Uk Lottery, A Warning For Us In Thailand.

[Crossy]

Just checking my mail:-

Playing the National Lottery online is the safe, secure and convenient way to play. Remember that in countries outside of the UK and Isle of Man, local laws often prevent the sale or purchase of tickets for any overseas lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, the National Lottery rules and Terms and Conditions prohibit people from playing online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. This also means that, under local laws and the rules, we would not be able to pay out any prize in these circumstances.

So if you are going away, we would advise you to assume it is unlawful to purchase a ticket online for the UK National Lottery whilst abroad – and to only buy your tickets when you are actually located in the UK or Isle of Man.

So if you buy your ticket online from Thailand (even though the site works) they could refuse to cough up

[bravingbangkok]

Dammmm thanks for making me aware of this ! I shall have to get ma and pa to buy my tickets in the UK.

I have always received small prizes though, the most I have won is a few hundred and I got that with no hassel. I think you could easily take them to court and get the money if you won the jackpot ! Seeing that you are a British citizen.

[Bananaman]

Yeah, I read this last week and also thought of posting about it. I wonder if it's just sent to everyone or if they do actually note the IP addresses of those playing online and mail the individual if they're playing from an address in a country where gambling is illegal. There are of course always those tools that we're not allowed to discuss on here, that could be used to circumvent this. Seems to me that Camelot could be on some pretty dodgy ground in refusing to pay out a winner under these circumstances but I ain't a lawyer so what do I know!

[Crossy]

The mail went to a Lotto username that has never been accessed from outside the UK so I suspect it's going to everyone.

It would not be difficult for Camelot to filter access to simply checking your numbers etc. for IPs originating in the iffy countries, maybe they'll do this in the future.

Anyone tried using a p***y to access the site?

[phaethon]

Has anyone done a comparison of the UK and Thai lotteries? Cost of tickets, probabilities of a win and possible returns?

If they are comparable (and farangs are allowed to collect winnings) why play they UK version at all?

[denboy]

Have I missed something as I have not seen any info regarding the overseas subject UK national lottery.

I play most weeks on line and have recieved small winnings no problem.

When I am in the UK ( not often) I go on line via my Loxinfo roaming account so how do's the IP address make any difference.

If in the unlikely event of winning the jackpot I would be back in the UK within 48 hours anyway.

Is there a law in Thailand ah

against online lotteries, I seem to recall they have or had something similar.

As for the Thai lottery you are paying about 2 quid a ticket to win a posiible jackpot of three mill Thai baht, not much of a comparison in value.

Just my two penneth.

Cheers

[GuestHouse]

The UK Lottery is litle more than a tax on stupidity and a soother for the masses who are resigned to the fact that the only way they are likely to become wealthy is to win the lottery (at 14 million to 1).

[bartender100]

Use a proxy that shows you are in the UK. If you win the jackpot get on the first plane home

[Karlm84]

The UK Lottery is litle more than a tax on stupidity and a soother for the masses who are resigned to the fact that the only way they are likely to become wealthy is to win the lottery (at 14 million to 1).

Scathing!!

[phaethon]

As for the Thai lottery you are paying about 2 quid a ticket to win a posiible jackpot of three mill Thai baht, not much of a comparison in value.

OK, and the probability of a 3MTHB win?

[GuestHouse]

OK, and the probability of a 3MTHB win?

That depends upon how much 'influence' you have and the intervention of a 'third hand'.

[pattayaGaz]

Just checking my mail:-

Playing the National Lottery online is the safe, secure and convenient way to play. Remember that in countries outside of the UK and Isle of Man, local laws often prevent the sale or purchase of tickets for any overseas lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, the National Lottery rules and Terms and Conditions prohibit people from playing online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. This also means that, under local laws and the rules, we would not be able to pay out any prize in these circumstances.

So if you are going away, we would advise you to assume it is unlawful to purchase a ticket online for the UK National Lottery whilst abroad – and to only buy your tickets when you are actually located in the UK or Isle of Man.

