ND1027116

Title: Lottery Tickets Available Online for Floridians ? For Now

Description: New website offers a lottery service to Floridians, and lottery officials are trying to figure out whether the venture is legal.

Page Content:

MIAMI ?�A new website offers a Powerball purchasing service for Floridians, and Florida Lottery officials are scrambling to figure out whether the venture is legal, the Miami Herald reports.

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LottoGopher.com launched earlier this week, and Lottery officials are keeping mum until it explores and determines the site?s legality. But Beverly Hills-based entrepreneur James Morel, creator of the site, is confident his venture will pass legal scrutiny and find a receptive audience.

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?It seems obvious,? Morel said. ?Lotteries have this old-school manner of doing things. Every business is online. Why are we not buying lottery tickets online??

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Florida law prohibits the sale of lottery tickets online, as does California, though Morel successfully launched LottoGopher in the Golden State last year, and it?s still operating.

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The reason? The site doesn?t actually print or sell Mega Millions or Powerball tickets (actions that are prohibited by law); rather, it acts as a courier, collecting money via credit card and then purchasing the tickets for customers at an authorized lottery dealer.

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The company doesn?t assess a surcharge to the per-ticket costs, but instead charges customers a monthly membership fee, between $10 and $20. Customers receive 100-percent of their winning, which are credited back to their online accounts.

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Morel maintains LottoGopher is legal, because every ticket purchased is the customer?s property, and member accounts are instantly funded with winnings. He said the resistance he expects to encounter in Florida stems from envy.

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?States can?t do this, but they want to,? Morel said. ?We?re excited to bring it to Florida.?

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Meanwhile, lines have been growing at convenience stores as the Powerball jackpot was expected to reach $173 million for last night?s drawing. If no one wins the jackpot, expect even bigger lines before the the next drawing, this Saturday.?

Content Subject: Operations

Formatted Article Date: October 27, 2011

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