A recent Fed. Justice Office opinion could pave the way for lotto tickets to be sold online. But if they are Margaret Gartner of Dover Township won’t be purchasing them that way. State lottery

“I’m unsure if I’d like that,” Gartner claimed.

Gartner stopped by a Rutter’s Store in Manchester Township lately for one of her ordinary Pennsylvania Lotto ticket purchases.

She said she gets frightened about buying items on the internet. Handing over the cash and picking her numbers in the flesh just seems more concrete, somehow. Lotteries

Not the Pennsylvania Dept of Money is in any huge hurry to implement internet sales, according to spokesman Elizabeth Brassell.

A considerable number of states are now looking at the chance after a Justice Office call that was dated Sep, but released in public in December.

Previously, online betting was judged illegal under the Fed. Wire Act of 1961, which prohibits gambling by telecomms systems over state or state borders. The new Justice Dep. policy does away with that prohibition, making online gambling illegal only if it applies to sports.

That clears the way for legalized online gambling such as Internet poker. It also makes net sales of lottery tickets possible.

But before the Pennsylvania Dep. of Income — which coordinates the state lottery — could do that, the state executive would have to pass a law particularly permitting online lottery sales, Brassell announced. The state govt would also need to enact precise rules dictating how those internet sales would occur.

And the Dept of Income hasn’t even decided whether or not that’s a brilliant idea.

Brassell recounted dep. officials are taking a look at the chance, and gauging factors like the social value of increased gambling versus. The potential money that online lotto sales could put into state coffers. Another factor is the way the policy may affect retail enterprises in Pennsylvania, she said.

Scott Hartman, Rutter’s president and General Manager, declared the specter of internet lotto sales has been around for a long period of time.

The national Association of Convenience Stores has opposed the idea of online lottery sales in the past, Hartman recounted. Personally, he doesn’t believe it’d be good for business, but he doesn’t assume the probability should panic retailers who sell lottery tickets either.

He announced lotto tickets are like petrol and cigarettes, in the respect that his stores make a minuscule profit margin on them — amounting to 5 cents on the dollar for the tickets. Like cigarettes and petrol, the main attraction of lottery tickets from his stores ‘ point of view is that they bring in consumers to get them, who may purchase other items while they’re at it.

State Rep. Scott Perry, R-Carroll Township, related he’s not surprised some states are considering the chance, given the economy and the nation’s scrimmage for funding sources.

“I believe the likelihood continues to be as budgets remain tight and everybody’s looking out for a source of revenue,” Perry declared. “Unfortunately, I think that’s what’s going to drive the conversation.”

State Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township, said his most important objection to online gambling in any form is the required role of electronic money transfers. If problem gamblers are using credit or debit cards rather than handing over money, the capability for real finance damage is much bigger, Grove said.

“I would not be in any rush to effect anything till it’s thoroughly vetted,” he revealed.