The story behind CrowdLottery.com, founded by Dutchman Jasper Versteege, is, to say the least, intriguing.
Perhaps you need to be a little bit crazy in order to compete with much larger lotteries and national governments. The story behind CrowdLottery.com, founded by Dutchman Jasper Versteege, is, to say the least, intriguing. As single-founder without a team he had to take many hurdles. The process to get a permit for a lottery is time-consuming and expensive, banks rather see you go, and because of the philanthropic nature of the lottery investors are not waiting in line to get in. Despite all that Jasper has been successful. The permit is in, he raised €250.000 in funding, there are almost 1000 users, and the lottery has already made 108 Lucky Ones (winners) very happy.
The world’s first crowd lottery started two years ago under the name Winner Takes All. Now, after a long and thorough testing phase, CrowdLottery.com is ready to unite the world as the first 100% transparent lottery.
100% truly transparent
Crowdlottery.com is 100% transparent, which is highly unusual in a market protected by governments. The concept cannot be more straightforward: every player puts 1 euro in the pot, and each week CrowdLottery.com will draw 1 crowd member who takes home all the money in the pot. Every stake that goes in the pot, comes out. Nothing sticks to the fingers.
Jasper Versteege: “As Social Enterprise CrowdLottery.com does want to be cost effective of course, that’s why we charge a small administration fee on top of the stakes. This makes it completely clear for the player what the costs are. Besides that we also donate 50% of our profit to charity, this way everybody wins. And when the crowd gets big enough we can cut down on the costs even more!”
The administration fee is €0,15 per ticket and will be used for managing the website, development, marketing, and overhead costs. Depending on how you look at it, the payout percentage is either 100% or 87%. Either way it is the highest payout percentage in the world. Traditional lotteries are unclear about their administration and marketing costs while their ticket prices are generally much higher. Time for change.
Jasper Versteege: “A draw is not that complicated, so why would you pay a couple of euros to the operator? So they can give themselves very large salaries, and spend tons of money on marketing campaigns? In a market that lacks transparency there is much to gain for a transparent model that has higher payouts, better odds, lower costs, and the opportunity to play for the charity of your choice.”
Power to the crowd.
The more crowd members, the bigger the pot, the bigger the donations to charity will be, and the more happiness we can spread together. The platform grows virally based on word-of-mouth marketing. Crowd members turn into ambassadors thanks to the transparent nature of the concept, the fact that you can play for just 1 euro per week, and the added option to play for the charity of your choice. Knowing that you will get 4 free tickets for each referral doesn’t hurt either.
Despite all the big challenges there is one important constant for CrowdLottery.com. For over two years there has been a draw each Thursday at 13.00 CET. The number of unique players has risen to more than 900. At the moment 30% of those players are active members. An unprecedented high retention rate. The website and social media channels already feature more than 100 videos of Lucky Ones coming from the Netherlands, Sweden, Latvia, Greece, Finland, and the UK.
CrowdLottery.com aims to reach the global customer who values a 100% transparent lottery. Happiness needs to be shared.
Jasper Versteege: “We expect the number of members to grow significantly thanks to the rebranding, the ability to play for the charity of your choice, and the support of 120 investors.”
Crowdfunded Crowdlottery
Most startups struggle to get funding. When you are an internationally focused lottery with a philanthropic nature it is even more difficult. Still, CrowdLottery.com managed to raise €250.000 in funding. Partly through a successful crowdfunding campaign (through Funded By Me), and partly thanks to family, friends and an angel investor, who all support the project in return for shares in the company.
Jasper Versteege: “That support and trust stems from the fact that the model of CrowdLottery.com is so straightforward and transparent. On top of that it is in line with deeper lying trends in society: the need for more transparency, the rise of the sharing economy, and the aversion against the greed culture. The world deserves a transparent lottery game!”
About Jasper Versteege:
Jasper Versteege studied both Economics and Philosophy because he wanted to combine the best of both worlds; to understand the market/world and use that knowledge to make this world a better place. His dream is to become a philanthropist and to unite the world in one social and transparent game (CrowdLottery.com) in order to spread happiness and to create better chances for everyone.
Jasper Versteege: “I believe it is possible to have a positive impact on this world by leveraging the power of crowds in transparent ways. Leveraging works best if you manage to keep efforts at a minimum and rewards at a maximum. CrowdLottery.com is the perfect format to leverage this power. This belief has kept me going, and the fact that I’m half way there feels like a small victory, and proves to me that it is possible. Now we still need the other half.”
Do you also want to be a part of the luckiest crowd in the word? Join now on CrowdLottery.com. The first 600 crowd members will get 4 free bonus tickets!
