Buying NJ lottery tickets with your phone — Coming soon?

Small stores in New Jersey that sell lottery tickets over the counter are concerned about a new state law that enables players to buy tickets with an app on their phones, and that's not all.

Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline-Convenience-Automotive Association fears their business will be hurt.

"We're not very happy with that part of the law because it keeps people out of the stores," he said. "And of course, customers entering our stores to purchase lottery tickets are very important to us because while they're there, they purchase a cup of coffee, they purchase a bag of chips."

The law's other provision, to enable lottery players to buy in-store with their phone debit app, is held up because the regulations haven't been finalized. Risalvato says that would benefit mom-and-pop stores because more traffic translates into more income.

Tushar Patel, vice chairman of the Asian American Retailers Association based in Piscataway, says "it's been like, close to six months and we don't see any implementation on that.

"It's more convenient for our customers. Also, many times they do request to use their card. And right now, they could not take a card."

Joe Cutter is the senior news anchor on New Jersey 101.5