The Common Law

My elementary aged kids got a lottery ticket from a family member as a Christmas gift. Can my kids play the lottery? Can they collect if they win?

First things first – the Texas Lottery Commission recommends against giving lottery tickets as gifts to minors. The Lottery Commission promotes the following public service announcement: Gift Responsibly - Lottery Tickets Aren't Childs Play. Research shows that kids exposed to gambling at a young age can have increased risk of gambling addiction as an adult.

Texas law is clear. Retailers shall not sell lottery tickets to minors under the age of 18 (Texas Administrative Code 401.355(b)). Tickets that are illegally bought by minors are void.

But that doesn't mean that minors can never play the lottery. Texas law allows a person 18 years of age or older to buy a lottery ticket as "a gift to another person, including an individual younger than 18 years of age." So in your example, assuming the person giving the lottery ticket gift is over 18 years of age, your kids would be able to use those lottery tickets.

Collecting on the lottery prize as a minor is a bit more complicated. How the minor can collect on the lottery winnings depends on the size of the prize. If the minor's winning lottery ticket is less than $600, the payment can be made to an adult member of the minor's family or the minor's guardian. If the prize money exceeds $600, Texas law requires that the payment be made by depositing the prize money amount in a financial institution to the credit of the minor's adult family member or guardian. The family member or guardian must protect the minor's funds and act in the fiduciary best interests of the minor child. For prizes that include things other than money, the payment of the cash equivalent is acceptable to be paid to the minor. Check out Texas Government Code 466.405 for more details on how a minor can collect on a lottery ticket prize.