It's unfair because they didn't buy tickets the way normal people do. Lottery machines are supposed to be in regular places of business, like gas stations or grocery stores. Companies called couriers popped up years ago that skirt this requirement by having a token storefront, while their real business is selling lottery tickets on the Internet, connected to physical tickets they print in their store. Secondly, the courier the buying group used requested additional ticket printing machines in the weeks leading up to the drawing, an unusual request that seemingly was not scrutinized at all by the TX lottery commission. So not only did the buying group have to use a method to buy tickets that already is unfair (and goes against the spirit of lottery requirements that tickets must be sold out of normal stores), they had to conspire with a courier to get enough machines to print out all the tickets in time. I think it should be obvious this kind of process is not available to the vast majority of Texans, even those with the financial means to do it, so yes - it is unfair.
A lottery you have to buy tickets for is unfair, it's not available to all [Texans] in the same way. Seems they just extended/exploited that inherent unfairness.
Lotteries effectively exploit those with little hope and similarly restricted means.
AFAIK they didn't break any of the lottery rules, and anyone could theoretically have done the same. So no, it wasn't unfair any more than it's unfair that someone else has millions of dollars to buy lottery tickets with and I don't.
The problem lies with the TX lottery commission who draw up and enforce the rules.
