PHOENIX, Ariz. — Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC, a lottery products company in Phoenix, Arizona has a patent-pending lottery ticket designed to increase sales of state lottery jackpot games. According to Andy Amada, president of RMS, “Believing in the myth of ‘Jackpot Fatigue’ is holding state lotteries back from generating a lot more sales and revitalizing their online games.”
Sales of lottery jackpot games are eroding and lottery professionals are becoming more concerned by the continuing drop in player excitement. It is taking a longer and longer time for the jackpots to build up, and even when the jackpots grow to astronomical heights, such as the recent quarter of a billion dollar Powerball prize, there are no long lines to be seen. The industry blames the lackluster sales and player inaction on “Jackpot Fatigue,” meaning that the same high jackpots are no longer exciting to the players, and claims that players need to continue seeing higher and higher jackpots to maintain their excitement.
But, Amada disagrees, “The underlying problem is not boredom, it’s frustration. It’s not ‘Jackpot Fatigue’ it’s ‘Losing Fatigue,’ and until the Lottery Industry recognizes that problem and responds with new reasons to play, the players will continue to drop out and sales of jackpot games will continue to fall.”
So, what will rebuild value and bring players back to jackpot games? According to Amada, “The same three things that attracted them in the first place – knowing that there’s at least a chance that they might win something significant, the perception that other players like them are winning something of value, and a package of entertaining experiences that keeps them motivated to play all the time.”
“Jackpot Fatigue is not the problem, it is the result,” states Amada. “Players aren’t fatigued or disinterested in the idea of winning $50 million, or $25 million or $5 million. Even $1 million would change the average person’s life forever for the better, and they know it. After years and even decades of losing, players are beginning to realize that getting anything back out of these jackpot games is pretty much a lost cause. So they limit their playing to when the jackpots are higher when they feel it’s ‘worth it’ to give playing another chance.”
“The recent success of lower odds and smaller prize games like raffles are proof. Players are paying $20 or twenty times the price of the traditional $1 ticket for a prize that pales in comparison to the jackpot game prizes. Thus, the players are still excited about and will support games that they believe give them at least a small chance of winning, even if the payoff is only a million bucks,” Amada added.
With all this in mind, RMS has created a winning solution for both the players and the lottery – a pooling ticket. “Pooling gives players exactly what they need to get excited about playing again — an affordable way to get a lot more chances to win. Players with access to office pools have been doing it since lotteries began because they can see the common sense of getting dozens, even hundreds more chances of winning,” Amada states. But, putting together pools and collecting the funds has always been a hassle. State lotteries, however, are in the position to take all of the hassles out of pooling, making it simple, secure and available to everyone at all times through a pooling ticket. Players would still be anonymous and they would buy the pooling ticket just like they do any lottery ticket. All of the work would be done by the lottery’s software. The software would simply assign each player to a pool of ten tickets and when each pool fills up, another pool would be started.
“The myth of Jackpot Fatigue is completely misleading,” Amada adds. “Most players don’t have to win hundreds of millions of dollars to see the value in playing; they just need to believe they have a shot at winning something significant. Believe me, even $1 million is significant to most people; and knowing they have a lot more chances to win gives them that shot.”
RMS has branded their pooling ticket PoolingPLUS(TM) because it is a combination ticket that includes both traditional 100% owned tickets plus one or more pools of 10 tickets each. Thus, a player who spends $6 could get three 100% owned tickets plus 3 pools of 10 tickets each giving them a total of 33 chances to win for only $6. Amada states, “With PoolingPLUS, the Lottery sells more tickets at full price and the players get the best of both worlds – the opportunity to ‘win it all’ through their 100% owned tickets and now dozens or even hundreds of chances to win through pools of tickets.”
“With PoolingPLUS, players will have a whole new way of playing any jackpot game,” Amada states. Current players will play more and those players sitting on the sidelines looking for a reason to return will get back into the game. The PoolingPLUS ticket is simple and economical to install as it requires no game changes and only a small software change.
RMS will soon be launching an advanced information website for PoolingPLUS which will include market research, sample promotions and a downloadable player survey for states to use to with their own players.
For more information call Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC at (888) 777-5131, send an email to info@poolingplus.com or visit: http://www.poolingplus.com.
[tags]Relationship Marketing Systems, PoolingPLUS ticket system, myth of Jackpot Fatigue, state run lotteries,[/tags]
