Patent attributes
An SMS transaction gateway server receives an SMS message from a mobile phone of a telephone subscriber to a telephone service via a base station over a wide area network. The SMS transaction gateway server parses the SMS message to identify an order by the telephone subscriber and sends a chargeback request indicative of the order over a wide area network to a mobile billing platform server belonging to the telephone subscriber for an amount corresponding to the order against a mobile phone balance of the telephone subscriber, receives a chargeback confirmation or denial over a wide area network from the mobile billing platform server corresponding to the telephone service belonging to the telephone subscriber, and commences fulfillment of the order when a chargeback confirmation is received from the mobile billing platform server corresponding to the telephone service belonging to the telephone subscriber. In a preferred embodiment the order is an SMS lottery entry. Lottery winnings can also be credited to a prepaid or postpaid account according to an alternate embodiment.