New Red Cross Lotto

18 March 1997

LONDON, 18 March 1997 -- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies today announced the launch of a "new" Internet lottery. The Lottery will be called "PLUS Lotto", a '6 numbers from 40' game. The new URL will be http://www.pluslotto.com and there will be a range of Instant and other games available from the same site. The lottery will also be available via email for those who don't have full Web access. The email address is entries@pluslotto.com

What is really happening in practical terms is that Liechtenstein Interlotto will cease to exist on-line when the first weekly of draw of "Plus lotto" takes place on Friday, 18 April in Liechtenstein. This means to all intents and purposes "Interlotto" will now be "The Red Cross On-line Lottery" as of the March 18th announcement in London.

It seems the company, Interlotto, will continue as the lottery managers but the public face will be "The Red Cross Lottery".

They have chosen the name "PLUS Lotto" which may be a oblique reference to the cross symbol, or it may be meant to imply "New and Improved". But it is likely that the name "Red Cross Lottery" will stick in peoples minds more than the branding PLUS Lotto planned. It already has in mine.

You can see from the new logo here that the designer has visually represented the Red Cross, "cross" and what appears to be a "tick" in dots (or perhaps these dots represent lotto balls). The planet earth might represent the world wide nature of the operation.

This is part of a new deal between the Liechtenstein Operators and the Red Cross organization. The Red Cross will now receive 25% of gross revenue to be used for their good works around the world. Otherwise it looks like the same operation with a new name and URL . The logic behind the move seems to be a better positioning or branding of what was Interlotto.

Interlotto has suffered in the publicity and media stakes and has never had the exposure needed to maintain a lottery's share of mind in the public arena. There was also confusion in cyberspace because of the USA based "Interlotto" lottery information service. A real bummer for the search engines, look here what you get on an *Interlotto* search http://www.lycos.com/cgi-bin/pursuit?query =Interlotto&cat=lycos&x=19&y=8 and you will see the problem.

Without constant exposure in the mainstream media, Interlotto became somewhat invisible to a large part of the lottery playing public, both off and on-line. By tying up with the Red Cross the invisibility problem may disappear. They are obviously hoping that the "feel good" factor will make people far more comfortable parting with their money if most of the profits are going to a respected and well known charitable institution.

Their Press release puts it this way: "The International Federation (of the Red Cross) will receive 25 per cent of the gross proceeds from PLUS Lotto. For example, if PLUS Lotto receives SFr5 million (6 million US) in entries in a week, the Federation will receive SFr1.25 (about 1.5 million US) million that week, with winners taking home a jackpot of SFr2.5 million (3.0 million US), or 50 per cent of the proceeds. This makes PLUS Lotto a potentially huge new source of donations for Red Cross and Red Crescent societies all over the world, as well as an exciting way to win big money."

"Winners receive prizes that equal 50 per cent of the weekly proceeds. The more people enter, the bigger the prize pool. The first draw will offer an estimated initial jackpot of SFr1.4 million (US$1.100,000). Winners are instantly notified by e-mail after the draw (held in Liechtenstein every Friday evening) and for those who wish to play during the week, there is a variety of instant-win games on offer as well."

"To play, users first set up an account with PLUS Lotto using a credit card or bank transfer. Their account is then credited with winnings (payable upon request through an international draft) and debited for each entry they make. All winnings are received as a lump sum. PLUS Lotto will begin operations today (March 18th 1997)."

"The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is delighted to announce this entirely new and innovative channel for funding programmes," said George Weber, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "With PLUS Lotto, we have created a form of revenue generation, electronic fund raising, that is a 'win-win' situation for everyone involved," he said. "Players can win money and have fun while helping the Federation further its mission to deliver much-needed services to the world's most vulnerable people."

"PLUS Lotto is administered by the International Lottery in Liechtenstein Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which created the concept of charitable Internet lotteries with InterLotto, launched in August 1995. It is authorized and controlled by the Liechtenstein government and monitored by Coopers & Lybrand AG."

The major change from the players selfish point of view is the prize pool has been reduced to 50%, about the average of Lotto's world wide. If they get the play, this may not matter. It's the size of the prize that matters in the end.