Question 1

What exactly IS PoolingPLUS?

Accepted Answer

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 the bonus of access to pooling.

Question 2

Why DO PoolingPLUS?

Accepted Answer

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. Multiple independent research clearly indicates players would be excited about pooling and would readily spend an extra $2 to receive 10 more chances to win. That extra two dollars could increase your online ticket sales by 20 to 30%.

Question 3

Will it work with any Jackpot game?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

Will it work with Advance Draws?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Players could receive pools for Advance Draws.

Question 5

Are any game changes required?

Accepted Answer

No. Changes are required nationally. Locally, where the option would be offered, the only change would be that prize shares under $1 be paid in RollOver Pools (see below).

Question 6

How would PoolingPLUS be used to construct a promotion?

Accepted Answer

The lottery has six parameters to employ to create customized promotional offers:
1) The required purchase
2) The number of plays in the pool
3) The number of players in the pool
4) The number of pools
  5) Any jackpot level triggers 
6) Any special day, date, or holiday triggers.
Each parameter can be adjusted to create dozens of offers.

Question 7

How can PoolingPlus help Jackpot Fatigue

Accepted Answer

Neutralizing Jackpot Fatigue is all about empowering players to counterbalance the long odds.  Andy, our Founder, authored this summation to combating Jackpot Fatigue with a pooling option.  Read it here.

Question 8

Where do the pooling tickets come from?

Accepted Answer

Using the example of a pool size of ten plays, 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.

Question 9

Does the Lottery receive full-price for the plays in each pool?

Accepted Answer

Yes, because 10 players are contributing to the same pool.

Question 10

What happens if there are partially filled pools?

Accepted Answer

First, we can limit or even virtually eliminate the chance of this occurring.  
 
No change to the players who purchased. They each still receive 10% of any prize.
 
Now, if there were any partially filled pools whose play generated a win of $10,000 or more, the unsold portion of any of the prizes would remain in the game's prize fund. The smaller prize shares are insignificant and can remain with the lottery. The impact on the prize fund reconciliation would be as follows:

If pool plays represent 1/5th of total plays and partially filled plays represent 1% of pooled plays, then prizes attributable to partially filled plays will represent 1 out of every 500 prizes. Based on National sales in Fiscal 2019 that would mean for either Powerball or Mega Millions about 1 jackpot win by a partially filled pool every 60 years; 1 $1,000,000 win by a partially filled pool every 2 years; and 5 $50,000 or $10,000 wins by a partially filled pool each year. Therefore, there would only be about one extra prize fund accounting entry every 2 months in each game assuming that all Lotteries were offering the pooling option.

Question 11

What does PoolingPLUS recommend for wins less than $1.00?

Accepted Answer

There is a simple method for handling wins of less than $1.00 which eliminates any handling of cash, and that is the RollOver Pools™, turning 'small wins' into exciting winning experiences for players through a win-win solution.

RollOver Pools are a perceived 'valuable' incentive that 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.

For Example: Round-up all small wins to a FREE 3-play RollOver Pool, 5-Play RollOver Pool, or 10-Play RollOver Pool depending on the game prize amount. As always, each player owns 10% of any pool winnings.

The winning ticket would be scanned and a new pool of plays would be automatically printed making the process for the retailer seamless and simple. Importantly, this would put players back at the point of purchase where they could also purchase other store merchandise and lottery products.

Independent research shows "tremendous appeal" for RollOver Pools: For example, 5 and 10-play pools will be exciting prizes for the players. Where else can a player get 5 or 10 plays without spending $5 or $10? They can't. Players would probably not make a stop at the store to collect a 50¢ or $1 prize, but they would make a stop to pick up a ticket giving them 5 or 10 chances to make them a multi-millionaire! This method of paying small change winners in the form of a new pool of plays will turn small wins into exciting wins.

In the study by Crestwood Associates, players valued RollOver Pools almost equally with whole plays.

Question 12

How does the system keep track of the pool?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 13

What is required 'technically' to get the program implemented?

Accepted Answer

We'll work with your online vendor to help define the software specifications.

Question 14

What are the security risks?

Accepted Answer

None. You and your online vendor control everything, and we have NO ACCESS to anything.

Question 15

How can we do this without the need of an RFP?

Accepted Answer

PoolingPLUS is a patented, one-of-a-kind program, making RMS a sole source provider.

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FAQ

What exactly IS PoolingPLUS?