Systems for Lottery Pool Management

Abstract

A lottery pool management system for lottery pool management is provided that includes a participant interface in communication with participant computers having pool participants, a lottery interface, and a notification interface. The participant interface receives lottery numbers entered by pool participants into lottery pools associated with a lottery. The participant interface also enables the pool participants to participate together in the lottery pools, exchange information regarding at least one of the lotteries prior to a drawing thereof, and to be informed of lottery numbers that are associated with respective pool participants in the lottery pools prior to the drawing of a lottery. The lottery interface receives drawing results for the lotteries, compares the drawing results with the lottery numbers, and recognizes that a winning event has occurred. The notification interface notifies the pool participants about activity in the lotteries.

1 . A lottery pool management system implemented on a management computer for lottery pool management over a communication network, the lottery pool management system comprising:
 a participant interface resident on the management computer and in communication with one or more participant computers, each participant computer having one or more pool participants, the participant interface being configured to receive a plurality of lottery numbers entered by one or more pool participants into one or more lottery pools associated with a lottery, enable the pool participants to participate together in the one or more lottery pools, enable the pool participants to exchange information regarding at least one of the lotteries prior to a drawing thereof, and to enable at least one of the pool participants to be informed by way of the one or more participant computers, respectively, of one or more of the lottery numbers that are associated with respective pool participants in one or more of the lottery pools prior to the drawing of a lottery;   a lottery interface resident on the management computer and in communication with the participant interface, the lottery interface being configured to receive drawing results for one or more of the lotteries, compare the drawing results with the plurality of lottery numbers received by the participant interface, and to recognize that a winning event has occurred when a given one of the plurality of lottery numbers is drawn as a winning lottery number for its corresponding lottery; and   a notification interface resident on the management computer and in communication with the participant interface and the lottery interface, the notification interface being configured to notify the pool participants by way of the one or more participant computers about activity in one or more of the lotteries.   
   
   
       2 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the notification comprises a notification to the pool participants, when one of the winning events occurs, of at least a portion of the amounts that are to be paid out as the result of the given lottery numbers being drawn as a winning lottery number. 
   
   
       3 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the notification further comprises a notification to the pool participants, when one of the winning events occurs, that the respective pool participant is entitled to share in at least a portion of the amounts that are to be paid out as the result of the given lottery numbers being drawn as a winning lottery number. 
   
   
       4 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the activity comprises at least one of the group consisting of lottery numbers being entered by one or more pool participants, withdrawal of one or more pool participants and addition of one or more pool participants. 
   
   
       5 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the notification further comprises an identification of the pool participants. 
   
   
       6 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 5 , wherein the identification comprises an alias of the other pool participants. 
   
   
       7 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein each lottery number comprises one or more sets of numbers. 
   
   
       8 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein each lottery number comprises a lottery ticket number. 
   
   
       9 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the participant interface includes a lottery pool creation module configured to create new lottery pools. 
   
   
       10 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 9 , wherein the lottery pool creation module is further configured to allow pool participants to respectively create new lottery pools by way of the one or more participant computers. 
   
   
       11 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the plurality of lottery numbers comprises receiving one or more lottery numbers entered by a user using a graphical user interface. 
   
   
       12 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 11 , wherein the user comprises one of the pool participants. 
   
   
       13 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the information exchanged by the pool participants comprises one or more of the plurality of lottery numbers received by the lottery interface. 
   
   
       14 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the information exchanged by the pool participants comprises one or more of the plurality of lottery numbers entered by the pool participants. 
   
   
       15 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the information is exchanged via a graphical user interface visible to the pool participants. 
   
   
       16 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the information is exchanged via an email communication to the pool participants. 
   
   
       17 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the lottery interface is further configured to ascertain jackpot amounts for one or more of the lotteries. 
   
   
       18 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the drawing results comprises receiving one or more lottery numbers from the respective lottery. 
   
   
       19 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein receiving drawing results comprises receiving one or more lottery numbers entered by a user using a graphical user interface. 
   
   
       20 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein each lottery pool is further configured to enable the update of lottery numbers previously received. 
   
   
       21 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the pool participants are each members of a club disposed to participate in a number of successive lotteries, and wherein the participant interface includes a participant history module to allow pool participants to track the history of numbers chosen and played by the pool participants in one or more previous lotteries; and
 the notification interface is further configured to notify each of the club members when a lottery reaches a specified jackpot level.   
   
   
       22 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the participant interface includes a second chance module to allow pool participants to replay lottery numbers. 
   
   
       23 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the lottery interface is further configured to retrieve rules and regulations associated with the one or more lotteries. 
   
   
       24 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the lottery interface includes a ticket purchasing module to allow the system to purchase tickets for the one or more lotteries at the request of one or more of the pool participants. 
   
   
       25 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the activity in the one or more lotteries is a completed drawing. 
   
   
       26 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the activity in the one or more lotteries is an updated jackpot amount. 
   
   
       27 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , further including one or more databases. 
   
   
       28 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more databases include information regarding the plurality of lottery numbers. 
   
