TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Legislation to allow people to buy lottery tickets using ‘point-of-sale’ credit card machines is moving in the Florida capitol.
A second Senate committee signed off on a bill Wednesday, which could create lotto sales terminals at gas pumps, ATMs and many other places where someone can swipe a credit card.
State Senator Garrett Richter is the bill sponsor. He brushed off concerns that the legislation may make it too easy for people to gamble.
“We have to give citizens more credit than politicians like to do sometimes," said the Republican out of Naples. "This is a personal choice. The money goes toward education, so it gives our citizens an opportunity to support education and an opportunity to play in the game.”
A portion of the money generated by lottery sales goes to the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund.
Both the House and Senate bills have further stops in the committee process before a potential vote can be taken by the full legislature in the 2016 session that starts in January.
