American Express has $1.4 billion of reasons to lament being left out of Powerball payments.

Amex is the only one of the major networks not contracted to process Powerball “subscription” payments. And, unless you have taken residence on Pluto, you know that Powerball, which is administered by Mega Millions, has an estimated jackpot of $1.4 billion. The next drawing takes place tomorrow.

Interestingly, for a venture it so contingent on payments, lottery tickets are relatively difficult to purchase. The official Mega Millions mobile app, called LotteryHub, does not allow for mobile purchases of lottery tickets. Only residents of Georgia or Illinois can buy Mega Millions tickets online, but they must first “register with the lotteries of those states.”

There is something called a Lottery Subscription that allows for the online purchase of lottery tickets, but only for residents of New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota and Virginia. MasterCard, Visa, and Discover have the rights to process those payments — with Amex out of the picture.

This is not the case in Europe, where everything — except the gasoline prices — is better. EuroMillions tickets can easily be purchased online. There is even something called WinTrillions.com that allows players to purchase lottery tickets from, well, almost everywhere, including the US. And yes, WinTrillions accepts American Express. Phew!