BC Lottery Charge by Credit Card- considered Cash Advance?

[hsedin]

Hi All,

I had been thinking of using my Mastercard (CT Financial Cash Advantage) to purchase Lottery tickets on BC Lottery (www.bclc.com)- however, I remembered having read on this forum previously that this may be considred a cash advance and be subjected to service charges and interest.

Just wondering if anyone has had experience with it? I remember reading that sometimes, different credit card companies sees the charge diffently as well and some may consider it as normal charge while other may consider it as a cash advance.

Thanks in advance!

[tkyoshi]

I can't say for Canadian Tire, but yes some cards to charge a fee. It's not exactly a cash advance but kind of a cash equivalent fee.

Basically once you fund your account, there's nothing stopping you from withdrawing the money out in cash. Therefore you could say in a way that this is kind of a deterrent from using this method for an interest free cash advance (w/ a grace period).

[craftsman]

I've never had a problem with my CitiBank MC. They treat it as a purchase... However, my MBNA Starwood card won't accept a charge since they say that gambling...

[impostor]

I've never encountered any extra fees on my credit card bill for charging lottery purchases, but I've only done this in-store at SDM or 7-11 (both with and without other items purchased in the same transaction).

[gtz_finest]

I've never had a problem with my CitiBank MC. They treat it as a purchase... However, my MBNA Starwood card won't accept a charge since they say that gambling...

I can also support the CitiBank MC. I always use my card for online gambling and it is always charged as a regular purchase.

[FattyFace]

I'd imagine that it depends on the merchant. If the merchant classes it as a retail transaction and eats a loss of a few percent, the transaction should be treated as any other purchase. If a merchant classes it as a cash-equivalent transaction and the merchant gets 100% of the transaction, it'll probably go through as a cash advance.

This comment is 100% observable evidence and conjecture, with a dash of made-up terms.

[dealguy2]

I got charged a cash advance fee when I used my pc mastercard at bclc. This of course makes the whole thing pointless.

[ktkn]

You really should call your credit card company and ask... I'm not sure how they treat BCLC... but if it's anything like other sportsbooks or online gambling sites, there is a very high chance it will be charged as a cash advance.

All online gambling type sites MUST be tagged with a specific number to identify it as so for the credit card company... I forgot the number (think it starts with a 4xxx). Certain types of cards completely ban online gambling. I know the RBC Visa is quite popular here, and any RBC card will ban those kind of sites by policy. Depending on what the specific gambling site, you must ask that gambling site specifically, and ask how they treat credit card deposits...because a vast number of them do indeed treat it as a cash advance. Just a reminder if you ever want to go with other sites as well...

Anyways, back to the question, when I signed up for my account a long time ago, I am almost positive it handled as a regular purchase vs a cash advance.