Player Mail: Hey! They Carded Me!

With the holiday rush underway, I’m sharing a conversation here on the blog that we had with a player in case you encounter the same thing while you’re out shopping and running errands.

The player reached out to us after being carded at a convenience store as he was buying lottery tickets.

“They made me show my I.D,” he wrote. “The clerk said anyone who looks under 40 must show I.D. I’ve been buying lottery tickets there for several years and never heard this before. I am 55 years old. Is this a thing?”

Now, some people might interpret that situation as a huge compliment to their youthful good looks (insert smile emoji here), but the fact that stores ask customers to verify their age before buying certain products is a reality, and it’s a step they take to protect their business.

Lottery tickets are an age-controlled product, meaning that you must be a certain age before you can purchase them. Here in Iowa, the minimum purchasing age for lottery tickets is 21.

Retail locations receive licenses to sell age-controlled products, and one of the ways they can violate the terms of their lottery license is by selling tickets to those who are too young to legally purchase them. The business’ license will be suspended or even revoked if that happens, so we explained to the player that some stores have adopted the policy that they will I.D. anyone, not just those they think may be under 21.

We understand the businesses' concerns and support our retailers’ decisions to ensure that laws and regulations are being followed.

So if you’re asked for an I.D. when you buy lottery tickets, know that the store is doing the right thing. (And if you suspect that you definitely do not look 21, maybe choose to have fun in that moment!)

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Ruth. The situation you have described does in fact apply if the product involved is lottery pull-tab tickets. Pull-tab tickets can only be cashed at the retail location where you purchased them. That is not the case for our other products, though. Lotto tickets in games like Powerball and Mega Millions, scratch tickets, and InstaPlay tickets can be redeemed at any location where lottery tickets are sold in Iowa.

[Ruth]

Some Casey’s, there are specific ones, and some Hy-Vees that ask for my Date of birth ever single time! I’ve never had to show my ID but would understand if that happened.
I had a situation recently at Hy-Vee, in the metro, when I went to cash in winning tickets they asked me if the tickets were purchased at Hy-Vee... I said not all, I buy from Casey’s, Kum n go, Hy-Vee, etc. they said if I didn’t buy them there they couldn’t cash them... if this right?