Drivers in California can now purchase lotto tickets by using a credit card at a gas pump, fueling concerns from groups worried that it's boosting sales at the expense of buyers who can afford it the least.
Play at the Pump, a new California Lottery program being rolled out slowly across the state, allows drivers to buy different lottery tickets while they purchase gas and put the cost for both on the same credit card.
California now joins North Carolina, Minnesota and Missouri as the only states offering "self-serve" lottery tickets. Almost 90 stations in the state are now selling lottery tickets at the pump, while dozens more are waiting for state approval, according to CBS News.
This action contradicts the traditional state lottery, which began in 1985, that has a strict cash-only policy for ticket purchases - both to prevent overspending by the poor and overindulging by gamblers.
An expanded state lottery "continues to exploit the poor, urban (residents) and ethnic minorities," said the Rev. James Butler of the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion in Sacramento, according to SFGate. "If this was a tax, it would be the most regressive tax increase any state could do."
This is a recurring complaint heard by state lottery officials, especially in light of years of national studies that revealed the poor are more likely to spend a larger portion of their income on the lottery than other groups.
However Alex Treverso, a spokesman for the California Lottery, assures that there are safeguards in place, according to Fox's California affiliate Fox 40.
"It's capped at $20 a day and $50 a week, so we feel comfortable with those levels and feel like that's a responsible amount," Traverso said.
One notable question about this safeguard still remains though: How does it handle a single person using multiple credit cards?
