Lottery Machine Ideas for Raffles

darrell.smith@smartplay.com — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:24:11 +0000

So you’re starting a raffle. A raffle is defined as a type of lottery where people purchase tickets or entries, each with an identifying number. Usually participants buy any number of entries, each with an equal chance of winning. A drawing is then conducted where one or more of these numbers is selected randomly to determine the winner(s).

If you’re selling only 200 or so entries, it’s pretty easy to do this with individually numbered lottery balls. Move up to selling 500, 1000 or even 10,000 tickets, using a mechanical ball machine quickly gets unruly to manage. You’ve got to mix all those balls which takes a larger machine. To make the draw credible you need to display those balls before you draw them. So you need to display them in some way so the participants can see that all the numbered balls are actually going to be in the bin to be mixed. Of course, then you need to clean the machine and balls regularly so there is always an equal chance of all balls being drawn.

There has to be a better way!

What we suggest is a multi-chamber machine whereby each chamber is representing thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. As long as you sell an even number of tickets (e.g. 100, 1000, 1300, 1500, 2500, 15000, etc.) using a multi-chamber lottery machine will greatly simplify your draws. It will save you time, money and headaches and your participants will be able to easily see each ball that will be included in the draw.

For example, let’s say that you sell 1000 tickets — you need 1000 balls. Or you can use a three-chamber, single-digit lottery machine where each of the three chambers have balls 0-9 in each chamber. This gives you 1000 combinations 000 through 999. In this scenario 0000 would equal the draw of 1000 or 0000, it just depends on if you sell a ticket with the number 0000 or 1000.

This of course works equally well as you move up on quantity. See the example below with a four-chamber machine showing 10,000 combinations.

Let’s say you want to sell 1500. You would have 15 in the first chamber (0-14), 10 in the second chamber (0-9) and 10 in the last chamber (0-9).

15 x 10 x 10 = 1500 combinations (0000 through 1499)

This also works for larger quantities, you just need to add a chamber for each additional digit. For example, if you want to sell 10,000 tickets, you would need a four-chamber machine with 10 balls in the first chamber (0-9), then 0-9 in chambers 1, 2 and 3. 15,000? Place 15 (0-14) in the first chamber rather than 10 which gives you 00,000 through 14,999.

We had a customer recently purchase an EIGHT chamber machine providing even more flexibility and combinations.

What if I only sell 1200 tickets and I offered 1500? If you sold UP TO 1200 tickets – -meaning there was no tickets that had been sold that had a number of 1199, then you could reduce the number of balls in the first chamber to 12 and draw accordingly. But if you offer 1500 and sell, say 1450, you will need to include all 15 balls in the mix and redraw if you select a winning number out of the range. Simply redraw. Of course it will be very important to explain this to customers BEFORE you conduct the draw and include this in your rules.

Considering a multi-chamber, single digit drawing machine rather than one large chamber holding 1000, 2500 or more balls, will save you many headaches and allow you to focus on conducting a fair and fun raffle.

The post Lottery Machine Ideas for Raffles appeared first on Smartplay International.

Casino Promotion Ideas

darrell.smith@smartplay.com — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:31:24 +0000

Create excitement on the casino floor by using a lottery-ball machine for dozens of creative casino promotion ideas.

More and more properties are incorporating lottery-style promotions into their monthly casino promotions. You can go with traditional lottery theme, or consider the draw machine as a prize board which greatly expands the themes and concepts. A lottery machine can be used for “add em up” style games where the player must total to a certain number of points, yards or dollar amount. Or, maybe you collect certain colors or symbols. With the draw machine, you don’t need an envelope, which makes the draw result faster and more visual for your players. Below are a few concepts to get start. Contact Smartplay for more casino promotion ideas.

Color Match

The more colors you match the more you win.
Example: five orange balls and 20 white balls are placed inside the chamber.
The player wins depending on how many orange balls are drawn.
A prize legend shows how much is won for each number of orange balls drawn.
Additional colors could be added for various combinations of prizes. Colors could coordinate with seasons, events or property colors.
Equipment options: Jupiter, Casino Pick, Standard Daily.

