Lottery winners... in space!

By Kate Northrop

Lottery winners in Texas might be lucky enough to travel to space as part of an upcoming second-chance promotion from the Texas Lottery.

The Texas Lottery is looking up for their latest second-chance promotion prize, which involves sending lottery winners to the edge of space.

Texas residents who have always dreamed of one day traveling to the stars should be on the lookout for a scratch-off ticket coming to the state later this year that will offer an entry into the Space Perspective Cash Adventure Promotion.

The $20 ticket associated with the promotion, called "$1,000,000 Cash Blast," launches on Dec. 4, 2023, which is also when second-chance entries for non-winning tickets begin.

Potential winners are not the only ones voyaging into new experiences. Traveling to space (or as close to it as possible) is also new territory for state lotteries and has never been offered as a prize before. It's one that expected to generate sales and excitement as a "money-can't-buy" sort of trip.

"The Texas Lottery is always looking for new and exciting prizes to offer our players and this first-in-the-lottery-industry promotion fits those criteria," Deputy Executive Director Ryan Mindell told Lottery Post. "The timing of this promotion that was brought to us by Alchemy3 was perfect, as it was in sync with the rise of public interest in recreational space travel."

Alchemy3 is a marketing company that develops promotions, branding concepts, and other gaming solutions for state lotteries.

"We've been looking to space for a long time," Alchemy3 President Jeffrey Schweig said in an interview with PGRI. "But until now, there were just too many barriers. Cost was prohibitive and the inherent risks involved with rocket powered flight were just too much. It wasn't until we established our relationship with the great folks at Space Perspective that we knew we were really on to something."

The flight conducted by Space Perspective doesn't involve any rockets or speeds high enough to press you into your seat — the zero-emissions spacecraft called Spaceship Neptune is gently propelled upwards by a SpaceBalloon.

Guests onboard the spacecraft have access to Wi-Fi, premium seating, a stocked bar, and a full 360-degree view of planet Earth, and the process of getting on is described "as easy as boarding an airplane."

Flying on the Spaceship Neptune is actually the final component of the entire promotion. First, 75 second-chance drawing winners and their guests are invited to a three-night trip revolving around the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida in Summer 2025. There, the participants are treated to cash giveaways, a private tour of the Kennedy Space Center, and a concert by an A-list performer.

Four winners and their guests are selected on the final night of the trip to take a six-hour flight on the Space Perspective Neptune capsule. They'll return to Florida about 90 days after the first trip for the space flight. During the trip, one winner will win an additional $100,000.

 "The opportunity to send lottery winners into space using our technology was very appealing to us," Head of Global Sales and Trade Partnerships at Space Perspective Edyta Teper told PGRI. "And with the launch of the Texas Lottery's program later this year, our partnership with Alchemy3 will make space flight available to just about anyone. It's a realization of our own vision, and we see it as a truly mutually beneficial relationship."

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Artist rendering of the Space Perspective craft that could take a lottery winner to space.