Seven State Lotteries Host Special Facebook Live Drawing
To appeal to social media users and boost $2 ticket sales, seven state lotteries collaborated on a live Facebook drawing for a special 7-11-21 contest.
The official state lotteries of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Georgia, Maine, South Carolina, and North Carolina hosted the event in partnership with Scientific Games, giving players in multiple states a rare opportunity to participate live on Facebook.
The Lottery Drawing
The Facebook pages for each participating state’s lottery hosted the drawing at 7:11 PM. The drawing took place over 21 minutes and offered players a chance to win $77, $777, or $7,777. One of three prizes was chosen during the live stream to determine the prize amount to be won. Forty randomly selected players were eligible to win the prize.
There seemed to be a few technical difficulties in the beginning, and the drawing was off to a late start. However, it eventually was up and running, and players received directions on how to play.
To take part, players had to log in to Facebook and watch the 7-11-21 LIVE! event on the Facebook page in their state. From there, comments had to be made during the live stream in the chat window to be eligible to win a prize.
Only comments made during the stream were valid. Any comments made after the live stream did not count towards winning a prize. Comments had to include a favorite or lucky number to be eligible. In each state, a large number of people decided to take part in the hopes of being the lucky winner.
During the stream, the announcer drew four envelopes from a bin and placed each one on a board. Players were then asked to vote in a poll on which envelope would be opened to determine the prize value.
Players ended up choosing envelope #3. The envelope was opened and showed a value of $777. Every winner of the lottery drawing will win that amount. Winners will be picked among players who were eligible and made the correct comments during the live stream.
The winners’ names have now been placed on the Lottery Facebook pages for most participating states. Pennsylvania has plans to announce the winners on Friday.
Boosted Social Media Presence
The multi-state 7-11-21 LIVE event was created to try and appeal to a younger player audience and boost social media followings of the lotteries. Using Facebook Live, state lotteries are hoping to bring a new social element to the game, keeping players interested and purchasing tickets.
Players were able to talk to the announcer and make comments while taking part in the excitement of the drawing. The brainchild of Scientific Games, 7-11-21, is a trademarked retail lottery game of the brand. When the company saw the date approaching this year, Scientific Games felt that a live event would be a perfect way to offer a once-in-a-lifetime game.
Scientific Games quickly got to work planning the event and several states were excited to take part. The live event is expected to help boost the overall in-person sales of the $2 7-11-21 games. Scientific Games has plans to host a second live event, with details yet to be provided by the game developer.
