New Lottery Idea Attempts to Enliven Lottery Sales

US Lottery statistics taken over the past five years clearly show that online ticket sales have been stagnating or declining across the board, except during very high jackpot periods.

States, which have become dependent on the substantial revenues from their online lottery games, are now resorting to ticket discounting, giveaways and even more controversial methods of attracting players, such as casino-like Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) and self-service ticket dispensers. The latter methods have raised concerns that state's may now be going too far to get the public back into the game.

"We are confident that PoolingPLUS(TM), which works with the current online tickets, will bring lost players back to the game and new players into the game because it gives everyone exactly what they want -- an affordable way to get more chances to win," according to Mr. Amada.

"Even with all the hassles associated with the current way of pooling, everyone sees the benefits. That's why office pools are so popular. Pooling works and that's why we're seeing more and more often it is pools of players that win the big jackpots. The problem is most people don't have access to joining an office pool. The PoolingPLUS(TM) ticket removes all the hassles, keeps all the benefits, and makes pooling available to everyone."

Here's how PoolingPLUS(TM) works. Whenever you buy a certain number of regular (100% owned) online tickets, you can get into one or more pools of ten more tickets for just a dollar per pool. So, for example, if the offer is buy five regular tickets, you'll then be able to get into a pool of ten more tickets for only one dollar more, making it fifteen chances to win for the price of only six.

"From the lottery's perspective, that's the beauty of the program -- the lottery sets the minimum number of 100% owned tickets players must first purchase before they can get into a pool. So, it's an incentive to buy online tickets, not a discount or giveaway, yet the players are getting great value for their money. And, lotteries have an unlimited number of possible promotions they can offer just by changing the amount of the qualifying purchase, or the number of pools players can get into. For example, the offer can be 'Buy two and for an extra buck get into a pool of ten,' or 'Buy five and for an extra three bucks get into three pools of ten' -- that's thirty-five chances to win for the price of eight," Amada added.

So, the question is: "Will lottery players pay an extra buck to get into a pool of ten more tickets?" Amada is betting the answer is, "Yes!"

PoolingPLUS(TM) is basically a marketing overlay on the existing structure and software of the online game. A simple sub-routine is added by the lottery (or their online vendor) to their existing software and a pooling option button is added to the retailer's terminal touch screen display. The tickets print the same, but now show two sets of numbers: the 100-percent owned sets, and the pooled sets. There are no game changes and it works with any existing online games.

July 10, 2006
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!