Patent ID: 7374483

Claim:
A lottery pool management system implemented on a management server computer system for lottery pool management over a communications network connected to said management server computer system, said lottery pool management system comprising: a participant interface resident on said management server computer system and configured to be in communication with plural participant computers, said participant interface also being configured to enable each of a plurality of pool participants to participate together in one or more lottery pools, each lottery pool being associated with a lottery and having a plurality of sets of numbers entered in its associated lottery, said participant interface enabling said pool participants to exchange information regarding each of said lotteries prior to the drawing thereof; said participant interface being further configured to enable each of said pool participants to be informed by way of said participant computers, respectively, of all of said sets of lottery numbers that are entered by respective pool participants in each of said lotteries prior to the drawing thereof; a lottery interface resident on said management server computer system and in communication with each of said lotteries and said participant interface, said lottery interface being configured to ascertain drawing results and jackpot amounts for each of said lotteries, to compare the drawing results with the said sets of lottery numbers entered in the one or more lottery pools, and to recognize that a winning event has occurred when a given one of said sets of lottery numbers is drawn as a winning set for its corresponding lottery; and a notification interface resident on said management server computer system and in communication with said participant interface and said lottery interface, said notification interface being configured to alert said pool participants by way of said participant computers, respectively, about activity in each of said lotteries, about the compared drawing results, and, when one of said winning events occurs, to notify each of said pool participants that they are each entitled to share in all amounts that are to be paid out as the result of said given set of lottery numbers being drawn as a winning set.