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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Mar 3rd 2004 12:50pm





Gambling Online Illegal - Unless Government Supported

from the seems...-questionable dept

While the federal government is working to ban all online gambling, it appears that folks in the state government in Georgia don't really care too much. They're working on creating an online lottery to work with the traditional paper lottery system most states have. They believe this will help attract more suckers who don't understand probability lottery players who otherwise haven't had time to head down to a local convenience store to pick up a ticket. At least it sounds a bit more interesting than New Jersey's attempt at an online lottery, where you still had to buy a ticket that already determined if you won (the online part did nothing other than waste some time). Still, it's amusing that the government seems to have no problem offering a lottery system as long as the money is going to them.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Lottery = Cash Advance

    identicon
    Beck, Mar 3rd, 2004 @ 2:15pm

    Most credit card issuers treat lottery tickets purchased by credit card like a cash advance, with a transaction fee and interest accrued immediately. Usually there is a minimum amount for the transaction fee, so a person buying $5 in lottery tickets is going to have to pay an additional $5 transaction fee, plus interest.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Re: Lottery = Cash Advance

    identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, Mar 4th, 2004 @ 6:19am

    Don't quote me, but I thought that here in Indiana it wasn't even legal to use your credit card to purchase lottery tickets... I could be wrong, though.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Gambling and (lack of) education

    identicon
    Three Men In A Boat, Mar 4th, 2004 @ 1:38pm

    Picking up on your "suckers who don't understand probability" line... I've always thought that, far from making money off gambling, governments should be embarrassed that public education doesn't teach people that this is a bad deal.

    I'm in favor of giving incentives for people to sign up for "lottery cards", and then showing the total expenses versus winnings on the tickets they purchase.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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