WO2006076701A2

WO2006076701A2 - Use of a lottery as a method for rewarding customers for using cash-less modality for financial transactions

Info

Publication number: WO2006076701A2
Application number: PCT/US2006/001477
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hitinder Gurm; Karamjit Gurm
Original assignee: Hitinder Gurm; Karamjit Gurm
Priority date: 2005-01-14
Filing date: 2006-01-17
Publication date: 2006-07-20
Also published as: WO2006076701A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for rewarding customers for using a cash-less modality for financial transactions. A portion of fees from a cash-less financial transaction by a customer is designated as an award for the customer. The designated portion of the fees is used to enter a lottery on behalf of the customer. The customer is paid or not depending upon the outcome of the lottery.

Description

"USE OF A LOTTERY AS A METHOD FOR REWARDING

CUSTOMERS FOR USING CASH-LESS MODALITY FOR

FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS"

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims priority of U.S. Provisional

Patent Application Serial No. 60/644,390, filed January 14, 2005.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present invention relates generally to financial transactions, and relates more specifically to a method for rewarding customers for using cash-less modality for financial transactions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The last century has witnessed a shift from cash-based transactions to electronic transactions for day-to-day business in the western world. These transactions include but are not limited to credit cards, debit cards, merchant cards, ATM cards etc. They provide the user an easy tool to make financial transactions with, and thereby avoiding the hazard of carrying large sums of cash. Different merchants and businesses have developed tools to provide such a service and will charge the merchant a srnaii fee for each such transaction. Further these tools permit ease of wireless transactions and provide the backbone of Internet commerce. Given the cumulative sum of money involved, such businesses are highly successful and provide a steady source of revenue for the involved business house. Accordingly all major and minor banks are keen to enter this market and provide a variety of reward programs to attract customer loyalty. Such reward programs include accumulation of airline miles, points accrued towards purchase of goods, or direct return of a percentage of money to the customer. [0004] Under currently known rewards programs, a customer makes one or more financial transactions using a given electronic media whereby goods or services are provided by a provider. The credit business supporting such a device provides the payment to the provider and collects a part of that payment as a transaction fee. A small part of this fee is then used to provide rewards to the customer. These rewards are in the form of goods, airline miles or cash equivalents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Stated generally, the present invention comprises an alternate reward program that uses pre-existing as well as new innovative rewards to attract new customers and to maintain preexisting customers. [0006] Stated somewhat more specifically, the present invention relates to a method for rewarding customers for using a cash-less modality for financial transactions. A portion of fees from a cash-less financial transaction by a customer is designated as an award for the customer. The designated portion of the fees is used to enter a lottery on behalf of the customer. The customer is paid or not depending upon the outcome of the lottery.

[0007] The key component for this program is the rewards system. It is independent of the type of transaction and may be offered by any business to reward loyalty. Thus while the subsequent description involves customers using electronic cards such as a credit card, merchant card, debit card or any such card, this is purely for illustrative purposes and is not implied to limit the scope of the plan. [0008] Objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the drawings and the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENT [0009] According to the disclosed embodiment, the rewards may take the following forms.

[0010] According to a first embodiment, the rewards are in the form of tickets to a national, international, or local lottery. The credit business may choose to buy the lottery tickets for the customer when a sufficient number of points have accrued. The credit business can either mail the tickets to the customer or may choose to keep them for the customer and instead claim the reward if the lottery ticket were to be a winner and then to transfer the money to the customer's account automatically.

