Used to Buy Lottery Tickets with Credit Card? Really!? Think Twice, Man!

Charge It! I’m going to Be Rich!

People put everything on their credit cards—food, vacations, bills, clothes and everything in between. We get that little plastic card, and we like to think there is a limitless pool of funds on the other side. We fail to recognize that these credit cards come with strings attached and sometimes those very strings have enough give that we will strangle ourselves with them. Sadly, many of us do, and we begin to drown in credit card debt. It’s just too easy to get sucked in.
Now, more than ever, people are putting lottery ticket purchases on their credit cards. Many people think that these are treated like regular purchases; however, there may be hidden charges and things that may be incurred—or worse.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

Credit card companies have some particulars that they don’t like their patrons to use their credit cards on. One of these is, precisely, lottery tickets. It has been said that the lottery is a tax on the poor and it’s easy to understand why that may be true. An overwhelming amount of poor people does play the lottery. Credit card companies already see poor people as a risk, and when you purchase a lottery ticket with that card, it is viewed as a last ditch effort to get some money. If you have to put a chance to win some money on borrowed money, then these companies wonder how you will be able to pay your bill. Makes sense, I guess.

Buying a Lottery Ticket is viewed as Cash?

When you purchase lottery tickets with your credit card, it is viewed by the credit card company as a cash advance. This will give you a higher interest rate on that particular purchase. Of course, many people don’t read their terms and conditions, so this is a little known fact. This can be a problem if you buy a lot of lottery tickets with your card. Those dollars add up quickly and will drive you deeper into debt. Some credit card companies will charge you as much as $7.50 per cash equivalent transaction fee!

Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole

Since to most people, credit cards are seen as an infinite amount of cash, they can get into serious trouble. Think about it; if you have a gambling addiction, you have it in your head that the next time will be your big win, right? Well, more often than not, the next time is not the big win, and they lose their money. The very same thing can be said for lottery players. They may feel that this $50 worth of scratch offs will be the batch that has the big winner. Of course, it doesn’t, and that’s wasted money. Combine this with the higher interest rate… You can see where I’m going, right?

Where There is a Will, There’s the Internet

As glorious as the internet is, I hate it be the bringer of bad news, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that there are unsavory characters out there. You also don’t need me to tell you that if you use your credit card to make lottery ticket purchases online, you run the risk of your card information being stolen. Like with all online transactions, you could easily fall victim to identity theft if you go to an insecure lottery agent site.