Lottery Games App Launched In Texas

AUSTIN, TX — As the Mega Millions jackpot reaches an astounding $530 million prize, an app was launched in Texas on Thursday ahead of Friday's big drawing enabling users to play lottery games — Texas Two Step, Mega Millions, Powerball and others— on their smart phones, officials said.

Dubbed "Jackpocket ," the app had a soft launch in January. The app features a new "Private Pools" feature allowing players to create private lottery groups, its inventors noted. The aim is to appeal to younger players, according to a press advisory from Jackpocket officials. To further entice the app's use, officials noted that less than two weeks after the soft launch, a player in the Dallas-Fort Worth area won a $150,000 Powerball prize.

When users play the lottery through Jackpocket, app officials said, the Texas Lottery receives revenue that goes towards important state programs. The Texas Lottery last year is said to have transferred more than $1.4 billion to the Foundation School Fund, administered by the Texas Education Agency. The funding is used for teacher salaries, bilingual education, special education and more. Texas Lottery funds are also diverted to aid some 250,000 veterans and their families with financial assistance, transportation, housing, and mental health services, lottery officials said.

“We’re excited to introduce the lottery to a younger, mobile-first demographic, and encouraged that, since our soft launch earlier this year, an overwhelming 73 percent of our players in Texas are 45 and younger,” Jackpocket Founder and CEO Peter Sullivan said. “Jackpocket players have contributed nearly $1 million to the state’s beneficiaries already, and we’re looking forward to furthering these contributions in support of the Texas Lottery’s commitment to improving public education, veterans’ assistance and other programs across the Lone Star State.”

About Jackpocket

Jackpocket is the first third-party app in the U.S. that offers players a secure way to order official state lottery tickets, such as Powerball, Mega Millions and more. As a no-cost, no-integration, turnkey platform, Jackpocket helps lotteries drive incremental revenue—benefiting essential state programs such as public education, veterans assistance, natural resources and more—while attracting new customers like millennials who otherwise would not be active lottery players.

Jackpocket’s mission is to create a more convenient, fun and responsible way to play the lottery. Through the app, players can place orders for their favorite games, check lottery results, join lottery pools with other Jackpocket players, and turn on autoplay so they never miss a drawing. And by being the first company to automatically lock a player’s identity to their ticket serial number, Jackpocket makes the lottery even more secure.

Jackpocket is currently available in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Texas, and expanding to many new markets in 2019. Download the app on iOS or Android, and follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.