Buy Online Lottery Tickets

In Europe, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries lottery players have been able to buy online lottery tickets for years. The move online has been well received everywhere it has been implemented and lotteries selling online lottery tickets report a noticeable increase in sales. Some official lottery websites sell tickets for other lotteries. The UK National Lottery website also sells online lottery tickets for the popular mega jackpot EuroMillions lottery. Some official lottery websites restrict participation by offshore players while others do not. The Australian 'Oz Lotto' website welcomes international players and everyone is welcome to buy online lottery tickets for any of the games that Oz Lotto provides.

For US citizens participation in a foreign lottery is illegal but the internet has many sites that will sell foreign lottery tickets to US players. US laws are designed to protect domestic lotteries from foreign competition because of the amount of money lotteries provide to states. The ability of US players to buy online lottery tickets for domestic lotteries has been hampered by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. (UIGEA) This ill conceived law was introduced by a few anti gambling extremists in congress and tacked on to a Safe Ports Bill making it politically impossible for opponents to vote against the measure. While the law does not ban online gambling it makes the processing of gambling related transactions illegal. The responsibility of enforcement was foisted on to banks and financial institutions without a clear set of rules and guidelines. Many lottery players who used credit cards to purchase lottery tickets at retailers had their transactions declined.

Recently two states, Illinois and Iowa are exploring the possibility of allowing residents to buy online lottery tickets. Should either of these states implement the sale of online lottery tickets it could open the door for other states to offer online lottery tickets. Once federal regulations are clarified states would be free to offer online ticket sales and banks and other financial institutions would be free to process lottery related transactions. Since the technology for online lottery ticket sales has been in place in Europe for over a decade it should be an easy transition for state lotteries in the US. Most lottery observers say that allowing players to buy online lottery tickets would immediately increase sales and attract a younger tech savvy generation to lotteries. It is really only a matter of time before state lotteries allow players to buy online lottery tickets. Most players say; the sooner the better!