Convenience comes with a price tag
Jackpocket charges a 9% fee on each deposit — but if a ticket wins, the consumer keeps all of the winnings (minus the IRS cut for any wins over $600).
Jackpocket CEO Peter Sullivan points with pride to the company’s endorsement by the National Council on Problem Gambling for its responsible gambling efforts. The Jackpocket app features daily deposit and spend limits, an option to self-exclude from play, and in-app access to NCPG’s resources and support hotline.
Jackpocket also promotes responsible gaming through its website, blog, social media pages, newsletters, and ads, Sullivan notes.
Jackpocket also advertises on Snapchat with a promise of free tickets to those who refer friends who sign up with the service, an enticement that Sullivan says has proven popular.
Sullivan founded the company eight years ago after helping his father — an avid lottery player — get a feel for his first iPhone. Most of the world seems to be at one’s fingertips, of course, except Sullivan’s father asked why he couldn’t play the lottery online.
Jackpocket’s expansion to continue
While Jackpocket became officially licensed in New Jersey in December 2019 and in New York in January 2021, Sullivan said that most state lottery laws are “silent” on a product such as his. Virginia, Wisconsin, and Indiana thus are among the few states where Jackpocket so far is locked out.
Colorado is among 10 states where Jackpocket already is “live,” and Sullivan said additional states will be added in the next 18 months.
Jackpocket customers can play their state’s lottery as well as multi-states games such as Mega Millions and Powerball if their state participates in such contests.
The growing number of states that are legalizing mobile sports betting, online casino gambling, or both have produced more consumers who also do research into how they can play lottery online, Sullivan said.
Lotto.com, a rival to Jackpocket, launched last month in New Jersey, but the format is quite different.
Instead of using an app, Lotto.com customers go to a web-based platform and “pay-as-they-go.” With Jackpocket, consumers make an initial deposit and then draw down from that fund as they play.
Jackpocket also has a recurring subscription option that automatically gets a consumer “into the game” whenever a lottery jackpot crosses a pre-selected trigger such as $100 million. Jackpocket also is developing a “pool with friends” feature that will eliminate office-worker confusion as to who exactly gets a share of that big, lucky jackpot.