7 Mistakes to Avoid with Online Lottery Agents

Online Lottery Agents to Avoid

Looking at lottery agents in general, there are certain alarm bells that go off setting our team off to dig deeper. Anyone with a computer can set themselves up with a webpage and start offering an online purchasing service for lottery tickets. Based on the lottery agents we investigated this last year and complaints we’ve assessed, here’s our list of what sets off alarm bells.

Credit Card Charges

At the top of the list is companies that offer free tickets along with other subscription purchases and in the small print say this will automatically change into a regular subscription. Suddenly players are being charged for tickets they didn’t realize they had agreed to purchase. It is important to check all the small print out when any company offers you something free. Usually, there is a catch!

Private Lotteries

That goes for private lotteries that are offering free tickets. Most of these are set up to either collect player information for onward sale to spammers, advertisers and for other marketing ploys or identity theft. My favorite one this last year was the lottery that doesn’t actually happen until 2032.

Fees and Charges Unpublished

One of the alarm bells that go off is when a lottery agent says “we will transfer your winnings less banking charges and other fees” but don’t actually set them out. This opens the door for a variety of amounts of money that could come off your winnings before you even see them. A good lottery agent publishes what they are actually going to charge. Bells also go off if they say there is no charge for transferring your winnings but don’t reference that this has been calculated and included in the fees with your original ticket purchase.

Betting versus Buying

Some lottery agents aren’t, in fact, facilitating the purchase of lottery tickets but instead are a betting agency on the numbers that will be drawn. I’m not saying that this is a scam but it is important to dig into the small print and find out how they are going to pay off any bet where those big jackpot numbers win. The legitimate ones carry insurance.

Annuity versus Cash Pay Out

Talking about big jackpots, some lottery agents will say that they retain the right to pay out any jackpot in an annuity at their discretion. Stop right there. This means they can collect the prize and then slowly pay you. They have your cash!

When Will I Get My Money

Some lottery agents set out specific delays on how and when you get your money. It can be a combination of how long it takes for your winnings to get into your account and then the notice period of transferring your winnings to you personally. In the small print of one lottery agent, it said that your winnings will be transferred to your account with us within 5 days, and then you can request it to be transferred by email. They say it will take ten business days to process this request once your identity has been verified. Later in their terms and conditions, it says transfers of winning to players only occurs at the end of each month and can take up to 30 days.

Good Lottery Agents

There are good lottery agents out there that are professional about how they operate, have reasonable fees for their services and timely facilitate receiving your winnings with clear terms and conditions. Playing some of those big jackpots internationally is great fun. Just make sure you have thoroughly investigated who you are going to play with.