eLOTTERY, Inc., a leading provider of web-based retailing and e-commerce marketing services to state and governmental lotteries, announced it has been awarded a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that will “enable us to offer an internet ticket sales system that communicates via mobile phone to a state’s existing system,” according to eLOTTERY Chairman and CEO Edwin McGuinn.

“This intellectual property award, when added to our existing intellectual property, covers all the ways that state lottery tickets can be sold on the internet and will allow us to capitalize on this enormous and rapidly emerging opportunity,” McGuinn said.

Prior to this patent award, eLOTTERY held seven U.S. patents that covered the sale of state or governmental lottery tickets over the internet communicating directly to the state’s existing lottery ticket system. “With the award of this patent (U.S. patent #8,272,959), our patent coverage extends to an internet lottery ticket sales system that communicates via mobile telephones as well,” McGuinn said.

Virtually every state lottery could increase their sales as much as 15 percent – or $9.1 billion based on over $60.7 billion of annual U.S. lottery sales – by making their products available online, according to research conducted by eLOTTERY, Inc.

“These additional funds could be directly injected into the state’s budget for education and public safety, during a time when economic uncertainties abound throughout the nation,” Mr. McGuinn added.

About eLOTTERY, Inc.

eLOTTERY, Inc. is an application service provider of internet marketing and e-commerce technology for lotteries, and now holds pioneering patents covering internet lottery technology. In addition to the U.S. patents, the company has been issued e-commerce patents for selling state and governmental lottery tickets in Australia, Canada, China and Norway, and has similar patents pending in several other countries.