Kentucky Lottery sets up Tic Tac Cash online game
Kentucky Lottery sets up Tic Tac Cash online game
Kentucky Lottery released its new online product, based on a children’s game - tic tac toe. This offering, which is said to be the first game of its kind nationally, provides a $25,000 top prize.
Associated Press via Kentucky.com reported that the concepts for other online games are on the drawing board as the lottery tries to recoup millions being lost across the border to the new state lottery in Tennessee.
Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Arch Gleason said: “Our goal is to keep our games fresh and fun. Tic Tac Cash fits that description. The game's play slip resembles a tic tac toe grid. It features eight squares, each containing five numbers, with a "free" square in the middle.”
A player can select a number from each box or let a computer make the pick. Each evening, the lottery randomly selects eight winning numbers - one of the five numbers in each square.
"The basis of your winnings is how many lines you can draw on that tic-tac-toe board," Kentucky Lottery spokesman Chip Polston said.
The users are to pay $1 for each play and then they can win $2 due to one right line of numbers or even $25,000 for all eight possible matching lines. Odds of claiming any cash are 1 in 6. The odds of winning the grand prize are about 1 in 390,000.
Ed Weyler, owner of Ed's Corner Store in downtown Louisville, said players are interested in trying the game. "You explain it to somebody, and once they see the play slips and see how it's played, it isn't confusing," Weyler said.
Polston said Tic Tac Cash is expected to generate about $7 million in yearly sales. That amounts to a tenth of the looming losses as Tennesseans stay home to play their own lottery.
According to Steve Casebeer, the lottery's senior vice president of marketing and sales, other possible games will include an online game allowing immediate results without waiting for a drawing. Another option is an online game that costs $2 per play, rather than $1, and offers more prize levels.
Lottery officials tested a couple of concepts at the Kentucky State Fair. A new online game might be rolled out next spring, Casebeer said.
