Venues Today: Pointstreak 5050

National Distribution
May-June 2013

 

This issue of Venues Today focuses on Midwest venues, so Iowa is a nice place to start my story. Peter Luukko of Comcast-Spectacor was in Dubuque watching his son Nick play U.S. Hockey League hockey. When he couldn't make a game, he would follow his son's scores on Pointstreak. He liked the technology.

 

That night in Dubuque, he happened to meet Kevin Lovitt of Pointstreak and they started discussing the other products the company had. One automated system facilitated 50/50 raffles to raise money for charity, something that is already part of the culture in hockey in Canada.

Flash forward more than a year and, on April 23, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, playing the Boston Burins at the Wells Fargo Center, raised $85,000 in a 50/50 raffle and gave half to Boston Strong to support the first responders and victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

 

That's a game changer.

 

It didn't' happen overnight. The law in Philadelphia did not allow 50/50 raffles worth over $500 when this idea was hatched. Pointstreak and the Flyers worked in concert to get the legislation changed and now it is legal for hockey and basketball in Pennsylvania.

 

Then the Flyers had to invest in the technology. Peter estimated nightly game expenses at 10-15 percent of the pot. The Flyers Wives Charity, which has been raising more than a million dollars a year for charity since the 70s, bought the handhelds and the kiosks. The Flyers Wives Charity also seeds the pot to the tune of $5,000 a night to get the juices flowing. The result is that another million dollars a year is going to Philadelphia Flyers Wives Charities - a million dollars. Wow!

 

The 50/50 raffle has become part of the Flyers culture. Where the first night or two, fans would buy from the staff wandering the concourse, now they walk into the arena and head toward the kiosk in their seating section and put down their 5/50 raffle money for the night. Then they watch the pot grow on the scoreboard throughout the game.

 

The average per cap for the raffle is $3, though for Boston Strong it ratcheted up to $5. It has not impacted concession sales, Peter said. The Flyers per cap for food, drink and merchandise is $22-$25 a night, before and after the raffle was introduced.

 

The win/wins (I had a former editor who banned that ubiquitous term, but hey, it applies) start with the fact it is for charity. And, it's fun. And someone walks away with $20,000 for attending a Flyers game and giving to charity. And the staff loves it.

 

The first few games, the arena an hockey staffs were not allowed to participate. "That was a mistake on my part," Peter admitted. They want to give and they want to gamble it might also give back. Peter said he would be thrilled if one of the part-timers won the pot. It would be a very meaningful moment in a season of meaningful giving.