The Lott (formerly TattsLotto) payment issues

I have been using the site for a month or so. I was horrified by a few things last thursday.
1: the site debited me for 3 tickets even though I only received one.
2: The real ticket I purchased was for $9.70 via my credit card. And for each ticket , it makes a separate debit for $2.50 at a much later time, so it is not obvious that the charge is linked. Perhaps this is buried deep in the fine print, but it is definitely not obvious. It would be more ethical to tell me at the time that it would charge me this amount.

I have reported the first item and have received no response as yet. (3 days and counting)
Best to go back to the person to person sale point and risk a case of covid perhaps - or just plain stop playing the games.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

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Hi @robertlane65, welcome to the community and your problem does sound a bit odd.

Maybe give them a call on… 131 868

If the price of the lotto ticket was $9.70 when you make the purchase and no other fees were clearly outlined, then this is all you should pay. Otherwise it seems like drip payments/pricing, something the ACCC has cracked down on in the past.

Call them to see if there is an issue at their end or if you did something to trigger the additional payments…such as a monthly account fee or such like.

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Hi @robertlane65 welcome to the forum . I’ve had an online account with The Lott ( previously Tattslotto ) for over 10 years . If you use your credit card to pay you will be charged a surcharge . Change over to a debit card and you will pay no extra fee .

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Hi @vax2000, yes, it seems the situation is if you setup an auto pay then it has to be either mastercard or visa (I saw no other option) and that is treated as a cash advance, so the bank charges a fee (anz $2.50). I tried to set it up for my anz direct debit (visa card) and thelott site would not let me do it. The only alternative I could see was to use bpay to pay an amount into my thelott account. I did this, but it will take 24 hours to transfer the funds, which is not great.

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What bank are you using?

We have a CBA credit card and the crooks charged a cash advance some months ago when my wife bought a lotto ticket.

When I rang them, the person said that betting is treated as a cash advance and a lot of customers are caught out by it.

He credited the charge and suggested that if buying lotto tickets from newsagents, ask to use their normal EFTPOS terminal and not the dedicated lotto terminal so the transaction is not identified.

My wife has a CBA Smart Access account which she uses to buy lotto and to bet online which incurs no charges.

She also has a Woollies credit card and a Latitude credit card which do not incur rip-off “cash advance” fees.

The gambling “cash advance” fees is theft by another name as the betting agencies are undoubtedly paying merchant charges just like all other merchants in comparison to the absence of any merchant fees when people get a cash advance from an ATM.

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It appears that linking a Visa Debit card should be possible…see:

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Was a subcontractor to Tattersalls in early 2000’s and know that "customer service " will assist if you call them.

As for other options - I have an online account for many years. Recently ( after changing to “the Lott” website) “paypal” was implemented as an option for people who don’t have a credit card. Now before you start to worry there is an option to use paypal ( in the paypal website) from a bank account, which is a direct debit. This depending upon the financial institution has an associated charge that is levied.

When you go to PAYPAL and setup a bank account there is a lag of a couple of days ( could take 5-10 days). They send you a code that is associated with a transaction ( in your bank account) that you must enter on the PAYPAL site. It’s a little long winded but if you should want to withdraw from your account ( because of online winning) it transfers straight into your approved account. Hope this helps without confusing you.

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