A method of conducting an interactive instant winner lottery ticket system with a promotional feature comprising the steps of:
- A. Providing a lottery ticket system comprising:
- a. communicating, by a central computer, with a plurality of computer terminals via an intranet, the world-wide web or other remote communication means, said computer terminals being located at one location or a plurality of spaced-apart locations;
- b. displaying:
- 1) preprinted lottery tickets, wherein access to the preprinted lottery tickets is provided to at least one of a customer or a clerk;
- or
- 2) representations of lottery games or lottery tickets on one or more computer terminals configured in connection with purchase to dispense preprinted lottery tickets, print lottery tickets, or both dispense preprinted lottery tickets and print lottery tickets;
- or
- 3) any combination of 1) and 2);
- c. associating each lottery ticket with information identifying said ticket, said information being provided in machine-readable and/or human-readable form, and wherein said lottery ticket, whether preprinted or printed in connection with purchase, is configured such that prior to, at, or after purchase, the lottery ticket comprises, represents, or is associated with at least one of the following:
- (i) one or more lottery games represented by or associated with the lottery ticket;
- (ii) one or more features usable to cause, effect, or result in initiation, enabling, triggering, qualification, funding, crediting, redemption, validation, or reconciliation of participation in at least one lottery game or digital lottery account;
- or (iii) any combination of (i) and (ii);
- d. processing, at the central computer, the information identifying a purchased lottery ticket;
- e. processing, determining, or causing to be determined, by the central computer, outcome information for said ticket at the time of or after purchase of said ticket or, in the case of a lottery ticket that does not directly represent an outcome, validating, crediting, reconciling, or otherwise applying information associated with the ticket to enable, fund, trigger, or otherwise make available directly, or indirectly through a funded account, participation in one or more lottery games for which outcome information is determined separately, wherein the outcome information includes one or more lottery-related results that may be predetermined, partially predetermined, or not predetermined, and may be determined at a time selected from before purchase, at purchase, or after purchase, including before initiation of, during, or after completion of a visual presentation associated with the particular lottery game;
- f. enabling prizes payable for any winning outcome to be determined in accordance with a prize funding architecture associated with the particular lottery game comprising at least one of:
- pooled, non-pooled, or combination of pooled and non-pooled prize funding;
- g. generating, retrieving, identifying, or otherwise providing, by the central computer, game-related information, whether predefined, dynamically generated, or selected from a plurality of predefined game configurations, stored in, accessible to, or otherwise obtainable by the central computer, used directly or indirectly to control, initiate, enable, or define at least one aspect of a digital game display related to or associated with the lottery ticket or for a lottery ticket that does not directly represent an outcome, one or more lottery games enabled, funded, triggered, or otherwise made available directly or indirectly by purchase or funding of the ticket;
- h. transmitting from the central computer to one or more computer terminals having a digital display screen, or configured to communicate with one or more screens capable of showing digital displays, outcome data, control data, parameters, executable instructions, or other information sufficient to cause a digital game display to occur;
- i. presenting, on said digital display screen or screens, the digital game display;
- B. Programming at least one lottery game to provide an extended presentation period configured to prolong visual presentation of a digital game display beyond a minimum time otherwise required for technical capability to determine, finalize, or make available outcome information for a lottery ticket including, for a lottery ticket that does not directly represent an outcome, a digital game display related to or associated with one or more lottery games enabled, funded, triggered, or otherwise made available directly or indirectly by purchase or funding of the ticket, such duration including time occurring before, during, and/or after visual presentation of the outcome without affecting determination of said outcome information, in order to provide an engaging visual presentation suitable to support promotions and advertising or enhanced player engagement on said computer terminals;
- C. Enabling at least one of said computer terminals or digital display screens to communicate non-outcome information, including advertising content, advertisers'images, promotional offerings, merchandise promotions, rewards programs, cross-marketing coupons, or other visual promotional content or marketing indicia before initiation of, during, or after completion of said digital game display.