Indiana-based convenience store counters will be the next place IndyCar turns to draw buzz around this year’s 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, as Hoosier Lottery this week is rolling out a special scratch-off ticket around the race.
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| Special $5 scratch-off tickets will highlight the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.
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The partnership is a first between Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the lottery company, and will see multiple designs plastered across special $5 scratch-offs that will be sold through the 500, which takes place on May 29.
The lottery tickets — which will feature photos of the Borg-Warner Trophy, IMS’s pagoda, the track’s Gasoline Alley, other scenes from race day and the 100th running logo — instruct users to scratch off symbols of cars in an 11-row, 33-car grid, and if three winning symbols like a checkered flag are revealed in a row, the person wins cash payouts ranging from $5 to $100,000.
There also will be a second-chance to win with the tickets where, even if the player doesn’t win cash, they could win a race-related prize. These second-chance prizes include four hospitality packages that each grant access to IMS’s Legends Row with free food and nonalcoholic beverages, tickets to the Legends Day concert featuring Blake Shelton, post-race garage passes, access to pre-race driver introductions and the victory circle celebration. Another second-chance prize will be the chance to take a ride around the track on race day.
The move is the latest in a series of promotional maneuvers that the sanctioning body and IMS have taken in recent weeks — and will continue to take over the coming months — in order to keep the event top of mind to fans.
“It’s a relationship that makes a lot of sense,” said Alex Damron, IMS’s director of communications. “Hoosier Lottery is all about promoting the state of Indiana. And from our end … this a great opportunity to have what we believe will be collectors’ items in the form of these scratch-off tickets in their retail locations.”
Hoosier Lottery will support the measure, whose financial structure is not being revealed, with media promotion, event-based sales and in-store point-of-sale displays. IMS and IndyCar also will give the tickets heavy promotion digitally and socially.
The sanctioning body is pushing a major marketing spend around this year’s 500, which is widely viewed in the industry as an event that needs to be capitalized on fully in order to grow the series.
