Can You Buy Scratch Cards With a Debit Card

Monday, 4 December, 2023

Can You Buy Scratch Cards With a Debit Card

Yes.

Well, sometimes.

First, buying online scratch cards with a debit card depends on the kind of debit card you have. Generally, you will need a cheque/ current card or a credit card to make online purchases as most debit cards don’t include CSV security numbers, which are essential for all online purposes. If you don’t have a credit card or cheque card, your best bet for this would be to make use of a service like PayPal or Payoneer where you can deposit fees directly from your account through internet banking.

Buying physical scratch cards, though, is a whole other question. Theoretically, it should be possible to buy scratch cards with cash, credit cards or debit cards – any payment method that is accepted at all retailers these days. And yet, there are two factors that complicate things immeasurably.

First, in some countries and in some states, physical stands and stores selling lottery tickets and scratch cards associated with those lotteries may only accept cash as a payment. Why this is, especially in this day and age, is something of a complicated question in and all of itself. Partly it’s to do with a way to avoid fraud, but most importantly, gambling is of any sort is problematic in some areas.

In some places, it is outright illegal to buy lotto tickets or scratch cards at all, but even those places that allow it or even have state-sponsored lotteries, don’t allow using credit or debit cards to buy a lottery ticket or scratch card.The reason for this is to prevent people from falling into debt by paying for any sort of gambling through a credit card – this isn’t an issue with a debit card, but once a state outlaws credit card payments for these purposes, debit cards fall under the same ban.

This varies country to country but for readers in the United States of America, here’s a guide for the lottery and scratch card laws of all 50 states.