The Texas Supreme Court has not yet rendered its decision in the appeal of GTECH, Inc. v. Steele et al.
The plaintiffs in the case allege that GTECH proposed misleading language for, and printed the misleading language on, the Fun 5’s scratch-off tickets. Over one thousand lottery players were fooled into believing they would receive five times the amount in the prize box if their tickets revealed a Money Bag symbol.
The Austin Court of Appeals ruled that GTECH, the private contractor that runs the Texas Lottery, can be sued for fraud. GTECH has appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. GTECH is asking the Court to grant it immunity from fraud lawsuits because it is a government contractor.
The case was argued before the nine members of the Supreme Court on December 3, 2019. We do not yet know when the Court will issue its decision. However, we got a hint recently from Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht who stated that despite their increasing workload, the appellate courts, including the Supreme Court, are still working efficiently.
“The volume is up, and the supreme court is still clearing its docket of argued cases by the end of June. This year, certainly, we are on track,” Hecht said.
The bottom line is that we should hear from the Court by the end of June but the decision could come out at any time between now and then. We will post news on this blog the second we hear from the Court.