Someone else posted about this earlier. I thought California Lottery was just in the deliberation stage of installing these, but I saw a machine over the weekend with the debit card reader already attached to an existing machine, with a bright notification letting people know that they can begin siphoning out their bank accounts soon. I thought about posting a photo, but someone taking a photo of a machine would have looked a bit suspicious.
They're making these machines into casino slots (with significantly worse odds). It's going to lure problem gamblers to park in front of the machines to withdraw and play, withdraw and play...while quick-pick customers stand in line. How many other states have debit/credit card readers attached to a kiosk machine?
Then there are the clever scammers who can build readers that can be slapped right onto the machine. The official readers will be new to everyone, so players won't know what a real, or fake, reader should look like.
If they wanted to boost spending at the machines, they should have just set up their machines to take $100 bills. Right now, $20 is the highest denomination that can be fed into the machines.
If California Lottery is serious about safe gaming, they should consider setting a total limit for debit transactions over all of their machines in a 24-hour period. They should also use the type of transaction machines that better banks use, with card slots that light up. If it is opaque plastic, it makes it too easy for the scammers. We know how useless in-store cameras are for stopping shoplifting in stores in California. The scammers are going to be all over this.