So if you buy your ticket online from Thailand (even though the site works) they could refuse to cough up

I received the same e-mail, I have been playing online for the last four years and have always received the money for the small wins that I have achieved, what dissapoints me is that a couple of Expat legal companies sponser this site and have Thai lawyers who maybe could let us know what the law is on this matter considering that they have thir own legal national lottery in Thailand, but alas no input so far as they don't stand to make any money giving free legal advice, I was going to send a mail to Camelot but I guess I would be drawing attention to myself, how you are supposed to know what countries you can not play online without a list on the website is beyond me?

[endure]

Just checking my mail:-

Playing the National Lottery online is the safe, secure and convenient way to play. Remember that in countries outside of the UK and Isle of Man, local laws often prevent the sale or purchase of tickets for any overseas lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, the National Lottery rules and Terms and Conditions prohibit people from playing online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. This also means that, under local laws and the rules, we would not be able to pay out any prize in these circumstances.

So if you are going away, we would advise you to assume it is unlawful to purchase a ticket online for the UK National Lottery whilst abroad – and to only buy your tickets when you are actually located in the UK or Isle of Man.

So if you buy your ticket online from Thailand (even though the site works) they could refuse to cough up

I received the same e-mail, I have been playing online for the last four years and have always received the money for the small wins that I have achieved, what dissapoints me is that a couple of Expat legal companies sponser this site and have Thai lawyers who maybe could let us know what the law is on this matter considering that they have thir own legal national lottery in Thailand, but alas no input so far as they don't stand to make any money giving free legal advice, I was going to send a mail to Camelot but I guess I would be drawing attention to myself, how you are supposed to know what countries you can not play online without a list on the website is beyond me?

More to the point - Thai lawyers are not qualified to give advice on British law.

[thaiwanderer]

In LOS gambling is illegal and only officially sanctioned lottery is legal.

Gambling and playing lotteries on line whilst in Thailand is illegal.

From the host country's perspective (in this case UK) they can prohibit your playing whilst in LOS.

From a practical point of view of course small wins that are added to your online account will be transferred without a hitch.

If you were to win the big one you would have to collect in person, in which case at the very least obtaining a fresh passport without historical stamps might be advisable.

Given the amount at stake other steps may alos be advisable.

[pattayaGaz]

Just checking my mail:-

Playing the National Lottery online is the safe, secure and convenient way to play. Remember that in countries outside of the UK and Isle of Man, local laws often prevent the sale or purchase of tickets for any overseas lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, the National Lottery rules and Terms and Conditions prohibit people from playing online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. This also means that, under local laws and the rules, we would not be able to pay out any prize in these circumstances.

So if you are going away, we would advise you to assume it is unlawful to purchase a ticket online for the UK National Lottery whilst abroad – and to only buy your tickets when you are actually located in the UK or Isle of Man.

So if you buy your ticket online from Thailand (even though the site works) they could refuse to cough up

I received the same e-mail, I have been playing online for the last four years and have always received the money for the small wins that I have achieved, what dissapoints me is that a couple of Expat legal companies sponser this site and have Thai lawyers who maybe could let us know what the law is on this matter considering that they have thir own legal national lottery in Thailand, but alas no input so far as they don't stand to make any money giving free legal advice, I was going to send a mail to Camelot but I guess I would be drawing attention to myself, how you are supposed to know what countries you can not play online without a list on the website is beyond me?

More to the point - Thai lawyers are not qualified to give advice on British law.

I am not asking aboout British law, the question I am asking, is it legal to play online lotteries in Thailand under Thai law as this is what Camelot's lawyers will throw at you if it went to court, we allready know that online gambling sites are blocked, try logging onto Ladebrokes for instance, but as they have their own state lottery here I would have thought that they have made some legal ruling in the past that the lottery is not gambling and has the approval of his majesty, as I said before I want one of the lawyers from the companies that advertise on this site to answer the question and not another Farang member who thinks he knows the answer.

[jackr]

As for the Thai lottery you are paying about 2 quid a ticket to win a posiible jackpot of three mill Thai baht, not much of a comparison in value.

OK, and the probability of a 3MTHB win?

