With the Powerball jackpot at a record high of an estimated $1.3 billion jackpot, more attention is being paid to Powerball apps that are supposed to let buyers scan their Powerball tickets from their mobile devices.
One such app is LotteryHUB, being touted as "official app of Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries," with plenty of promises coming with the app. However, users are finding that they can't use the so-called Powerball app to scan any tickets, because it won't let them login and register and it won't connect with Facebook.
[Image via iTunes]Although the lottery app calls itself an official Powerball lottery app, customers have their doubts. Those folks who want to simply download the free Powerball app and use it to scan their plethora of Powerball tickets from the comfort of their own homes and mobile phones are finding the below promises untrue. The desire to use an app to scan Powerball tickets from home is a lot more appealing that having to stand in line at a store and waiting to scan Powerball tickets in that manner, or waiting to have a cashier or convenience store clerk scan the Powerball tickets.
Instead of allowing Powerball players to perform all of the above functions on the Powerball app, app users are complaining that the app is slow and won't let them register in order to scan their Powerball tickets.
Trying to use other state's apps to scan Powerball tickets can also prove frustrating. For example, downloading the Ohio Lottery app and using their scanner feature to scan Powerball tickets produces error messages, as seen below. Although the Ohio Lottery app's scanner has worked in the past, this time, the most current reviews on iTunes for the app prove that folks are having problems scanning their Powerball tickets to check and see if they have winning Powerball tickets.
Update: After scanning the code at the bottom of the Powerball ticket and receiving another error, a re-scan of the code at the bottom of the Powerball ticket proved successful using the Ohio Lottery app.
[Image via Ohio Lottery]Whether some state apps aren't designed to scan Powerball tickets, or whether many of the apps are failing because they are experiencing an overload of Powerball players trying to scan their tickets, the app makers are feeling the heat from folks who want to scan their Powerball tickets via apps.
Other states, like Illinois, also have apps, but they don't specify whether or not they have the Powerball app-scanning feature — and are meant for Illinois residents to use.
On Twitter, a search for Powerball app shows tweets from other states, like Indiana, promising that users can download their app to scan their Powerball tickets.
Because no one matched all six of the Powerball winning numbers, the next Powerball drawing is scheduled to top $1.3 billion or much more by Wednesday. As a result, plenty more people will likely buy Powerball tickets, and download Powerball apps to try and scan those Powerball tickets.