How We Did It

How The Motley Fool Broke All the Rules to Make the World's Best Lottery

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FOOLottery!®

It all started with a visionary, a visionary who simply showed up on our doorstep a few weeks ago at Fool HQ...

This wasn't any bearded itinerant, though. This was the so-called "Grandaddy of the American Lottery," long-time lottery executive Larry McCloskey. If you've never heard of him, McCloskey facilitated the launch of the first U.S. state lottery in New Hampshire in 1964. Launching his own write-in campaign, McCloskey inspired everyone from dairy farmers to millworkers to the state's taxi drivers to write in with him, demanding that New Hampshire "Go Lotto!"

FACT: It worked. No fewer than 39 other U.S. states have sidled up to the lotto trough. Larry McCloskey is to the state lottery what spots are to dominoes.

So, on a snowy day last month, Larry McCloskey showed up unannounced, his trademark wide-brimmed hat perched at a jaunty angle. He was here to share a crazy, maverick idea. So crazy, it just might work.

It had never been seriously ventured, at least in any world-class format:

"Tom, Dave, why not run one of my lotteries online?"

Match McCloskey's doggedness, marry it to the Gardner brothers' legendary business chutzpah, and mix in a brilliant suggestion from Candace Straight in our marketing department, and you get FOOLottery!.

It was McCloskey who put FOOLottery! offshore, getting around U.S. gaming laws and the ridiculous monopoly restriction imposed by the states, preventing any business from offering (much better) lotteries.

Then it was David and Tom Gardner who funded it and stamped their Internet brand name on it.

Then it was Candy Straight who, not taking "no" for an answer, approached this lottery dream team with a novel idea: Why not more than double the traditional lottery payout? All heart, she asked:

"Why not show that The Motley Fool is willing to give 110%?"

And so the best darn lottery in the world was born -- FOOLottery!. It's the revolutionary 110% -- made possible through the power of Internet viral marketing and global word of mouth, and a business model that has no need for bricks and mortar or paper tickets -- that guarantees FOOLottery! will be an odd's-on favorite among lotteratis the world over.

Not convinced? Just watch. Today we expect hundreds of thousands to join FOOLottery!, attracting nearly half that many additional players. Our costs will remain constant; it's pure profit for us and our charitable partner, Bereft. And because players don't have to pay upfront, they carry the float -- in dozens of world currencies.

We expect to bankrupt state lotteries within 15 months.

Hope Nelson-Pope

Motley Fool VP of Global Marketing

P.S. To all players, we hope you have a great FOOLottery! experience. Good luck out there. Pick! Click! Win! You can get started right away via this Internet link: http://www.fool.com/lottery/.

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About The Motley Fool's FOOLottery!

Nearly six weeks in the making, The Motley Fool's global FOOLottery! represents a unique opportunity for both the company and its worldwide audience. Organized offshore, with extensive legal work, a patented technology ("Play Now, Pay Later"TM), and backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and 110% payouts, it truly lives up to its trademarked slogan: "Betting on a Brighter Future."

Media inquiries for David and Tom Gardner should be directed to Fool VP of Lottery Media, Wallace Sanders (email: lotterymedia@fool.com). Mr. Larry McCloskey, Chairman, has also generously made himself available for public appearances.