Sports Legends Challenge
May 27, 2009
For
the first time in history, lottery players will have a chance to compete
side-by-side with 25 of the greatest sports legends of our time and 25 world
famous poker pros.
Alchemy3 has signed an agreement with
the Sports Legends Challenge to give lottery-playing sports fans a
once-in-a-lifetime experience to interact with the likes of Troy Aikman, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, Richard Petty, Sugar Ray Leonard and Mike Ditka as well as
compete for up to $10 million dollars in prize money in front of a nationally
televised audience on Fox Sports.
The Sports Legends Challenge (SLC) is
set for Sept. 14-17 at the Atlantis Paradise Island
resort in the Bahamas.
Alchemy3 has the exclusive right to offer lotteries the chance to incorporate
the event into instant, on-line and retailer promotions.
The Sports Legends Challenge will be
the only event of its kind where avid sports fans can play side-by-side with
and against the greatest names in sports, while being coached by world famous
poker professionals including Phil Helmuth, Annie Duke, Chris Moneymaker, Jamie
Gold and Johnny Chan, culminating in a nationally televised No Limit Texas Hold
’Em poker event to be aired on Fox Sports on Thanksgiving Day.
“I’m thrilled to be participating in a
great event like the Sports Legends Challenge,” said Mike Ditka. “It’s going to
be a special couple of days, seeing old friends including Jerry West, who I
guarded in college at Pitt. Couple that with playing Hold ’Em against fans and
peers while being coached by the likes of Jamie Gold will be a first for me.”
The event will also be a first for
lotteries. Alchemy3 will work with lotteries to offer players the chance to
participate in the SLC through a wide variety of promotions for online games,
including second-chance drawings. Lotteries can also use the Sports Legends
Challenge to drive sales by offering qualifying retailers the chance to
participate in the September event. Finally, Alchemy3 can work with international
lotteries to build instant games around future Sports Legend Challenge events,
with games launching in the spring of 2010.
“One of Alchemy3’s goals is to bring
genuinely innovative marketing ideas to lotteries — ideas they just can’t get
anywhere else,” said Alchemy3 CEO David Schorr. “The Sports Legends Challenge
definitely fits the bill. Lotteries seldom have the chance to put their players
and retailers in the company of legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Richard Petty
and Mike Ditka — and with the bonus of a chance to win up to $10 million.”
Icons participating in the Sports
Legends Challenge include Abdul-Jabbar, Petty and Ditka, along with Troy
Aikman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Emmitt Smith, Reggie Jackson, Joe Namath, Julius
Erving, Fuzzy Zoeller, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Herschel Walker, Jim Brown, Bobby
Hull, Jerry West, Brooks Robinson, Gale Sayers, Kyle Petty, and Michael
Strahan, with additional Legends to be named later.
Sports Legends Challenge Founder and
CEO Bruce Bibbero said, “We believe that this distinct combination — fantasy
sports camp meets the World Series of Poker — will provide an experience to be
talked about forever.”
In the current economic environment,
lotteries are under pressure to keep all their games fresh and to keep sales
increasing. “The Sports Legend Challenge can help lotteries do both,” Schorr
said.
Alchemy3 plans to make it easy for
lotteries to couple promotions with the Sports Legends Challenge. “Before we
propose an idea like this to a lottery, we think through how to make it
successful and easy to stage at every step of the way,” Schorr said. “For
example, Alchemy3 can create online or play-for-fun interactive ‘poker rooms’
and incorporate them into a lottery’s Web site, so players can get directly
involved in the promotion.”
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