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Why do we need PoolingPLUS™?
Because online play is
eroding and player interest (especially from infrequent
players) is diminishing – except at ever-increasingly high
jackpot levels. Lotteries need a way to get players in all
categories excited about online play again, playing earlier
and more frequently. Our extensive experience, trial and
research clearly indicates players would be excited about
pooling and would readily spend an extra $1 to receive 10
more chances to win. That extra dollar could increase your
online ticket sales by 10 to 20%.
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How can we be sure our Players want it?
You can download
a free Player Market Survey from our website at
www.poolingplus.com and post it as is on your website, or
modify it to suit your individual needs.
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What is PoolingPLUS™?
It is a combination transaction
that combines pooled plays with 100% owned plays resulting
in a combination ticket. It gives ALL players who first
purchase the required 100% owned plays access to pooling.
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How would PoolingPLUS™ be used to construct a promotion?
The lottery has five parameters to work with to create
each promotional offer. These are: 1) The required purchase;
2) The size of the pool; 3) The price of PoolingPLUS™;
4) Any Jackpot Level triggers; and 5) Any special day, date,
or Holiday triggers. Each parameter can be adjusted to create
dozens of offers.
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Are any game changes required?
No.
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Will it work with any ONLINE game?
Yes.
PoolingPLUS™ works best with any jackpot driven game,
even the ones with jackpots as small as $50,000. However,
it would probably not work as effectively with smaller prize
games such as the Daily 3 or 4 games.
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How can we do this without the need of an RFP?
PoolingPLUS™ is a patented, one-of-a-kind program,
and RMS holds the exclusive, world-wide licensing rights. In
brief, nothing else is like it and it is not available from anyone
else. In addition, the cost of the program is so modest it can
probably be paid for out of the general advertising budget as a
marketing promotion, or from the unclaimed prize fund.
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What is required ‘technically’ to get the program implemented?
We provide all the software specifications (or we
can provide our software program) and we work with your
online vendor to make any necessary additions or changes to
the lottery’s existing software.
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What are the security risks?
None. You and your online
vendor control everything, and we have NO ACCESS to
anything.
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Where do the pooling tickets come from?
Using the example
of a pool size of ten plays (tickets), the lottery’s software
would internally generate and store one or more pools of ten
plays each, and each pool would be assigned a unique pool
number.
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What happens when each player makes a purchase?
The
purchase of the 100% owned plays and pooling plays is
done with a single transaction. The retailer would just press
a key that indicates the player is adding a pool and both the
100% owned plays and pooled plays would be printed on
the ticket.
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Does the Lottery receive full-price for the tickets?
Yes. The Lottery would receive $10 for each 10 ticket pool.
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How does the system keep track of the pool?
The lottery’s
software would assign the same transaction serial number that
is assigned to the ticket, to the lottery pool. With each purchase,
the software would increment the ownership percent of
the pool by 10%. Once the pool reaches 100%, it would be
flagged as closed.
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What happens if the last pool is partially filled?
The base system is designed so there is only one pool open at a time. Therefore, when the sales cutoff time is reached, it is possible that the last pool would only be partially full. In perspective, however, the occurrence and cost per drawing to the state for any open pool positions will be negligible, $9 or less. The lottery may have sold tens of thousands of pools, but only the last pool could possibly be partially filled. Some states we have talked to say they could prevent having an open pool by simply having a separate cutoff time for any pool creation, say 10 to 15 minutes prior to the regular cutoff time. They believe this would be plenty of time to fill the last pool. On the other hand, other states have mentioned ‘paying’ for any open slots as follows: (1) The Unclaimed Prize Fund could pay the costs and receive any winnings; (2) The promotions budget could pay the costs and assign any winnings to local charities, to fund a promotional giveaway, or to be divided equally among VIP club members; (3) Arrangements could be made with specific beneficiaries to purchase the open positions and receive any winnings. Under any scenario, unfilled pool positions can either be prevented or there are several options to cover the negligible cost; or (4) RMS will reimburse the lottery an amount equal to the unpaid shares so the lottery loses no money. No ownership would be taken for those shares, so any resulting prize share would remain in the Unclaimed Prize Fund.
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What does RMS recommend for wins less than $1.00?
There are at least 6 methods lotteries can choose from to handle
small winnings. Discussed below is one of those methods,
for more info on other methods please contact us.
The Lottery can turn these ‘small wins’ into
exciting winning experiences for players, AND generate even
more sales for the lottery and their retailers through a
win-win incentive promotion called “ROLLOVER POOLS™.”
It is unlikely that many players would make a special
trip to the store to redeem a small win ticket. HOWEVER,
since the act of redemption returns the player to the
point of sale, the Lottery should create a win-win promotion
that would actually reward players for redemption. Using
ROLLOVER POOLS™ as a perceived ‘valuable’ incentive will further bolster the positive impressions players will experience from how fast and how often they will have ‘winners’ with PoolingPLUS™,
and of how close they came (1 number away) to a much bigger
win.
Here’s a brief overview of one possible ROLLOVER POOL™ promotion: Whenever a player returns to the store to redeem a 30¢ winner, they can get into another pool of ten tickets for only 70¢ more, with no other qualifying purchase. To the players, the real perceived value will be in the increased number of chances to win the jackpot, and 10 more chances for only 70¢ more will be a very attractive and exciting proposition. For the Lottery, they have just converted a 30¢ payout
into a $1 sale, plus the opportunity to sell additional
lottery products, and similarly for the Retailer, with
a customer back in the store they can sell more store
products. While players would like to see the big wins,
they will also look forward to receiving these small wins.
Best of all, EVERYONE gets full value and nothing is discounted.
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