Stamford’s eLottery Inc. says its receipt of a U.S. patent widens the door to eventual sales of lottery tickets via TV cable boxes and smartphones in Connecticut and other lottery states.
Before its latest patent No. 8,348,742 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, eLot said it held eight other U.S. patents covering the sale of lottery tickets over the Internet via computer terminals and mobile telephones communicating directly to a state’s existing lottery ticket system.
“With the award of this patent we are now able to offer an Internet ticket sales system that communicates via a player’s television set-top box (satellite or cable) to the state’s existing system as well,” eLot CEO Edwin McGuinn said.
McGuinn estimates that virtually every state lottery – including Connecticut’s — could increase sales by as much as 15 percent – or on a nationwide basis $8.5 billion – based on more than $56 billion in U.S. lottery ticket sales in 2012 – by making their lottery products available online.