Add Em Up

Balls are loaded into the machine based on desired odds and prize table.
Each ball is numbered with easily addable amounts (e.g. 10, 25, 50, 75).
The contestant wins revealed amount x 10 (or some other multiplier).
If balls add up to a specific number (e.g. 200), the player wins the grand prize. Certain balls or amounts could be designated for special prizes.
Bonuses could be added for revealing various color balls.
Equipment options: Jupiter, Casino Pick.

Themes and twists to the above casino promotion concept:

Turn up the Heat
- A giant thermometer scoreboard is placed by the draw machine. Numbers on the ball are “temperatures.”
- As numbers are selected, the temperature goes up and the player wins more money. Or player reaches prize levels as they move up the thermometer.
- Player progress is noted on the thermometer scoreboard.
Race To Riches
- Bring two or more players on stage.
- Draw numbers from the machine for each player. The first player to make it to a certain number is the winner.
- Create a prize board that tracks a path for each contestant toward the big money.
- If one player totals an exact specified amount (e.g. 100) they win an insured or guaranteed grand prize.
Race (colors and numbers) – for an added twist, use multi-colored balls with numbers. Contestants are each assigned a color. The host selects balls and numbers revealed are applied to the contestant matching the ball color selected.
Football Cash – Similar to race concept, the numbers revealed are yardage amounts. Two “teams” are playing each other, trying to make it to the end-zone first. Football field prize board adds to the visual presentation. This same idea could be used for other themes — horse racing, auto racing, track, and field, etc.

Big Prize Lotto

Create a giant scratch ticket prize boards.
Player removes an envelope or scratches the face of the board to reveal numbers, colors or other bonuses.
Lottery balls are then revealed one at a time on stage and prizes are awarded accordingly based on matches.

Roulette Riches

This is a promotional game that plays similar to roulette.
Players place their game pieces (e.g. colored discs) on colors and/or numbers or number ranges on the prize board.
Lottery balls are drawn and players earn points or dollars based on the result.

Color Match – Version 2

MultiPick draw machine draws multi-colored balls. Multi-colored balls are placed in the chamber.
The object is to reveal two or more balls of the same color. As long as you do, you continue to progress. The player could have one or more “saves” so they don’t lose on the first attempt.
Equipment options: MultiPick 2, MultiPick 3, MultiPick 4.

Draw Numbers Around The Clock

What about running a lottery-style casino promotion year round? In many parts of the world, Smartplay lottery machines run continuously, drawing balls every 5 or 10 minutes for web-streamed promotions and games. Imagine a “draw station” in your casino, posting winning promotion numbers every 30 minutes. Give patrons an incentive for staying on the property with a chance to win. Create a permanent fixed location for a drawing machine in a high-visibility location inside the casino. Draws are made at regular times and automatically posted to a display located next to the draw machine. These results could also be fed to other monitors on the property. Guests could participate in various ways:

Distribute scratch cards, which could be designed to play one or more games. More secure cards could be distributed for higher-value prize giveaways.
Integrate with slot tickets and print draw number on the ticket based on slot play.
Send a text message (see below).
Deliver codes through loyalty kiosks.

Players could win tickets which play for the next drawing. Tickets could be good for one or more of the automated drawings. For example, a ticket could say “good for any drawing on Wednesday” or “good for any drawing between 4 and 6 pm in June”. This process could also be automated, based on visit frequency, coin-in, etc.

Text a Winning Number

This concept would use the Draw Station noted above.
The guest gets a random number between 1 and 200 texted to their phone every 30 minutes.
The player can walk by the machine at any time to see if their number matches. If the number matches, they get X in free play.
The player is only eligible if they are on the property and can show the text on their phone to validate. A number must be registered with the player club in order to win (additional rules created by property may apply).

This is just start. Contact Smartplay for more casino promotion ideas and a list of our lottery-machine rental inventory items.

The post Casino Promotion Ideas appeared first on Smartplay International.

Casino Promotions – Smartplay International

Lottery Machine Ideas for Raffles

Casino Promotion Ideas

Create excitement on the casino floor by using a lottery-ball machine for dozens of creative casino promotion ideas.

Draw Numbers Around The Clock