Lisa Finch from El Segundo says she was inspired to buy lottery tickets when the Mega Millions jackpot climbed to one billion dollars last year.
So, she says she went to the popular app, Mido Lotto, and bought a ticket.
“I put a couple of dollars in and then I forgot about it for a little while,” Finch said.
It turns out Finch won more than $9,000 after matching several numbers in the July 29, 2022 drawing, and she says she contacted Mido Lotto.
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“I did all my paperwork. I got an email back from them. ‘Please give us your W9, your bank information. We'll wire you the money.’ I'm thinking, ‘Great, great Christmas ahead for me,’” Finch said. “I'm emailing. I'm calling. They said 12 to 14 weeks, depending,” she added.
It took some time, but she said she did get a lump sum, minus taxes, deposited into her bank account from Mido Lotto.
Finch said that, throughout the entire process, she never got a physical ticket and that all her transactions happened online.
The California lottery says thatcould be a problem.
Carolyn Becker, a spokesperson from the California Lottery said that while some states allow some sort of online lottery transactions, right now in California, the way to be sure you’ll win is to buy a physical ticket at a contracted brick and mortar location and not online or through an app.
“They just are putting their money at risk and frankly their win, right, their potential win. So we say, the only safe and secure way to play any of our California lottery games is to buy your ticket in person at one of those 23,000 spots,” she said.
“There's no regulation in place, so it's an oversight issue,” Becker added.
Mido Lotto, the app that Finch used to buy her lottery ticket, says they buy tickets on other people’s behalf, much like when you call a friend to buy a Lottery ticket for you or play as part of an office pool.
In an email, a company spokesperson told the NBC4 I-Team, “…Mido Lotto does not sell Lottery tickets much like DoorDash and UberEats do not sell food. There are no prohibitions on Lottery courier providers in CA...”
The company added, “There is no legal prohibition on our services, but at the same time, the CA Lottery has no express authorization to offer these services and are therefore unable to authorize or endorse what we do and we have no formal affiliation with them. We absolutely welcome the adoption of greater oversight to give the Lottery increased visibility into our operations and greater assurance to our customers...”
Becker tells the I-Team the California Lottery so far hasn’t had to deny someone’s winnings for a ticket bought online.
“Thankfully it hasn't been tested. We haven't had to make that unfortunate decision to invalidate a $1 million-plus win because of an online transaction. But there will be a day when it could happen,” Becker said.
Under California law, lottery winners’ names are required to be made public.
The I-Team obtained the names of the people who won the same amount of money Finch did on that particular drawing day. Her name does not appear among the 55 people listed.
The California Lottery says, per their regulations: “...a winning ticket can’t be claimed by someone other than the winner, and the winner has to be a natural person (i.e., not a business or other entity)…"
It’s unclear who actually claimed Finch’s prize, and Mido Lotto didn’t tell the I-Team.
Mido Lotto explained that, in general, their process involves submitting the physical ticket and claim form to the lottery, with appropriate safeguards so that winners are paid correctly.
The I-Team asked Mido Lotto about how they claim winnings for their customers. A company spokesperson said in an e-mail, “... we have worked with nationally recognized outside law firms to draft legal opinions that we use as the basis for our business processes and which clearly define the various steps we are legally permitted to take with respect to claiming prizes and paying our end customers, which can vary on a case by case basis...”
For now the California Lottery insists, according to Baker, that, “The only safe and secure way for our players to play and win is to buy their tickets in person.”