   
       29 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more databases include information regarding the one or more lottery pools. 
   
   
       30 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more databases include information regarding the pool participants. 
   
   
       31 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more databases include information regarding the one or more lotteries. 
   
   
       32 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the participant interface is further configured to only receive the plurality of lottery numbers entered by the one or more pool participants during a predetermined period, and wherein the lottery interface is further configured to receive an end time of the predetermined period. 
   
   
       33 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 1 , wherein the end time is substantially five minutes prior to the drawing of the respective lottery. 
   
   
       34 . A system for lottery pool management over a communication network comprising:
 one or more participant computers;   one or more lottery pool management computers, the one or more lottery pool management computers being in communication with the one or more participant computers through the communication network; and   a lottery pool management system resident on the one or more lottery pool management computers, wherein the lottery pool management system includes:
 a participant interface in communication with a participant computer, the participant interface being configured to enable two or more of a plurality of pool participants to participate as members of a group having a common interest in one or more lottery pools, wherein each lottery pool is associated with a lottery and each lottery pool has a plurality of lottery numbers respectively provided by one or more of the pool participants; 
 a lottery interface in communication with one or more lotteries and the participant interface, the lottery interface being configured to receive drawing results for the one or more lotteries, compare the drawing results with the lottery numbers in the one or more lottery pools, and to recognize that a winning event has occurred when a given one of the plurality of lottery numbers is drawn as a winning lottery number for its corresponding lottery; and 
 a notification interface in communication with the participant interface and the lottery interface, the notification interface being configured to notify the plurality of pool participants about activity in the one or more lotteries. 
   
   
   
       35 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 34 , wherein the notification comprises a notification to the pool participants, when one of the winning events occurs, of at least a portion of the amounts that are to be paid out as the result of the given lottery numbers being drawn as a winning lottery number. 
   
   
       36 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 34 , wherein each lottery number comprises one or more sets of numbers. 
   
   
       37 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 34 , wherein each lottery number comprises a lottery ticket number. 
   
   
       38 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 34 , wherein the participant interface includes a lottery pool creation module configured to allow pool participants to respectively create new lottery pools. 
   
   
       39 . A lottery pooling management system configured for operation on a communication network, the system comprising:
 a participant interface, the participant interface being in communication with a participant computer, the participant interface being configured to increase the chances for two or more of a plurality of pool participants to win a lottery by enabling two or more of the plurality of pool participants to participate as members of a group having a common interest in one or more lottery pools, wherein at least one lottery pool comprises one or more lottery numbers respectively provided by one or more of the plurality of pool participants, selectively;   a lottery interface, the lottery interface being in communication with one or more lotteries and the participant interface, the lottery interface being configured to receive drawing results and jackpot amounts for the one or more lotteries, compare the drawing results with the one or more lottery numbers in the one or more lottery pools, and to recognize that a winning event has occurred when a given one of the one or more lottery numbers is drawn as a winning lottery number of its corresponding lottery;   a notification interface, the notification interface being in communication with the participant interface and the lottery interface, the notification interface being configured to notify the plurality of pool participants about activity in the one or more lotteries; and   the interfaces being resident on a lottery pool management computer connected to one or more participant computers by way of the communication network.   
   
   
       40 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 39 , wherein the notification comprises a notification to the pool participants, when one of the winning events occurs, of at least a portion of the amounts that are to be paid out as the result of the given lottery numbers being drawn as a winning lottery number. 
   
   
       41 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 39 , wherein each lottery number comprises one or more sets of numbers. 
   
   
       42 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 39 , wherein each lottery number comprises a lottery ticket number. 
   
   
       43 . The lottery pooling management system of  claim 39 , wherein each lottery is limited to a single elective participation event. 
   
   
       44 . The lottery pool management system of  claim 39 , wherein the participant interface includes a lottery pool creation module configured to allow pool participants to respectively create new lottery pools. 
   
   
       45 . The lottery pooling management system of  claim 39 , wherein each of the plurality of lottery numbers comprises a lottery ticket number and the participant interface includes a ticket entry module to allow pool participants to enter and update the ticket numbers into the lottery pools associated with the pool participants. 
   
   
       46 . The lottery pooling management system of  claim 39 , wherein the participant interface includes a participant history module to allow the pool participants to track the history of numbers chosen and played by the pool participants. 
   
   
       47 . The lottery pooling management system of  claim 39 , wherein the lottery interface includes a comparison module configured to compare the drawing results for first time winners and for second chance winners among the pool participants. 
   
   
       48 . The lottery pooling management system of  claim 39 , wherein the lottery interface includes a ticket purchase module operable to enable the lottery interface to purchase tickets through the communication network for the pool participants by way of one of the group consisting of direct purchase by the pool participants and purchases coordinated by the lottery interface. 
   
   
       49 . The lottery pooling management system of  claim 39 , further comprising a module for displaying on a participant computer a report showing at least one of the group consisting of the number of entries of the lottery numbers by pool participants and the number of matches of winning numbers entered by respective pool participants.