Probably not as high but chances of them handing it over to a farang are about 17 trillion to one.

[Heng]

The UK Lottery is litle more than a tax on stupidity and a soother for the masses who are resigned to the fact that the only way they are likely to become wealthy is to win the lottery (at 14 million to 1).

All lotteries are a tax for the poor and the stupid (perhaps not in total IQ... but at least a lack of understanding of basic statistics) of the world.

[Dave the Dude]

All lotteries are a tax for the poor and the stupid (perhaps not in total IQ... but at least a lack of understanding of basic statistics) of the world.

That reminds me, many years ago my then 15 year old daughter used to call the National Lottery(UK) ....

A poor mans Poll Tax.

Out of the mouths of babies ect............

Dave

[bartender100]

Whats wrong with posting this link??

http://www.hide-ip-soft.com/

[plastacasta]

I've been using hide-ip-soft for a month now... paid for a year's subscription, but now is failing to connect at all.

Can't open a web browser with it on at all - so defeats all purpose.

Don't know if it's a scam or not, but no reply when I email them and ask them why it's stopped working.

Be cautious before handing over any money for this service, is all I can say!

[bartender100]

I've been using hide-ip-soft for a month now... paid for a year's subscription, but now is failing to connect at all.

Can't open a web browser with it on at all - so defeats all purpose.

Don't know if it's a scam or not, but no reply when I email them and ask them why it's stopped working.

Be cautious before handing over any money for this service, is all I can say!

I've been using it for a year now with no problems, you have to turn it on/off at the bottom right hand corner of your screen, then restart the browser, its very powerful ip hider, and does not slow down the surfing, have you tried updating it? It should do it automatically, maybe yours is not.

Also its impossible to use a "copy" version because of the regular ip updating

Its one of the few programs a actually parted with money for, well worth it.

[loiner100]

I wrote in reply to the same email mentioned above and asked for clarification. This is the answer I got back.

Dear Mr *****

Thank you for contacting the Interactive Customer Care Team regarding your National Lottery Interactive Account.

To play The National Lottery interactively, a player must be a resident of the UK or Isle of Man when they register for an interactive account # and at all subsequent times when they play games through this account. Additionally, players need to be aged 16 years or over and have a UK or Isle of Man Sterling bank account. It is the player#s responsibility to notify Camelot of any change in their address.

As operator of The UK National Lottery, Camelot is unable to sell UK National Lottery products outside the UK and Isle of Man # because the National Lottery Games licences granted by our regulator, the National Lottery Commission, prevent us from doing so.

In addition, local laws in other countries usually prevent the sales of lottery tickets other than those for their own state lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, our rules prohibit players playing the UK National Lottery online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. As a result, we would not be able to pay out any prize on a ticket bought in such a country.

We would advise people that whilst travelling abroad, they assume it is unlawful for them to buy a lottery ticket online for the UK National Lottery # and to only buy their tickets when they are actually in the UK or Isle of Man.

Please can you confirm by reply if you conform to this criteria in order to clarify that you are still eligible to play through an interactive account. Please can you also confirm that the active tickets you have on your interactive account were purchased in the UK or Isle of Man.

Yours sincerely,

Emlyn Jenkins.

Interactive Customer Care Team

0845 278 8000

[email protected]

Open 7 days 8am-11pm

I replied saying I did not wish to do anything illegally and would they credit my account with all my previous lottery entries and of course debit with the winnings they have credited me with. I await their reply with interest as my expenditure (maybe around £120.00) far outweighs the winnings (about £25.00) over five years. Not holding my breath!!!!

[samtam]

Good one. My understanding is that you can only open an online Nat Lottery account if you have a UK address anyway, neh?

[Tigs]

loiner100

I got the same letter. If you read the terms and conditions, the email we all received and the letter above, there is a great deal of ambiguity. I phoned them up, there was even more ambiguity, I said I wanted them to refund the money I had put down for the following evenings Eurolottery, they had to speak to a supervisor and came back to me with 'you will be ok this time but don't do it again'!!! When I questioned why someone in a call center can over-ride what they claim to be international law, I was met with a stumped 'um err' silence.

