Public Gaming International • September/October 2014
74
Making More and More
Millionaires
Players have of-
ten said they’d like
to see the winnings
spread out among more
winners rather than seeing
one or several persons win a
giant jackpot.
MONOPOLY Mil-
lionaires’ Club
™
is designed for them
—the Top Prize is smaller than the huge
jackpots in Powerball
®
or Mega Millions
®
, but instead a large number
of $1 million prizes is up for grabs.
MONOPOLY Millionaires’Club
™
offers players three ways to become a millionaire: through a weekly
drawing on Friday night for a $15 million-$25 million Top Prize, in a
special MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB drawing that will occur only when
the game’s Top Prize is won in the lottery drawing, and on a nation-
ally televised game show. By capping the Top Prize,
MONOPOLY
Millionaires’ Club
™
will create multiple winners of $1 million while
still having a winner of a larger amount of up to $25 million. The
prizes will begin with a $15 million Top Prize and ten $1 million Club
Prizes. If the Top Prize is not won, it will continue to increase in value
for each subsequent draw up to $25 million. Then, if no one wins the
Top Prize, all additional prize money will create additional $1 million
Club Prizes until someone wins the Top Prize.
But wait, there’s more …
MONOPOLY Millionaires’ Club
™
will in-
volve a rich variety of game-playing elements never before integrated
into a draw-based game. And the multi-media approach to marketing
and promoting the game will have a unique appeal to the modern “om-
ni-channel” consumer. By introducing a lottery playing experience that
connects with new consumer groups which want something fresh and
new,
MONOPOLY Millionaires’Club
™
delivers a gaming experience to
be enjoyed on a whole wide spectrum of different levels.
MONOPOLY Millionaires’ Club
™
is expected to generate more si-
multaneous millionaires than any other game in lottery history. With
three different ways to win,
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 featuring players selected from among the ticket holders
who have registered their tickets online or via a smartphone app.
MONOPOLY Millionaires’ Club
™
is the first $5 multi-state draw
game. The consumer wants to play different games and for the
games to be available for purchase at different price points. Mega
Millions is $1 a ticket, Powerball is $2. Different games, different
playing experience, different price points—this consumer-driven
strategy has driven the growth of instant-scratch tickets and now it
is being applied to the draw-games.
With the familiarity provided by the MONOPOLY
®
brand, the many
ways to become a millionaire by playing the game, the opportunity to
appear on a nationally televised game show, and the many ways to in-
teract via mobile and social media,
MONOPOLY Millionaires’ Club
™
is expected to appeal equally to core lottery players and to newer, likely
younger adult lottery players.
Those are some of the attributes that differentiate
MONOPOLY Mil-
lionaires’ Club
™
from Powerball and Mega Millions. Diversification of
product offerings to give the consumer new play options is key to the
development of any product category, and that certainly applies to the
national draw games.
Each time the game’s Top Prize is won in one of its weekly lottery
drawings, it will trigger a separate event: a drawing for at least ten priz-
es of $1 million in cash each. Known as the MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB
drawing, it will be conducted the same evening after the game’s Top
Prize is won. Each
MONOPOLY Millionaires’ Club
™
ticket purchased
will include a unique “MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB Number” . That num-
ber is an entry in the MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB Drawing. If, in a week
that the Top Prize is won, a player’s MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB number
is selected, that player wins one of the 10 (or more) $1 million prizes
being awarded that week. Winning MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB numbers
will be published online.
The National TV Game Show
Through a second-chance drawing based on a state-by-state basis,
between 125-250 winners plus guests will be chosen to be the audience
on the television game show. A minimum of three winners from each
participating state lottery will be represented in the audience of each
show. Tapings of the show will start in January, and the one-hour, pri-
metime game show will make its TV debut in February.
Contestants on the show will play a series of games with a MONOP-
OLY theme. The show’s mini games will offer prizes from $10,000 up
to $100,000 and a bonus round will offer a chance at $1 million. The au-
dience section from which the bonus round contestant was chosen also
has the opportunity to win a shared prize of $1 million. There also will
be an interactive play-at-home component available on desktop, tablet
and mobile devices. The game show will be produced in Las Vegas, so
those selected to attend its tapings will win a five-day, four-night trip
for two that will include all amenities and spending money. Players se-
lected to attend the game show’s tapings will be notified and assistance
will be provided to them in making travel arrangements to Las Vegas.
Bring on The Shower of Millionaires
The
MONOPOLY Millionaires’ Club
™
draw game will launch on
October 19, 2014. The lottery draw will take place on Friday evenings
at 11:15 p.m. Eastern, making it possible for literally hundreds of play-
ers across the country to wake up Saturday morning a millionaire. The
population of lottery jurisdictions selling the game by the first week of
November 2014 will be approximately 175 million. By the first week of
February 2015, that population will be approximately 245 million. Sev-
eral lotteries are still in the process of securing the required regulatory
approval to sell the game. Nobody will want to be left out of the biggest
game to hit the U.S. market in, like, ever!
u
