

Show HN: Jackpocket- Buy your $586M Mega Millions ticket right from your phone - pjsullivan3
http://www.jackpocket.com/

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Jemaclus
How does this work? It's my understanding that you must have a physical ticket
to claim your lottery winnings. How does that work with a mobile app? And
what's to prevent Jackpocket from using my winning ticket to claim the
winnings themselves?

Not really clear on the legality of anything here. I'm trying to "imagine the
possibilities", as the site says, and I'm coming up with a lot of questions
that aren't addressed. Where's a FAQ?

~~~
lshemesh
FAQ isn't available quite yet, we'll be adding one soon. Jackpocket buys the
lottery ticket on your behalf, and actually sends you a digital image of it.
Your trust, and a whole bunch of fancy legal docs are what prevents us from
cashing in your tickets. If you do happen to win, we retrieve the money for
you, credit your Jackpocket account, and allow you to withdraw the money
directly into a bank account of your choosing. Happy to answer any other
questions you might have.

~~~
Jemaclus
Yeah, that's not cool. I wouldn't trust anyone with a $50 million piece of
paper that I won, contract or not.

Good luck, though.

~~~
lshemesh
Many people wouldn't trust themselves with a piece of paper worth that much.
At least with Jackpocket the evidence is digitized before the drawing. What's
interesting is that currently that piece of paper is the only thing linking
lottery players with their numbers. Jackpocket actually creates a layer that
makes it more secure.

~~~
Jemaclus
And I should trust you -- someone with direct access to the database -- to not
change the user_id on that row in the DB that says that ticket is mine? To
trust that your digitized "evidence" is actually real? How do I know you
haven't bought 10,000 tickets with our money and scanned one ticket and
assigned that to everyone, keeping the other 99,999 for yourself?

I swear I'm not paranoid, but we're talking about potentially millions of
dollars. You only have to have one of your customers win once and then
disappear with the money. If the ticket is safely on my person or in my wallet
or in my safe deposit box or in a safe in my home or somewhere where I have
direct access to it, then I can say with certainty that it's my ticket and not
anyone else's -- and I don't have to trust anyone else with it.

I certainly trust myself more than a couple of guys with an iOS app, yes?

Edit: I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just asking what I consider to be
legitimate questions -- questions that you are not answering on your live site
and questions whose answers are (and should be) more complicated than "trust
us."

~~~
lshemesh
I'll do my best to answer your question. We already have a couple hundred
users who are quite comfortable trusting us with their lottery tickets, some
have won, but clearly not the millions you're referring to. I would not expect
everyone to trust us, especially so early in the game. What we plan on doing
is making our legal documents clear and simple, building a recognizable brand
that is closely tied with the lottery (state/goverment), and maybe building
some more security layers and ways for users to feel comfortable with the
process. At the end of the day, earning the trust of the Jemaclus's of the
world will be tougher. If all the things I outlined above happen, then it'll
likely be much easier. So, yes you should trust us, maybe not now, but
someday. Thanks for the feedback.

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PeterWhittaker
Cue legislative response to disruptive use of technology in 3... 2... 1...!

I love apps like this - way cool, and will cause some politicos to flounder
and babble and froth as they seek to rationalize and apologize for current
rights patent.

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pjsullivan3
We've been super quiet about this and are not really ready to ship yet (bunch
of bugs) but decided to let you guys give it a try since the Mega Millions is
so big.

If you're on iOS you can use the code "money" to try it

~~~
rory096
I'm getting "Location must be enabled to use JackPocket" here in VA on my S3
running ICS. Looks like it's attempting to get a GPS lock and timing out
before it gets one. Any reason you all need fine location data and coarse
won't cut it?

Cool idea though- I'll definitely give it a shot if it starts working!

~~~
lshemesh
Totally should have mentioned this earlier. For now we're only going to be
supporting NY lotteries, that's where our tickets are bought. In order to
comply with current lottery rules, you have to be physically in the state of
the lottery you're playing. We use GPS fencing to accomplish this.

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matt_heimer
Is it a subscription delivery service like this:
[http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/04/lottogopher-
com...](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/04/lottogopher-com-wants-to-
sell-you-lotto-tickets-online/)

~~~
lshemesh
Hey thanks for the comment! It is not a subscription delivery service as of
yet. We first wanted to nail down the basics of allowing users to select their
numbers and get their lottery tickets from the comfort of their own homes.

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frankdenbow
Showed this to my aunt and she _loved_ it (has been playing lotto for over a
decade). If they can leverage push notifications effectively and find a
subscription model that works, I think it could be big.

Disclosure: I won $1 on this app a few weeks back

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zaarons
This is by far the easiest way to buy lotto tickets. I once bought a ticket
from a bodega that won a few numbers and I lost it. This way I will never lose
a ticket again.

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lshemesh
Hey HN CTO of Jackpocket here. This has been an incredibly fun project to
build. If anyone has any technology questions, happy to answer them best I
can.

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Urgo
Tip: link to the google play store. Don't 'text me' a link. I can install it
from the pc. You lost me right there.

~~~
lshemesh
We'd love to send you to the Play store, but unfortunately the Google Play
store is very strict regarding gambling. Interestingly enough, the Apple store
isn't as strict. Go figure. Thanks for the comment!

~~~
Urgo
Gotcha.. that makes sense.. even a link to an apk w/ screen shots though or a
QR code would be much preferred. Having a box to enter my phone # makes me
think I'm going to get spammed and I immediately click off.

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Splendor
I was unable to use it. It told me location access needed to be enabled even
though it already was. Nexus 4 running KitKat.

~~~
guardanis
Hi Splendor, I'm the Android developer for it and I'm sorry to hear you're
having issues with the geo-fencing, but I will try to help you out. Currently,
the application uses Google Play Services (a connective library for Google
Play's APIs) in order to grab your location to make sure you're in New York.

If you're getting an error saying that Location must be enabled in order to
use it, it means that your device claims the GPS Provider, the Network
Provider, AND the Passive Provider are ALL disabled when attempting to grab
your location.

If you're sure they're enabled in your settings (where the App's error message
should take you), I would try restarting the device.

If the issue still persists, please shoot me an email at matt@jackpocket.com
and I will help you get it working

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aaronchriscohen
Really love how it sends me a push if my numbers hit. No need to check my
tickets at the bodega scanner which never works.

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danb349
Really simple way to buy lottery tickets. Have been using it myself! Good job.

