Q. Who else does subscription services? Are they
successful?
A.
Eight states currently have subscription services,
which include downloading forms from the internet,
paying by check or credit card and than being
notified when they are a winner. The states
include,
Illinois, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire
New York, (the largest with 90,000 subscribers)
Vermont, and Virginia.
All have responded with favorable results. However,
by far the most successful, is the Israeli Lottery.
Below is a quote taken directly from their web site:
“Initiated in 1982, the Subscribers Program is
unique in Israel. It addresses the problem of
attracting, on a weekly basis, sectors of the
population that were not traditional participants in
the National Lottery. The objective was to
incorporate into the Lottery a target group
characterized by a relatively high income. Results
indicate that this has been achieved, above and
beyond expectations.
The numbers speak for themselves. In the second year
of operation, the program had already registered
more than 142,000 subscribers. In 1985, 1986 and
1987 there were 185,000, 250,000 and 300,000
subscribers respectively, and in 1993 the
half-million mark was crossed.
In 2001, the program comprises almost
600,000 subscribers,
representing hundreds of thousands of Israeli
households. This has been the largest, most
comprehensive marketing program in Israel to date.”
Q.
Will this take business away from retail stores?
A.
Experts we spoke to in
the lottery industry said that there is a strong
likelihood that on-line subscription sales would come
from a new group of prospective players, not now
playing the lottery on a regular basis. This new
group of players is experienced and familiar with
on-line purchases, is more educated, and has higher
incomes. Players that have an established routine
of purchasing tickets at retail locations are less
prone to use the Internet, and would most likely not
change their game or their behavior, for example
changing from purchasing “Instant Scratchers” to a
long-term Lotto subscription.
Q. Is on-line subscription services Legal?
A.
In most states, there are no specific
laws against it. A few states do have statutes, which prohibit any sales of
tickets that are not sold through a retail outlet. Many states are not sure
of the legality of it, and would need to check with counsel. We have an
extensive legal brief which we did for California, which addresses many of
the legal issues that have been brought up by other states (This brief is
available upon request).
Q. How did you come up with the data of tens of
thousands of possible users?
A.
Using one state as an example: According to the 2000
U.S. Census (www.uscensus.gov
) 951,127 households in this state, had incomes of
$50,000 or greater. Based on a survey done in 2004
by the Pew Institute (www.pewinternet.org
) 80% of households with incomes of $50,000 go
online, and 67% have gone on line and purchased.
·
760,901or 80% of this population goes on line (Pew
Research 2004).
·
433,713 or 57%* play the lottery once or more in the
previous year.
·
290,588 or 67% have purchased online minimum
potential.
Based on the above data there is a minimum potential
of 290,000
or 29.5%
of the adults, who have played the
lottery, gone online, and purchased products or
services.
*57%
is the national average of adults playing the
lottery in the past 12 months. Other benchmarks are
32% in California to 67% in Virginia.