Imagine a greeting card that not only thanks customers for their business but also gives them a chance to win millions of dollars. OK, the likelihood of actually winning such a fortune is akin to the odds of "Titanic" director James Cameron never working again. Still, you can offer the possibility--in the form of lottery ticket greeting cards.
"The lottery appeals to basic human instincts," says Marvin M. Epstein, 69, co-founder with Michael Hewett, 44, and Michael K. Pukay, 41, of LottOccasions Inc., a Streetsboro, Ohio, greeting card manufacturer. "Almost everyone at one time or another has gambled."
That's where LottOccasions comes in. Offering a line of lottery-themed greeting cards that can be used to communicate everything from Christmas wishes to customer thank-yous, the 4-year-old company targets consumers and businesses alike. Although legally prohibited from including lottery tickets in the cards (you'll have to buy those yourself), LottOccasions designs its cards to accommodate different-sized tickets from state lottery commissions nationwide. The minimum order is 1,000 cards.
Speaking of numbers, just how many LottOccasions card recipients have won? Epstein confesses he and his partners don't keep track. But what if someone did win? "We'd probably take out a full-page ad in The New York Times," jokes Epstein. "[We could say] `Buy our cards; they're sure winners!' "
Contact Source
LottOccassions Inc. , (330) 626-2274, fax: (330) 626-1994
This story appears in the June 1998 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
