Connecticut legislature is considering a ban of ticket courier services – a practice allowing the purchase of lottery tickets online on behalf of others.
Thanks to that detail, a number of third party companies which offer the so-called ‘ticket couriering’ have set up shop in the US. One of them is JackPocket.
JackPocket works as follows: it allows users to create an account with the company, depositing funds that can then be used to order lottery tickets in bulk from a recognised retailer within the jurisdiction that JackPocket is operating in.
The company has a physical office and staff in place that deal with the purchasing process and the pay out of the potential winnings to customers under a certain threshold. Available games include the well-known to the US player Powerball, Pick 6, and Mega Millions.
Couriers are responsible for ensuring compliance with each individual state law in terms of age verification and geolocation, serving customers who are only located within the jurisdiction where the courier is present.
Providers of ticket courier services are viewed as increasingly lucrative businesses by major gambling operators, evidenced by last year’s $750m acquisition of JackPocket by DraftKings. This is primarily due to the expansive customer data backlogs they have collected throughout the years.
However, there has also been notable pushback from certain groups that have put the couriers’ legality under question.
Lottery courier services are officially regulated only in New Jersey and New York. They do not fall under the gambling regulatory remit across the rest of the states that they operate in. This means that they are not subject to the usual gambling levy requirements as the rest of the sector.
In Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe urged the state to clamp down on the couriers with the argument that they are essentially a part of the online gambling ecosystem.
“These lottery courier services are operating contrary to the law and represent a significant expansion of gambling in the state,” read the letter by the tribe. “As such, they must be prohibited from operating.”
What’s more, in Connecticut the only legal iLottery provider is the Connecticut State Lottery. However, ticket couriers are not subject to the lottery’s oversight as they are not included in the state’s lottery framework.
Concerns have now been officially raised by Connecticut’s General Assembly, which is considering a bill that would ban couriers from the state. In the bill, it explicitly outlined that “no person shall operate a ticket courier service in this state” (look at p.169).
As explained above, the main perceptions behind this reasoning could be viewed as consumer protection issues and lack of transparency when it comes to state tax enforcement.
Before becoming law however, the bill must first pass approval by the Committee on General Law, which then passes it over to the House. If passed by the House, it would move over to the Senate for approval.
If the Senate approves the bill, Gov. Ned Lamont could then either sign the bill into law or veto it and send it back to the General Assembly.
The bill could be amended or scrapped altogether at any point of this process.