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N.C. Lottery’s New Subscription Service Begins Thursday For Powerball, Mega Millions and Carolina Cash 5

Dec. 5, 2013. The N.C. Lottery’s new subscription service will become available on Thursday, Dec. 5, for players to use the lottery’s website to buy subscriptions for drawings for its three jackpot games – Powerball, Mega Millions and Carolina Cash 5.

“We hope the new service will offer a way for those who currently don’t buy tickets at a traditional lottery retailer to try some of our games,” said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “The subscription service comes with safeguards to ensure it meets requirements that no tickets are sold to anyone who is not physically in North Carolina or to anyone who is under 18, the legal age for playing the lottery.”

The new service will help the lottery increase its sales in those three jackpot games and raise more money for education in North Carolina. The Education Lottery joins at least 11 other state lotteries in the United States, including Virginia and Georgia, that already provide a type of subscription service to their lottery players. 

Lottery players cannot use the service to buy a single draw ticket or to buy instant scratch-off tickets, the most popular game the lottery offers. A subscription to at least two weeks of drawings for one of the three games is required for any purchase. Key parts of the service, approved by the N.C. Education Lottery Commission last year, will ensure that:

  • Like other lottery games, players can only purchase through the subscription service while in North Carolina.
  • Age and identity of players registered for the service will be verified to ensure they are 18-years-old or older.
  • Responsible play features such as limits on the number of multi-draw tickets that can be purchased will be incorporated as they are with other NCEL games and programs. Players also have the ability to place their own personal limits on their play in addition to the NCEL limits.

To participate, players will go to a secure section of the NCEL’s Lucke-Zone, the player’s club website, to register for the service and set up an account. To buy lottery tickets from that account, players would deposit money. Initially, a purchase can only be made through an electronic fund transfer, but eventually a debit card can be used.

Players then choose which jackpot game they want to play, what numbers they want to use, and the drawings they wish to enter. Subscription players can check on the drawing results by monitoring each of their purchases associated with their account. They will receive email alerts if their lucky numbers are drawn. Winnings under $600 would be transferred automatically to players’ accounts. Prizes, ranging in value from $600 to $99,999, would still be claimed at one of the lottery’s regional offices and prizes of $100,000 or more at NCEL headquarters in Raleigh.