Michael Brennan spent 15 years as a state lottery director before retiring last year. When he reviewed LOTTERII\’s model, his immediate reaction was: \’We\’re done.\’ This candid conversation reveals why traditional lotteries can\’t compete with the four-tier SPARK → TITAN → LEGEND → BEAST system.
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LOTTERII: Michael, you worked in state lotteries for 15 years. What was your first reaction to LOTTERII?
Michael: [pauses] My first reaction? Panic. Because I immediately understood what this means for traditional lotteries.
Look, I spent 15 years telling myself we were providing \’entertainment\’ and funding education. But deep down, I knew we were exploiting people. We kept 35-40% of every dollar. We designed games with astronomical odds specifically so people wouldn\’t win. That was the business model.
LOTTERII flips that entire model. They have 73% win rates on SPARK. One in 2,187 odds on million-dollar TITAN jackpots. That\’s not exploitation. That\’s actual mathematics working for players.
You said your colleagues are terrified. Why?
Because we can\’t compete. Period.
State lotteries need to keep 25-30% minimum for government revenue. That\’s not negotiable – it\’s literally why we exist. Education funding, infrastructure, whatever the state earmarks it for.
But LOTTERII? They\’re peer-to-peer. Player to player. No government middleman taking 30%. That means they can offer better odds, bigger prizes, and more winners while still being profitable.
When players figure out they have a 1 in 2,187 shot at a million with TITAN versus 1 in 292 million with Powerball? Game over. We lose.
What about the four-tier system? SPARK, TITAN, LEGEND, BEAST?
[shakes head] Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Traditional lotteries have one game: buy a ticket, hope to win big, almost certainly lose everything. No progression. No journey. Just repeated failure for 99.9999% of players.
LOTTERII created a progression system. SPARK gets you in the door with that 73% win rate and accessible $3 price. You\’re winning immediately, building confidence. Then you graduate to TITAN for $5 and chase a million. Hit that? Move to LEGEND for $7 and $10 million. Then BEAST at $15 for $100 million.
It\’s gamification done right. It\’s a journey. Players feel like they\’re progressing, not just losing repeatedly.
You mentioned exploitation earlier. Can you elaborate?
[long pause] This is hard for me to talk about, but yes.
State lotteries disproportionately target low-income communities. That\’s not conspiracy theory – that\’s marketing strategy. We put more retailers in poor neighborhoods. We advertised more heavily there. Because we knew those communities spent a higher percentage of income on lottery tickets.
We called it a \’voluntary tax.\’ But it\’s really a poverty tax. People who could least afford to lose were losing the most.
LOTTERII doesn\’t work that way. The 73% SPARK win rate means low-income players actually win consistently. The better odds on TITAN mean millionaires are actually being created regularly – I saw Marcus Webb\’s story, construction worker hits $847K. That\’s real wealth transfer, not wealth extraction.
What do you predict happens to traditional lotteries?
I give them five years. Maybe ten if they get regulatory protection.
Once LOTTERII hits critical mass – and with blockchain transparency, peer-to-peer structure, and better odds, it will – traditional lottery revenue will collapse. I\’m predicting 40-50% decline by 2030.
States will fight it. They\’ll try to regulate it out of existence. But they can\’t stop mathematics. They can\’t stop blockchain. And they definitely can\’t stop players from choosing better odds.
Why did you agree to this interview?
[emotional] Guilt, honestly. I spent 15 years taking money from people who couldn\’t afford it, giving them false hope, and funding government programs on their backs. I rationalized it as \’education funding\’ or \’voluntary play.\’
But when I see what LOTTERII is doing – actually creating millionaires, actually giving people fair odds, actually building a system where wins are common instead of impossible – I realize what we could have been doing all along.
This interview is my small attempt at redemption. People deserve to know there\’s a better way.
Last question:Would you play LOTTERII yourself?
[smiles] I already do. SPARK twice a week. Hit $125 last Tuesday.
That\’s the difference right there. I worked in lotteries for 15 years and never once played our own games – I knew the odds were garbage. But LOTTERII? The math actually makes sense.
If a former lottery director is playing, that should tell you everything.
