Quote: Originally posted by CASH Only on October 01, 2003
The US Mail basically doesn't allow tickets to be MAILED across a state line.
That is correct. The reasoning given by the USPS is that various states (NC is one, for example) have laws on the books which make simple possession of a lottery ticket a crime. Not that anyone ever prosecutes this crime, but the USPS doesn't want to have their carriers potentially breaking a law (enforced or not).
Now, you may say, a subscription is not necessarily a lottery ticket. That may be true, however, the interpretation from the Postal Service is that even the receipt notifiying you that your numbers have been entered and your subscription is good until xxx date also potentially runs afoul of the various state laws since the drawings have not occurred yet.
That having been said, there is a way around such a limitation, however it is much more expensive to do. Certain states, in the past, to allow subscriptions to be purchased for out of state residents, have conducted all "subscription" business via overnight courier service (FedEx, UPS, etc.) In this case, slips were required to be sent in and receipts were returned via courier service, bypassing the USPS. As you can imagine, this can be expensive on both ends, so states which do provide subscriptions often require an in-state return mailing address.