Online Lottery Tickets-An Idea Whose Time Has Come!

Recently the state of Illinois announced it was looking into the possibility of facilitating the sale of online lottery tickets and many other states are also considering online lottery tickets as a way to boost flagging ticket sales. Since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling enforcement Act in 2006 federal law regarding online lottery ticket sales has been unclear. Last year it was reported that one credit card company rejected lottery ticket transactions due to confusing regulations. While the legislation does not actually prohibit online gambling it does forbid financial institutions and banks from processing gambling related transactions. Most banks consider the enforcement responsibilities to be an unfunded mandate and have taken a blanket approach to any and all 'gambling' transactions.

Most lottery experts believe that online lottery tickets would result in increased lottery revenues and would attract a younger generation of lottery players. As anyone who plays the lottery knows; when Powerball or Mega Millions jackpots are in the hundreds of millions of dollars lines at lottery retailers can be long and buying a lottery ticket can take an annoying amount of time. Most lottery players say they would appreciate the convenience that online lottery tickets offer. Players could log on to a lottery website and purchase tickets with a click of a mouse using credit or debit cards.

In British Columbia the provincial government has established a pilot program that would allow players of Lotto 6/49, BC/49 and Lotto Max to use debit and credit cards to purchase tickets for these popular Canadian lotteries. At the present time retailers must use a complicated system to ring up lottery tickets and lottery transactions must be processed separately from other purchases. Although the new system does not facilitate the sale of online lottery tickets most industry observers say that the new policies are a precursor to the sale of online lottery tickets.

Some European lotteries have sold online lottery tickets for years and European players appreciate the ease and convenience of online lottery ticket sales. New Zealand has one of the best systems for the sale of online lottery tickets. Kiwi players can even have their lottery winnings deposited automatically into their bank accounts. The UK National Lottery sells online lottery tickets and sales have been consistently brisk. American lotteries would be wise to imitate their European counterparts and allow US players to purchase online lottery tickets. In the US congressman Barney Frank has sponsored a bill that would eliminate most of the regulations blocking the sale of online lottery tickets. It is time for state lotteries to join the 21st century and go online!