Would you buy more lottery tickets, or start buying them, if you could hire a courier service to pick the tickets up for you and deliver them to your home? Some New Jersey lawmakers are banking on that being a draw for some people.

Anne Kitzman, ThinkStock
Anne Kitzman, ThinkStock
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Revenue from lottery ticket sales is used to support important educational programs as well as programs for seniors.

"The lottery needs to be able to compete, and we need lottery revenues to be at the very highest level they can be," said Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-West Deptford). "Lottery ticket delivery makes sense. It's a matter of convenience for a lot of New Jersey residents who enjoy the lottery."

A bill co-sponsored by Burzichelli would require the New Jersey Lottery Commission to authorize the operation of lottery courier services. That would permit delivery companies to bring lottery tickets directly to customers. Courier services would have to register with the commission and get authorization before delivering tickets.

"Any New Jersey resident of legal age to play the lottery would be eligible," Burzichelli said. "They'd have to register with the courier service. Identification would have to be established. An account would have to be established."

The assemblyman's legislation was approved by the full Assembly in June, and on Thursday, an identical version of the bill passed the full state Senate. The measure now heads to Gov. Chris Christie's desk, where it awaits his action.

If the bill is signed into law, a courier service would be allowed to charge a delivery fee, but could not collect any portion of winnings. A service could redeem winning tickets on behalf of its clients and could also store a purchased lottery ticket in lieu of delivering, but would be required to maintain a secure database of all tickets, and that would be subject to random Lottery Commission audits.

"Many other goods -- food, water, clothing and other items -- are already delivered in order to make people's lives easier," said bill co-sponsor Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) in a statement via press release. "We have the means to add lottery tickets to that list, and it's important to facilitate this convenience with guidelines that emphasize security and transparency."

Finally, under the bill, couriers would not be allowed to get lottery sales agent licenses and sell the tickets themselves.

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