Highlighting wins is something we all love to do at Atlantic Lottery, but usually we’re sharing the stories of people winning big on our games.

This time, we’re focusing on the success Atlantic Lottery’s Innovation team and its Outpost Lab in Halifax are having with their new mobile development PoolApp. We hoped it would be just what players were looking for and it’s been very well-received, hitting the #7 trending spot on the App Store early in 2020. With more people now working from home or being apart from their friends and co-workers, PoolApp can help make the process of playing together simpler and stress-free.

We love talking with players and hearing about how friends, neighbours and workplaces play the lottery together. One thing we discovered from them is they wanted an easier way to manage their lottery pools. Group Lottery captains – or, as we like to call them, Pool Captains – told us that playing the lottery as a group was important to them, but they struggled to stay on top of the administrative duties, like collecting payment from everyone for each draw, keeping track of who played when and sharing ticket information with group members.

That’s why the Innovation team developed PoolApp. Designed for pool captains, PoolApp makes it easy to manage your lottery pool and keep your players in the loop. Available for both iOS and Android devices, PoolApp allows you to:

• Choose the Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 draws you want to play.
• Add your players. There’s no limit on pool size, so everyone in your group can join.
• Manage both upcoming and past draws.
• Track payments received from players, upload ticket images and share draw winnings.
• Keep additional details about specific draws and players using the notes feature.
• Communicate with players directly through the app with pre-set or custom messages.

PoolApp can be downloaded to your mobile device by clicking here.

Intro to the Outpost

In case you haven’t heard about the Outpost Lab, what it is or who works there, it’s a small but mighty Atlantic Lottery team based in the heart of the innovation district Halifax. Working with the Innovation group in Moncton, the Outpost Lab is passionate about tackling problems, embracing uncertainty and rapidly developing utilities that will positively affect both the organization and communities throughout Atlantic Canada. The Outpost Lab has five current employees with a diverse background of skills and talents. As the team develops new products with an iterative, data-driven mindset, it is changing the way Atlantic Lottery tackles problems and creates solutions for players.

The Innovation team is continually engaging with users to learn how to improve the app and deliver the best user experience for our players. If you run a lottery pool or know someone who does, PoolApp might be what you’ve been looking for to make playing together easier and more fun than ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Jon Blades is a product manager for alc.ca and mobile on Atlantic Lottery’s User Experience team and was previously a concept designer at the Outpost Lab. He lives and works in Halifax, Nova Scotia.