North Dakota should forbid credit-card sales of lottery tickets, and merchants should have the discretion to decide whether to take gamblers' checks or debit cards, a lottery advisory board concluded Wednesday.
The committee, which is made up of three state legislators and two former lawmakers, is helping to write rules to implement North Dakota's entry into the Powerball lottery. State regulators hope to begin Powerball sales by April.
Its members voted Wednesday to bar ticket sellers from allowing gamblers to use credit cards to play the lottery. Ticket buyers may use cash, checks or debit cards, which take money directly from a cardholder's bank account.
The rule will give merchants room to refuse a check or debit card from a player if they know he or she may be passing a bad check. Among neighboring states, South Dakota allows credit card sales of lottery tickets, while Minnesota and Montana do not.
Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch, R-Mandan, Rep. Lois Delmore, D-Grand Forks, and Sen. Jerry Klein, R-Fessenden, are the advisory board's three legislative members. Its two former lawmakers are Darlene Watne of Minot and Laurel Thoreson of West Fargo.
The panel was set up to advise Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem about how to run the lottery, and he has said he intends to follow its recommendations.
Powerball is played in 24 states. Four national lottery companies are preparing bids to operate the game in North Dakota, state lottery director Chuck Keller said. Keller, who served as interim director, was hired Wednesday to fill the post permanently. He will be paid $65,000 annually.
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