I was able to use my Visa Check Card.

Fiona$ 

" ...........................Make sure the uk national lottery website is up. www.national-lottery.co.uk often when the uk site is down Prime ticket may not work........................"

I was wondering if Prime ticket service is somehow affiliated with the Biritish lottery agnecy. Because I know the www.national-lottery.co.uk offer online tickets for UK residence only, and if I am not mistaken this is a goverment or the official lottery agency. The point is that how trusted is the Prime ticket service is, any previous examples?...I mean if somebody won the big one, are they gonna run with the money or give it to them? these are questions that you always have to ask yourself..

Actually, there is a simpler solution - I buy my tickets through a friend who lives in London, and he gets his Powerball tickets through me. So far no luck, but at least we saved a lot of money by buying the tickets at the list price.

My citizen question referred more to what happens if, for example, a Mexican temp worker in Texas who has a valid visa but no green card or passport wins the Mega Millions. Will he be allowed to claim the price? Will he be taxed more/less/same as a citizen?

Where does Mega Millions advertise its cash value option? On http://www.megamillions.com/ , there is no cash value amount listed, only the annuity.

Chewie wrote:

<< There is only one way to avoid U.S. taxes, permanently live outside of the U.S. and never come back. >>

There are three ways to avoid paying US income tax, but that isn't one of them.

1. If you don't have any income you won't have to pay income tax to anyone.

2. If you're dead you won't have to pay income tax to anyone. In the year that you die your estate or your spouse may have to pay estate or income tax, but every year after that you'll be exempt even if you stay dead for a million years. Every cloud has a silver lining, and death will solve all of your problems.

3. Don't be a US citizen and don't live in the US and don't earn any income from US sources. You have to meet at least two, and probably all three requirements or some of your income may be taxable.

If you are a US resident your income may be taxable, depending on its source. The government's idea of "resident" and your's may not be the same thing.

If you aren't a US resident or a US citizen any income that comes from US sources still may be taxable.

If you're a US citizen any income that is subject to income tax will be taxed regardless of where you live. You may qualify for some deductions and/or exemptions if you live outside the US for the entire year, but simply moving doesn't exempt you from US income taxes. Moving and renouncing your citizenship still may nott keep your income from being taxed. If the IRS can prove that citizenship was renounced for the purpose of avoiding taxes your income will still be subject to taxes for 10 years. As a practical matter the best you could hope for would be to avoid taxes on the future income, and not the win itself.

As for whether or not you'd actually collect if you bought a ticket from an online purchasing service, you're certainly taking a gamble. We've seen plenty of articles about ownership disputes with pools. What kind of proof do you have for any tickets bought online? Not only do you have to trust the service itself, but the employee(s) that have access to your ticket.

What happens to the service if they try to keep your winnings? Even if they win a lawsuit they could be out of business due to a lack of future ticket sales, so would it make financial sense to keep the winnings? If future income from the winnings is expected to be more than the business income it would make sense purely from a financial perspective to keep the winnings. Unless they're doing huge business the current EU jackpot would probably generate more future income than continuing to sell tickets, even if they have to pay US income tax on the winnings.

 mil92 wrote:

<< My citizen question referred more to what happens if, for example, a Mexican temp worker in Texas who has a valid visa but no green card or passport wins the Mega Millions. Will he be allowed to claim the price? Will he be taxed more/less/same as a citizen? >>

You don't have to be a resident or a citizen to win (there could be some exceptions I dont know about, but the lotteries make their money by selling tickets not limiting who can win). I'm pretty sure that if you can't provide a social security number the withholdongs will be higher than for those with an SSN. I expect that the higer withholdings are based on the idea that a foreign national can easily go home and not file a tax return. It's a lot easier to keep the withholdings than to try and chase somebody down and get more money from them.

not long now

That's a stinky website, IMHO.  Very little useful info there.

USA Mega has all the details on both Mega Millions and Powerball.

http://www.usamega.com/

did it roll    can't find #'s

Results:9-21-30-39-50 Lucky Stars1-3

Good luck!

I had a 1+2 match!  (At least I should get something like $20 or so.)

There are 3 jackpot winners. Irish website confirms.

Congratulations to all of THEM!

You skeptics about PTS always ask if there is proof if they will pay off.  For PTS, prove to me they have never paid off on a jackpot.  You remind me of the anti-gun crowd asking if anything I own is worth a persons life.  The thief has to ask himself, is what I own worth his life.  If you're too gutless to shoot some one, don't own a gun.  If you're afraid to gamble, stay away from PTS.  The more of you who live in fear, the better my chances of winning!

I take it you did'nt win mr Chewie

3 winners. 1 from Portugal & 2 from France

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4676172.stm

Congrats to them