Supplier News
US – Scientific to launch multi-state lottery game
By Phil - 6 October 2014
In less than 30 days, a group of lottery officials will do something that hasn’t been done in more than 12 years – create a new multi-state lottery game.
The new lottery game, called Monopoly Millionaires’ Club, will pool prize money to make “more and more millionaires.” The news comes as the lottery industry’s largest annual gathering at the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) conference commences.
“Lotteries across the country came together and listened to what players wanted,” said Rebecca Paul Hargrove, President of the Tennessee Lottery. “With three chances to win $1 million, a $5 popular price point, and the ability to unlock more and more millionaires, Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club is expected to spread the wealth across the country like no other game in lottery history.”
The new multi-state premium lottery game and weekly one hour prime time television show was created by Scientific Games Corporation, a leading developer of technology-based products and services and associated content for worldwide gaming and lottery markets. The new lottery game goes on sale in 23 participating states on Sunday, October 19 where lottery tickets are sold, with more lotteries planning to join in the following months. The population of lottery jurisdictions selling the game at launch will be approximately 175 million. By the first week of March 2015, that population is expected to be close to 250 million.
With three different ways to win a million dollars, Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club is the first game to combine the high-stakes and rich rewards of multi-state lottery gaming with the fun and entertainment of a national television game show. The television series will feature players selected from an audience comprised mainly of ticket holders drawn from those who registered their lottery tickets online or via a smartphone app, and will be hosted by actor and comedian Billy Gardell (“Mike & Molly,” “You, Me & Dupree”).
The uniquely designed Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club draw game is expected to generate more simultaneous millionaires than any other game in lottery history. The prize pool will begin with a $15 million Top Prize and ten $1 million Club Prizes. If the Top Prize is not won in a given week, it will continue to increase in value for the next three weeks until it reaches $25 million. For as long as no one wins the Top Prize, all additional prize money will be allocated to fund additional $1 million Club Prizes until someone wins the Top Prize. Winning the Top Prize will unleash the $1 million Club Prizes. With the draw taking place on Friday evenings at 11:15 pm (ET), literally hundreds of players across the country could wake up Saturday morning as millionaires.
This new approach to a national lottery draw game was created by Scientific Games under license from Hasbro, and is based on the iconic Monopoly brand, which is one of the most well recognized brands in the world.
“Monopoly is one of the most successful brands in gaming with lottery, slots and sweepstakes. With Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club, more millionaires will be made than ever before,” said Steve Saferin, President of Properties Group and Chief Creative Officer for Scientific Games. “Our player research consistently indicates that participants would prefer to see the millions of dollars in lottery prizing distributed to lots of winners, rather than one or two players winning hundreds of millions of dollars each.”
Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club is the first multi-state draw game at the $5 price point in the United States, though $5 is the most popular price point for instant scratch ticket games. This $5 price point strengthens the game’s play value while differentiating it within lottery draw game portfolios.
Lottery players can register their tickets online to build MONOPOLY-themed Property Sets that, when complete, earn an entry into a drawing for the chance to appear on the nationally televised game show Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club, which premieres in February 2015. Thousands of players will win a five-day, four-night trip for two to Las Vegas to be in the studio audience of a Monopoly Millionaires’’ Club taping.
Contestants on the show will then be selected at random from the audience to play a series of games, each with a MONOPOLY theme, each of which will offer cash and other prizes valued up to $100,000. A final round will offer one player on each episode a shot at $1m. More than $2.5m in prize money is available to win on every episode.
Since 2006, there have been more than 170 Monopoly-themed lottery games launched globally with a retail value of nearly $5bn, most performing 10 per cent or more above industry averages, based on data from MDI Entertainment, LLC, a Scientific Games company. According to LaFleur’s Magazine, ” Monopoly Millionaire”, distinct from the traditional Monopoly brand, was one of the most popular licensed brands in lottery gaming in fiscal year 2013. MDI Entertainment has introduced 14 Monopoly Millionaire lottery games with retail value in excess of $850m since 2012.
