Devil's Advocate Mode - Foreign Lottery Scams.

Reply #6

savagegoose — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:26:23 GMT

I'm from Australia, and i sometimes would like to play in the big superjackpots that USA powerball and Europe games offer. The only way to get in on these is to pay a online broker his fee, and then trust them to actually pay up if the impossible happens and my numbers actually come up. Also the cost of entry US$1 turns out to be more like $20 australian after minimum entry amounts and markups are taken into account.

Personally i stick to my own nations games and wait for a international lott... [ More ]

Reply #5

AlecWest — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:46:37 GMT

It's sad. I think a lot of the lottery scams going on right now are a direct result of the U.S. clamping down on foreign lottery play ... since dealing directly with the lottery agency (and not through a ticket reseller) was, at the time, safe. And now with the internet, it would seem like an easy task to identify certain sites as legitimate (if they existed) and others as scam sites. In Australia's case, such a site could be mentioned on their official government website.

I still think, howe... [ More ]

Reply #4

BobP — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:51:19 GMT

The Australian lottery is the exception to the rule. Everyone except U.S. players are welcome to play online at the same flat rate as Au players pay to play local. For years I played the smaller game that was two tickets for an Au dollar and enjoyed the rate of exchange discount of the higher U.S. dollar. Like you, I won enough to keep coming back.

Then of course Congress Critters changed the law and my account was cancelled. If you're not in the U.S. and your local lottery is not the best... [ More ]

Reply #3

AlecWest — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:12:47 GMT

Not ALL memberships (grin). My ex and I were considering the possibility of retiring in Australia. And at the time, we decided it would be prudent to open up a Australian bank account with the National Australia Bank branch in Brisbane. The Gold Coast Lottery did accept credit cards at the time (which is how we paid) but were also willing to accept checks if they were drawn on an Australian bank account in Australian dollars. NAB used to have a branch office in Los Angeles that helped people set... [ More ]

Reply #2

RJOh — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:16:36 GMT

Good advice. However, a lottery is not always a scam by nature.

Lotteries are not scam , it's the third parties who sell their tickets that may be running a scam. Most will post on their websites that they are not officially connected with any lottery and are buying tickets for their customers as a service for which they charge. Some will even state up front that they are running their own game and only use the results of the official games to pay their customers. If they are simulating a jac... [ More ]

Reply #1

bobby623 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:34:35 GMT

The U.S. Congress passed and the President signed a bill that more or less banned the use of credit cards to play poker, buy lottery tickets, etc. on-line. This includes both domestic and foreign gambling sites.

As result, I understand that folks who were playing the Australian lotteries regularly had their memberships cancelled.

Devil's Advocate Mode - Foreign Lottery Scams.

AlecWest — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:30:08 GMT

I have no doubt that there are a number of foreign lottery scams going on right now. But, I also have no doubt that there are a number of legitimate foreign lotteries. Years ago, my ex and I played the Gold Coast Lottery out of Australia (Queensland) by mail. We didn't win so much money we could retire (grin), but we DID win a few times. One check I got was big enough to pay a monthly electric bill ... and one check my ex got was big enough to buy two weeks worth of groceries. The only mailings... [ More ]