You’re too late if you wanted to get in on the highest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. A single winner in South Carolina will claim the $1.6 billion Mega Millions prize. But you can still pick up a Powerball ticket for a chance to win a cool $600 million (remember when that seemed like a lot of money?) in tonight’s drawing.
And if you’re in one of 32 states that now allow it, you might buy it with your prepaid debit card.
32 states allow consumers to use at least some combination of credit, debit and gift card to buy tickets for that lottery. State rules vary, of course, and some states let retailers decide what payment methods to accept.
“Take Connecticut, for example,” reads an article from Heavy.com. “You can’t buy Mega Millions with a credit card, but you can use a debit card or a gift card. However, retailers are given discretion, and some can ban debit cards if they prefer.”
It seems to be a trend. As of 2016, only 14 states allowed lottery purchases on plastic. But more and more have jumped on the bandwagon.
For instance, Ohio — which also accepts credit and debit for purchases of lotto tickets — recently launched what was described as the state’s “first mobile-enabled lottery card.” In September of last year, the state began putting payment card readers in all self-service lotto machines. Those card readers now accept payments via Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.
So, maybe we’ll need to add “becoming a millionaire” to our list of how people are using prepaid cards. In the meantime, play responsibly and good luck.
Photo courtesy of PYMNTS.com