Playing international lotteries online is such an easy and straightforward process. However, in India, lottery sites have been struggling to provide good and reliable payment solutions to their players. There are issues with debit cards being declined and UPI is constantly not available for its own reasons.
For some lottery players, cryptocurrencies would be an alternative way to purchase lottery tickets. However, this too comes with a problem. While there are lottery platforms that support the payment method, those Indian lottery sites that are legit and of the highest quality are rarely providing it.
This may come as surprise as these days, there’s a cryptocurrency and bitcoin casino being promoted on every corner of the internet. Some of these casinos even have their own lottery. These are not the same thing as playing real, international lotteries though, such as the US Powerball.
To find out why cryptocurrencies aren’t more accepted at lottery sites, we reached out to lottery operators and researched the topic. These are our findings:
- Regulatory demands that make it difficult to accept crypto
- Lack of interest from the average lottery player
- Might put more pressure on customer support
- Possible association with criminal activity
Regulatory Demands That Make It Difficult to Accept Crypto
Speaking with one of the managers at Lottofy, we were told that they would love to offer the option of buying lottery tickets with cryptocurrencies. However, based in Malta, their main concern was regulatory demands enforced by FIAU (Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit). This organization regulates the financial risks in the country.
Put simply, Lottofy is required to declare every financial movement on its platform. With fiat currency, this is an easy process. However, with Crypto, a specific report is needed that would require technical implementations that allegedly would take months to do.
While this information is relevant to businesses operating from Malta, similar rules and regulations might apply in other jurisdictions.
Lack of Interest From the Average Lottery Player
While cryptocurrencies have gained popularity in recent years, they are still not widely adopted or understood by the general public. Many lottery sites question if they would actually attract more players and see an increase in sales for supporting crypto.
As of now, the general answer appears to be no. Lottery players who are willing to use cryptocurrencies are viewed as too niche of a group. Therefore, investing in the technical implementations to support the payment method is not worth it for many of the operators.
Might Put More Pressure on Customer Support
One could argue that extra pressure on customer support is an additional obstacle that comes with crypto implementation, even if it wouldn’t be the main concern of lottery sites.
Players in general are much less accustomed to cryptocurrencies than traditional payment methods. Not only does this mean that more questions are likely to be raised by players. To provide a good experience, support agents must also be well-trained in handling these queries and able to accurately answer them.
Investing in customer support is not free so the fewer and less complicated queries a lottery site receives, the better.
Another potential problem related to this is that players are fully responsible for their payments. Should they enter the wrong wallet address when depositing or withdrawing, their money would be lost forever. The lottery site would not be able to trace the payment and refund it. This may lead to complaints further pressuring support.
Possible Association With Criminal Activity
Although this might be the least likely reason for a lottery site not getting involved in crypto, the fact is that many cryptocurrency scams have been reported in recent years. The payment method is linked to a lot of criminal activity – much more so than fiat currencies that are regulated by governments.
Supporting cryptocurrencies might damage a lottery site’s reputation for being a trustworthy platform. This can be a big deal as making players feel safe and comfortable is one of the most important aspects.
Conclusion
Based on the research we carried out; it appears that lottery sites in India would generally like to support cryptocurrencies as a payment method. However, it is questioned by many whether the implementation of it is worth the cost as the market in India might not be large enough for it.
As an alternative, Indian lottery players who would like to use cryptocurrencies can use a crypto or bitcoin casino. Even though these sites do not offer tickets to a wide variety of international lotteries, some of them have their own lotteries which would work in a similar way.
