Jackpocket CEO Discusses US Lottery Courier Service

Sports betting is the talk of the town, but it’s not the only online gambling product states are turning to as they look for new sources of revenue and attempt to modernize their gambling industries.

Legal online poker, casino, and other products are also spreading across the country, just at a slower clip than sports betting. Online lottery is one such product.

You wouldn’t know it because it doesn’t get a lot of publicity, but online lottery is spreading faster than poker or casino. Lottery products can be purchased online in 11 states and counting.

That said, there will be pockets of the country devoid of legal online gambling for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, inventive companies are stepping in to fill the void, including online lottery.

A Quick Look at Alternative Products

Daily fantasy sports is the best-known example of these types of products. DFS was created to exploit language in the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that carved out fantasy sports. By crafting a product that fit neatly into the UIGEA’s classification of fantasy sports, inventive entrepreneurs created a stand-in for legal sports betting.

What’s more, DFS has proven that it’s more than a fill-in for the real thing. DFS continues to be a thriving industry, even in states that have subsequently legalized sports betting.

And DFS isn’t the only stand-in product that’s proven to have staying power. Virtual sports emerged as a filler product when an outbreak of Hoof and Mouth Disease forced a shutdown of the UK horse racing industry in 2002. The product didn’t disappear when the racing ban was lifted, and virtual sports continue to be a significant part of the betting markets in several markets, including the UK, Italy, and Africa.

Another example is the Jackpocket lottery app. Jackpocket is an online lottery courier service that, according to its website, “offers players a secure way to order official state lottery tickets via a mobile platform that digitally locks your ticket to you.”

Jackpocket is currently available in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Texas, Colorado, and New Jersey. The company is also live in DC but hasn’t publicly launched.  

What makes Jackpocket slightly different than DFS and Virtual Sports is that it’s not a new product; rather, it’s a new delivery channel for an existing product.

Start with Compliance

Jackpocket isn’t your typical courier service. The company works with states and regulatory bodies to provide an online service that delivers lottery tickets to customers. In fact, in December 2019, the company became the first lottery courier service licensed in a US jurisdiction when New Jersey licensed Jackpocket. 

As Jackpocket CEO Peter Sullivan explained to Betting USA,” our approach has been to focus on compliance from day one. We really pride ourselves on ensuring that we’re providing the highest level of consumer protections and meeting or exceeding all the regulatory requirements.”

One area where Jackpocket goes above and beyond regulatory requirements is responsible gaming. In fact, Jackpocket has instituted its own responsible gaming private policy that goes above and beyond any state mandates.

Daily deposits are limited to $250, and daily purchases to $100. Customers can also set their own limits below those thresholds through the app.

According to Sullivan, working within the legal frameworks of different states, and in conjunction with the regulatory bodies, is what allows Jackpocket to stand out.

What Are The Legal Frameworks Of Lottery Courier Services?

Most states expressly allow someone to purchase tickets for a group of players, and that’s the legal framework Jackpocket works within.

Only two states expressly prohibit lottery courier services (Wisconsin and Virginia).  According to Sullivan, most state statutes and regulations are silent on the topic and tend to include provisions that support the idea of individuals buying on behalf of other individuals.

As Sullivan put it, “What we’ve done is find an interesting distribution format that people have always been doing.” That distribution channel is simple: People buying lottery tickets on behalf of other people.

That includes everything from office pools to your uncle who hands out scratch tickets on Christmas Eve. According to Sullivan, all Jackpocket has done is to create a more efficient way to do that.

And regulators in states where Jackpocket operates agree. Adam Prock, the director of communications for the Minnesota Lottery, explained back in 2018, “They operate under Minnesota statutes to make these purchases for their customers. For the lottery, this is no different than any other winner.”

Jackpocket Delivers in the Absence of, or Alongside Online Lotteries

Jackpocket has found success in states with and without an online lottery.

As Sullivan explained, some of the states with online lotteries are still retail-focused, with less than 1% of sales happening online, according to Sullivan. And that’s where Jackpocket can help. The company spends its marketing dollars and leverages its well-reviewed app to give customers an alternative to the state lottery. And as Sullivan explained, younger customers might not connect with the official state lottery brand.

“We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all product, and we believe there’s a lot of consumers, especially younger, affluent, tech-savvy consumers that may have a negative brand connection to the lottery,” said Sullivan.

In that way, Jackpocket is supplemental to the state lottery, as it helps sell more products and reach a new audience.

Even Better Than the Real Thing

With any app, success is largely predicated on the customer’s experiences.

Sullivan’s background is as a UI UX designer, and that’s why he puts the product first.

Some of the features customers will find in the Jackpocket app are the ability to store favorite numbers, create private or public pools, and will even show the breakdown and handle the price-sharing if pool participants order different numbers of tickets.

One of the more interesting features is the apps auto-play subscription. Customers that setup an auto-play subscription (that randomly choose their numbers or plays favorite numbers all the time) can play every drawing or only when a certain trigger occurs. As Sullivan explained, users can customize their auto-play subscription to the point that it will normally order one ticket, but once the jackpot crosses $500 million, it will order five.

And as Sullivan put it, the company has only scratched the surface of what is possible.

“When we first started it was let’s use the games people know and love,” Sullivan said. “But we think in the future there could be all new types of game formats that have never been imagined before.”