[0011] Such a system may involve the business actually buying the physical tickets and keeping them in secure deposit for the customer. In the alternative, the business can buy the physical tickets and mail them to the customer. According to still another embodiment, the credit business makes an electronic purchase for the customer and keeps a tally of the numbers played. In yet another embodiment, tickets to the award can be transmitted electronically via email or Internet to the customer and can then be used by the customer to download the tickets with the customer being able to check the winning numbers and claim the award independently. [0012] According to another embodiment of the invention, all of the points of all of the credit business 's customers are pooled, and the winner of the pool is chosen at random. This approach would create the potential of being a lottery unto itself and would save the business from having to deal with another outside agency. Such a system could be national or international and thus may permit pooling of multiple customer rebates and give the customer better odds of winning a large sum of money. The award may be a single award the total amount of which would vary with the total number of rebates issued that month across the entire customer base. Alternatively, the pooled rebates may be divided into a plurality of awards in fixed amounts less than the total amount of the pool, e.g., $ 1000, $ 10,000, $ 100,000, $ 1 million, etc., with the total number of prizes dictated by the total number of rebates available that month across the entire customer base. Smaller prizes would permit distribution of the awards to a larger number of customers and increase the odds of winning and hence may make the program more attractive to some customers. The credit business may choose to have a minimum sum that would be awarded every month as a guarantee to maintain customer interest. [0013] According to another embodiment, the awards may be a combination of any of the above approaches. The business may choose to run both rewards programs with the link to established lottery appealing to those who would like to play for higher rewards at lower odds and the in-house reward that provides a lower sum of money but greater odds of winning.

[0014] The announcement of the winner would be such that it is within the purview of local, national or international law. The winners may be publicly announced on television or other electronic/digital media, in print media, or over the Internet. Or the winner may be informed directly, without publicity.

[0015] The credit business would benefit tremendously from having such a rewards program. The program offers the customer a chance to gamble without spending any money. Since the rebates are not the customer's money but rather a perk offered by the credit business, they would not be considered an enticement to gambling. However since humans have an inherent attraction towards play of chance, such a reward would attract a sizeable customer base. Further, the variability of the awards and the randomness of winning patterns would generate free publicity for the credit business. Also, given that most lottery games offer the agent that sells a lottery ticket a sizeable commission for both selling the ticket (~5 %) as well as for selling a winning ticket, this added revenue would offset the cost of providing such a program. Finally, because of the recurrent nature of the award, there would be constant reminders to the public of the success of such a program and thereby increase the customer base. [OGiϋj Because the credit business would have knowledge of the winner, it could provide direct access to the winning customer for providing host of other services for managing the large sum of money that the customer would have earned via such a win. [0017] Finally, it will be understood that the preferred embodiment has been disclosed by way of example, and that other modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

Claims

What Is otaiiϊiθd is;

5 1. A method for rewarding customers for using a cash-less modality for financial transactions, comprising the steps of: designating a portion of fees from a cash-less financial transaction by a customer as an award for the customer; using the designated portion of the fees to enter a lottery on i o behalf of the customer; and paying the customer or not depending upon the outcome of the lottery.

2. The method of Claim I₃ wherein said step of using the 15 designated portion of the fees to enter a lottery on behalf of the customer comprises the step of using the designated portion of the fees to enter an externally-operated lottery on behalf of the customer.

3. The method of Claim 2, wherein said step of using the 0 designated portion of the fees to enter an externally-operated lottery on behalf of the customer comprises the step of using the designated portion of the fees to enter a lottery selected from the group consisting of a local lottery, a national lottery, and an international lottery.

4. The method of Claim 1, wherein the step of using the designated portion of the fees to enter a lottery on behalf of the customer comprises the step of using the designated portion of the fees iυ purchase a physical lottery ticket on behalf of the customer.

5. The method of Claim 4, comprising the further step of keeping the physical lottery ticket in secure deposit for the customer.

6. The method of Claim 4, comprising the further step of conveying the physical lottery ticket to the customer.

7. The method of Claim 4, comprising the further step of conveying information regarding the lottery ticket to the customer electronically.

8. The method of Claim 1, wherein the step of using the designated portion of the fees to enter a lottery on behalf of the customer comprises the steps of: making an electronic purchase of a lottery entry for the . customer; and keeping a record of the lottery entry information played.

9. The method of Claim 1, further comprising the step of redeeming a winning lottery entry.

10. The method of Claim 1, wherein said step of using the designated portion of the fees to enter a lottery on behalf of the customer comprises the steps of: designating a pυxliυπ of lees irorn cash-less financial transactions by a plurality of customers to form a lottery pool; and conducting a lottery among said plurality of customers to determine one or more winners of the lottery pool.