I got my son to access my account and do it for me last night from the UK. How do these p***y sites work and why is discussion on them here so sensitive?

[JimsKnight]

As for the Thai lottery you are paying about 2 quid a ticket to win a posiible jackpot of three mill Thai baht, not much of a comparison in value.

OK, and the probability of a 3MTHB win?

Probably not as high but chances of them handing it over to a farang are about 17 trillion to one.

Usually you've got to go accompanied with a Thai (at least that's what my mate did) National

[GuestHouse]

Probably not as high but chances of them handing it over to a farang are about 17 trillion to one.

I know of one Farang who won and had no problems collecting his prize.

Earlier this year a Thai couple out in the Issan Boom Docks had their winnings 'secured' by a local lawyer, as the press reported it the Lawyers where doing a very good job of 'securing' their client's winnings.

[sassienie]

Just checking my mail:-

Playing the National Lottery online is the safe, secure and convenient way to play. Remember that in countries outside of the UK and Isle of Man, local laws often prevent the sale or purchase of tickets for any overseas lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, the National Lottery rules and Terms and Conditions prohibit people from playing online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. This also means that, under local laws and the rules, we would not be able to pay out any prize in these circumstances.

So if you are going away, we would advise you to assume it is unlawful to purchase a ticket online for the UK National Lottery whilst abroad – and to only buy your tickets when you are actually located in the UK or Isle of Man.

So if you buy your ticket online from Thailand (even though the site works) they could refuse to cough up

I received the same e-mail, I have been playing online for the last four years and have always received the money for the small wins that I have achieved, what dissapoints me is that a couple of Expat legal companies sponser this site and have Thai lawyers who maybe could let us know what the law is on this matter considering that they have thir own legal national lottery in Thailand, but alas no input so far as they don't stand to make any money giving free legal advice, I was going to send a mail to Camelot but I guess I would be drawing attention to myself, how you are supposed to know what countries you can not play online without a list on the website is beyond me?

More to the point - Thai lawyers are not qualified to give advice on British law.

And even more to the point, - Thai lawyers are not qualified to give advice on Thai law either.

[loiner100]

I wrote in reply to the same email mentioned above and asked for clarification. This is the answer I got back.

Dear Mr *****

Thank you for contacting the Interactive Customer Care Team regarding your National Lottery Interactive Account.

To play The National Lottery interactively, a player must be a resident of the UK or Isle of Man when they register for an interactive account # and at all subsequent times when they play games through this account. Additionally, players need to be aged 16 years or over and have a UK or Isle of Man Sterling bank account. It is the player#s responsibility to notify Camelot of any change in their address.

As operator of The UK National Lottery, Camelot is unable to sell UK National Lottery products outside the UK and Isle of Man # because the National Lottery Games licences granted by our regulator, the National Lottery Commission, prevent us from doing so.

In addition, local laws in other countries usually prevent the sales of lottery tickets other than those for their own state lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, our rules prohibit players playing the UK National Lottery online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. As a result, we would not be able to pay out any prize on a ticket bought in such a country.

We would advise people that whilst travelling abroad, they assume it is unlawful for them to buy a lottery ticket online for the UK National Lottery # and to only buy their tickets when they are actually in the UK or Isle of Man.

Please can you confirm by reply if you conform to this criteria in order to clarify that you are still eligible to play through an interactive account. Please can you also confirm that the active tickets you have on your interactive account were purchased in the UK or Isle of Man.

Yours sincerely,

Emlyn Jenkins.

Interactive Customer Care Team

0845 278 8000

[email protected]

Open 7 days 8am-11pm

I replied saying I did not wish to do anything illegally and would they credit my account with all my previous lottery entries and of course debit with the winnings they have credited me with. I await their reply with interest as my expenditure (maybe around £120.00) far outweighs the winnings (about £25.00) over five years. Not holding my breath!!!!

Well, here is their reply, just as expected, I suppose, they are keeping my money.

Dear *****,

Thank you for contacting the Interactive Customer Care Team regarding your National Lottery Interactive Account.

