions to migrate the agency’s internal database application infrastructure to TX-RAMP certified cloud computing providers
