Millionaire Monopoly Lottery Game Coming To 20 US States
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As many as 20 states will combine in the United States to create a new lottery game with multi-million dollar jackpots.
The game is called 'The Monopoly Millionaires Club' and uses a theme borrowed from the popular Monopoly board game.
The Hoosier Lottery already has a Monopoly-themed scratch-off game that is designed to pave the way for the new drawing game.
It’s significantly different from existing games like Powerball and Hoosier Lotto. Jackpots will be capped at a reported $25 million. The idea is that a single drawing could create dozens and maybe hundreds of millionaires.
The goal is to attract lottery players familiar with Monopoly, such as Gary Edwards (below).
"I love Monopoly. I’ve been playing it since I was a kid," he said.
Hoosier Lottery officials confirmed plans to sell the game that uses $5, higher than other drawing games. Lottery officials could not, however, confirm other elements of the game.
It will be similar to the Canadian game called Lotto Max, which limits jackpots to $50 million dollars with multiple million dollar winners.
“That would make players want to actually play more,” said lottery player Chandra King. “If they know that, even though it’s a little more with the price, if they know that they’re going to have more chances to win.”
“What would I do with $600 million, you know, $50 million’s good enough,” Edwards said.
Comedian Billy Gardell (above right) of Mike and Molly will also host a weekly TV show from Las Vegas where additional prizes will be handed out. Like the TV show, drawings will take place weekly.
The Monopoly Millionaires' Club was a lottery game that began in October 2014, but only lasted 10 drawings.
The game offered various prizes, including the possibility to win $1 million through the Millionaires' Club Number, which was drawn only if the jackpot was won.
The odds of winning any prize were approximately 1 in 10, with the only jackpot win occurring during its third drawing on November 7, 2014, when a player from New Jersey won $21 million.
The only jackpot winner of the Monopoly Millionaires' Club lottery game was a ticket purchased in New Jersey for the drawing on November 7, 2014.
This winning ticket earned the holder a top prize of $21 million and was bought from Highland General Store, Inc. in Highland Lakes, Sussex County.
The jackpot win also triggered an additional 14 $1 million prizes that were distributed across various states. The winning numbers for that draw were 1, 9, 11, 12, and 27, with Property Number 18, B&O Railroad
The game featured a multi-state draw with 22 states and the District of Columbia participating at the launch. Nine more states were expected to join in 2015.
However, the game faced challenges due to its complexity and a $5 ticket price, which were factors that led to its suspension following low ticket sales.
The draw game was suspended after only 10 drawings due to these issues, and the Texas Lottery was the first to announce its withdrawal from the game on December 12, 2014.
Despite the initial excitement and the effort put into developing the game, the lack of player response led to its downfall.
There was some discussion of revising the game concept, which did indeed happen when the Monopoly Millionaires' Club was revived as a series of scratch-and-win games.
Here players could win the opportunity to participate in a Monopoly Millionaires' Club game show taping.
The game show, hosted by Billy Gardell, premiered in March 2015 and featured contestants playing Monopoly-inspired games to win up to $100,000 each, with the possibility of risking their winnings for a chance to win $1 million.
The final episode of the game show aired on April 30, 2016, and during its lifespan, only 4 contestants won the $1 million grand prize.