To play The National Lottery interactively, a player must be a resident of the UK or Isle of Man when they register for an interactive account # and at all subsequent times when they play games through this account. Additionally, players need to be aged 16 years or over and have a UK or Isle of Man Sterling bank account. It is the player#s responsibility to notify Camelot of any change in their address.

As operator of The UK National Lottery, Camelot is unable to sell UK National Lottery products including Euromillions outside the UK and Isle of Man # because the National Lottery Games licences granted by our regulator, the National Lottery Commission, prevent us from doing so.

In addition, local laws in other countries usually prevent the sales of lottery tickets other than those for their own state lottery. To protect players and the UK National Lottery, our rules prohibit players playing the UK National Lottery online in any country where it is unlawful to do so. As a result, we would not be able to pay out any prize on a ticket bought in such a country.

We would advise people that whilst travelling abroad, they assume it is unlawful for them to buy a lottery ticket online for the UK National Lottery # and to only buy their tickets when they are actually located in the UK or Isle of Man.

We can confirm that with effect from today#s date you will no longer be entered into any National Lottery draws for any active tickets purchased outside of the UK or Isle of Man. However, please rest assured that any outstanding funds will be refunded.

We can confirm that your interactive account can remain open, however, it remains your responsibility to ensure that you comply at all times with the Rules and the Terms and Conditions, including your being a resident of the UK or the Isle of Man and only entering plays using your Account when you are physically present in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man.

We hope the above clarifies the situation for you.

Yours sincerely

Paul

Interactive Customer Care Team

0845 278 8000

[email protected]

Open 7 days 8am-11pm

[chiang mai]

So when a winner walks into the Camelot claim center and says, here I am I've won, is the first thing Camelot does to check and make sure the winner was resident in the UK at the time the winning ticket was purchased? Of course it isn't and it isn't the last thing they check either. I can imagine that at some point in the "money handing over" process the winner is asked to sign a form stating that he/she was resident at the time of purchase and that I would imagine is the end of it all. The Camelot computer doesn't record and store the IP address of every player, even a request by Camelot to see your passport can be answered with, "no have". I think all of the noise by Camelot on this subject is just that, only noise. Anyway, worst case scenario is to say yes, I have an account, yes I live in Thailand but I give permission to my UK resident son/daughter/friend etc to play my account on my behalf. Game over.

[dalmatian]

Playing the UK lottery has very important rules for UK nationals living abroad in regards buying tickets through a retailer and playing online.

If you are in the UK, are a UK national and buy a paper ticket through a retailer then you can be sure that you will pick up any prize your ticket wins. If you are in possession of the ticket in Thailand, no problem, but you can only claim the prize in UK so suggest next plane home in first class and phone their customer services or visit them in Watford or Liverpool.

The issue causing concern is if you play online in Thailand. I have been told categorically by Camelot that they will not pay any prize to somebody who has an online account and accessed it online in Thailand to buy tickets. Even though the system does not stop you from purchasing tickets if they could check where you bought the ticket online then they would not pay out. (Personally I would not take the chance of buying online and hoping they may not/could not check). They would only pay out if you purchased the tickets online whilst in UK. Now I do know that windows, yahoo, my bank, every porn site knows where I am cos they keep telling me to access the local yahoo or meet some gorgeous white girl in Bangkok. So maybe Camelot would know where you purchased the tickets.

For me though the important problem is also that you need to be a UK resident, not just a UK national. If you are normally non-resident in the UK then officially you should not be playing the Lottery online. This may be harder for them to prove but if they know you played online overseas they may suspect you are a non-resident and try to check. I don't think they would call the tax office but again I am not taking the chance.

You can set up a direct debit in UK to pay for Lotto tickets (not euro millions) and this would be acceptable to Camelot even if you lived overseas. I am waiting for their team leader to come back and tell me if this scenario also works for non-residents.

For me it is just purchasing paper tickets through a retailer for 8 weeks when in UK and then getting back to UK on a regular basis. Anything else would probably have me quivering with shock just in case I won, I couldn't put myself through that.