At Harrah’s East Chicago, the prize was a cool $1 million in a yearlong promotion designed to boost traffic and reward frequent customers. Customers who had prequalified with their frequency of play were invited on the last Sunday of every month — typically a slower time for the casino — to participate in a Money Bags™ promotion.

For each promotion, three prequalified customers were randomly chosen from a computer database to play for a variety of

Diane was the casino’s lucky $1 million Money Bags™ winner.

On August 25, eight monthsinto the promotion, Harrah’s customer Diane of Chicago pulled out four matching $1 million symbols from the Money Bags she had chosen. “She was speechless,” says Harrah’s representative Julie Figueroa. “And all of our employees were really excited, too.”

Although Diane won in August, Harrah’s decided to continue the promotion through the end of the year. “Everybody was talking about it,” says Figueroa, noting
that the contest definitely boosted traffic, particularly after the win. On some Sundays as many as 1,600 customers showed up at the promotion.

Harrah’s Vicksburg in Mississippi also wanted in on the action. They chose a variation of the Money Bags™ promotion with a $50,000 grand prize. “We researched ideas on SCA’s Web site,” says Harrah’s Vicksburg representative Michelle Walton, who thought the Money Bags contest would be an exciting way to boost traffic and hold customer attention.

Harrah’s wanted to attract their high-level customers with this promotion. To be eligible for the twice-a-month contest, casino customers had to have maintained a specific level of play. At each

event, five contestants were given a chance at the big prize. To make the game more suspenseful, the casino created a board with 50 slots. Behind each slot were six Money Bag s. To play, contestants chose a slot and removed one bag to see if it contained the winning message. Once a slot was chosen, the remaining four contestants could not use it.

On December 13, Susan of Jackson, Mississippi chose the correct bag. “She was shocked — she cried,” says Walton. “It was a very successful promotion, particularly with the extra excitement of having a winner.”

Both Figueroa and Walton were impressed with SCA’s turnaround time. “It was definitely smooth,” says Figueroa. “I called the next morning and we received the check within three days. That’s great.”

No matter what industry you’re in, SCA can help you create a promotion and provide prize coverage that reduces the risk and maximizes the reward. For more information, or to review case studies of successful promotions, visit our Web site at www.scapromotions.com.