posted on January 14, 2008 12:18:14 PM new
I have been researching this on eBay and can't find a definitive answer, so I might just list it and see what happens.
The backstory:
A friend of ours, a Berkeley mathematics professor, won $21 million in the California Lottery 13 years ago. He said that he only played the lottery when the payoff equalled the odds. Back then, the jackpot had to be at least $20 million for him to play.
Times have changed and so has the lottery. Now, the jackpot needs to be at least $40 million for us to buy a ticket. So we do play the lottery but usually only a couple of times a year.
What does this have to do with eBay?
Our local supermarket chain has a promotion: You buy a $40 California Lottery gift card and they'll give you a $10 grocery gift card. So I did, since the lottery gift card has no expiration date. Voila, $10 free groceries.
But if one could sell these lottery gift cards on eBay...and considering that most gift cards go for a very high percentage of face value...hey, there's a thought.
You can't sell lottery tickets on eBay, that much is clear. But how about a gift card?
No point in asking an eBay rep; any answer they gave would be worthless. What do you think?
posted on January 14, 2008 12:29:05 PM new
It's based on the eBay lottery rules as they stand plus my past experiences with eBay whims and previous observations of enforcement of vague eBay rules.
posted on January 14, 2008 12:32:52 PM new
"Since lotteries are highly regulated or may cause harm to eBay or its members, sellers may not list them on eBay."
I think the "highly regulated" part of this statement would be most likely to bite you in the butt.
posted on January 14, 2008 12:51:17 PM new
Except that the gift card is not a lottery ticket. It is something that can be exchanged for a lottery ticket.
I would give more credence to an opinion in which eBay bans the sale of, say, Cabelas gift cards because Cabelas sells firearms (among other things).
eBay's gift card policy does not address the items which may be purchased with a gift card.
posted on January 14, 2008 01:30:31 PM new
Fluff, I agree with you, in that this is a Gift Card not a lottery ticket.
I would seem to me that you should clarify a few concerns within the item description: (1) the item for sale is not a lottery ticket, (2) the value is limited to the cash value of card, (3) the gift card can only be used to buy California Lottery Tickets, and (4) California lottery tickets must be physically purchased in California.
edited to add: Federal Law prohibits the use of the mail for interstate shipment of lottery tickets, Intrastate shipments are allowed. The lottery utilizes the mail to send lottery subscriptions. So, only California residents or those residents of nearby states who travel to California would be able to use the gift card.
posted on January 14, 2008 01:44:03 PM new
Do you think you would net enough from these listings to make it worthwhile?
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posted on January 14, 2008 02:30:20 PM new
Fluffy,
Just curious; how did you compute the break even point? Was it cash value after tax? Did it include secondary prizes?
I used to figure those things out for myself, until I decided that the whole point was to have a fantasy. My odds of winning are extreme (I think MegaMillions is 1 in 140 million), but a $1 ticket entitles me to think about winning. That's cheaper than buying a movie ticket.
There was a syndicate in Australia that would compute odds and buy all the tickets when the odds were right (their big risk is that someone else also has a winning ticket). There was a court case in the US somewhere, where it was ruled that the syndicate would have to supply forms for each ticket; they could not simply say "give me one of each possible number." It doesn't seem right to me; if it's such a boon to the state's revenues, and somebody wants to plunk down $41+million (that's for California's), let 'em. The logistics of buying each ticket were prohibitive with forms.
[ edited by cashinyourcloset on Jan 14, 2008 02:31 PM ]
posted on January 14, 2008 02:54:40 PM newJust curious; how did you compute the break even point? Was it cash value after tax? Did it include secondary prizes?
Claude, it's my husband's thing. I'll have to ask him. I think it's just a simple approximation: If the odds of winning are 1 in 40 million, the jackpot ought to be at least $40 million.
Of course we all know the amount you realize is less than that. There are taxes, there are different amounts you receive(although they may have changed this) depending on how you take your prize: lump sum or annuity. And you may have to split the top prize.
I used to wait until my husband got his QuickPick (supposedly random numbers) and then buy the same ticket. Why? The odds of winning are astronomical anyway, and if he and someone else had to split the top prize, me having the same ticket would mean we'd get 2/3 instead of just half.
posted on January 14, 2008 03:09:49 PM new
One last thing: I learned about the not-mailing-lottery-tickets thing when I was working on a concept for a website.
The idea was that you'd have a receipt from Starbucks and if the last three digits matched three numbers we picked randomly on our site the same day you bought your latte, you'd win lottery tickets. Everybody loves a chance to get something for nothing.
I think we're still going to do something like this but without Starbucks and the lottery. Maybe eBay auction numbers and a cash payout. That could be fun.
posted on January 14, 2008 03:31:03 PM new
Saw this somewhere on line, forget where, doesn't matter.
A friend gave a friend a lottery ticket as a gift & it won. The giver claims the recipient said if the ticket won he would split the money & now claims he never said that.
The giver is now taking the friend to court.
Do you think he has a chance of winning.
There's a lesson here if you give a lottery ticket as a gift & it's agreed you split if it wins, GET IT IN WRITING.
posted on January 14, 2008 05:00:43 PM new
Fluffy,
As an approximation, 1/3 of the annuity amount is usually pretty close to what you'll have in your pocket after they net present value it (i.e., turn it into cash) and you pay your taxes.
So, for a $1 ticket to be fairly "priced," the annuity jackpot (counting ONLY the jackpot in CA) would have to be around $120M. The tricky part is figuring out what effect the secondary prizes have, and they're significant (since CA pays back, on average, 50% to the players).
