Systems and methods for map-based lottery games

A computer-implemented method for a map-based lottery game, the method comprising:

• establishing, by at least one computer processor, an online game having an electronic gameboard based on a map of a geographical area that includes a plurality of units, each unit corresponding to a geographic location in the mapped geographical area;
• displaying at least a portion of said electronic gameboard to potential players on their respective computing devices to solicit participation in said game;
• receiving, via a communication interface, from each of a plurality of players a selection of at least one available unit on the electronic gameboard, said selection corresponding to at least one geographic location in the mapped geographical area;
• uniquely associating each said player with the selected at least one unit such that each unit on the electronic gameboard is associated with no more than one of the plurality of players;
• and
• conducting, by at least one computer processor, a lottery drawing to select at least one first unit from some or all of the plurality of units such that any player associated with said at least one first unit becomes a first winner of a prize;
• wherein the electronic gameboard is displayed on a computing device capable of determining or estimating its own geographic location, and the method further comprising:
• causing the computing device to determine or estimate its own geographic location based on one or more location techniques selected from a group consisting of global positioning system (GPS), assisted global positioning system (A-GPS), hybrid global positioning system (HGPS), and cellular-based location techniques;
• receiving an entry in the map-based lottery game from the computing device based on the determined or estimated geographic location;
• and
• causing the computing device to generate a symbol associated with the entry in the map-based lottery game, the symbol being scannable by a scanning device.