More Spam, less cash. (bananalotto.co.uk)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	bananalotto.co.uk
Date:	18/02/01 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free, quick, and easy to play.

Disadvantages: Only one chance per day now., No more three number prize

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Hmmmm. I’m not happy with Bananalotto limiting the chances to win to only once per day.

Time was when you could play three times per day, and I used to win at least 50p every week. (Maybe I’m single handedly responsible! All those 50p’s really did add up!!!) Since the change though, I’ve only won twice…

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself, because I haven’t even explained what Bananalotto is yet!

Basically, it is a free, yes, that’s right FREE online lottery with no catches whatsoever.

When you first visit the site, you fill in a simple registration form, on which you have to give your e-mail address, and a few other details about yourself, including your address and phone number. (They need your address to send you any small prizes that you may win, and they will only inform you by phone if you win a large prize, so you need to give them your correct number)

The information can also easily be updated at any time via the profile page, which is good if, like me, you have to change addresses quite often. (My year is split between living in Southern England and Northeast Scotland)

They don’t ask any awkward questions, and the signup process is quick and painless. You should get an e-mail in your inbox confirming your registration almost immediately, and from then on the site will remember who you are every time you visit provided you always use the same computer. (It utilises cookies, so if you visit on a new computer for the first time then you have to enter your login name and password, but it will remember you after that. If you’re using a public or shared computer, then it remembers the last person that played, but you can easily log them off and log a new user in)

Once you’re inside you’re presented with a grid, and from here you have to choose six numbers plus a “Banana Num
ber”. The first six numbers can be chosen in any order, but the Banana Number must be the last one chosen.

There is also a function to save your preferred numbers, so that you can retrieve them with just two swift clicks each day, and if you prefer to leave it to the computer to choose your numbers then there is also a random number generator.

You then have to click through a banner (you get a choice of three, and some of them are for other competitions. This is actually how I discovered Uproarlotto, on which I will write a separate op, and Tombola, which I have already written an op about, so some are useful) to confirm your numbers, and a little window will pop up and tell you whether your numbers were successfully recorded or not.

I have known it not to record a couple of times, but this hasn’t happened for months now, and even when it did, it was easy enough to go back and enter the numbers again.

Then that’s it. You sit back and wait for the draw, which takes place at 5:30 each evening, and the results are e-mailed to you usually around 10PM on the night after each draw. Any winnings are then sent out in the post.

There are a number of prizes available, ranging from 50p for matching three numbers up to £1,000,000 for matching all six numbers in any order plus the specific banana number. (Long odds on that one!)

The full range of prizes is as follows:

3 Numbers - 50p
4 Numbers - £5
5 Numbers - £50
6 Numbers - £100,000
6 Numbers + Banana Number - £1,000,000

I’ve never won more than 50p, but I have won 50p a LOT of times. I have had friends who have won a fiver though.

In addition to the main draw, there is a “Question of the Day” section, where you can win a number of ‘prizes’.

I put prizes in inverts because it is usually a mobile phone that is subject to contract.

What sort of a prize is
that? You can walk into any phone shop in the UK and get a free phone if you sign a contract…. I’ve done so! So this really doesn’t seem like a very good prize.

There have been better prizes recently though, such as jewellery, but I think that they’ve gone back to the phones again now.

You can also win some good prizes, like DVD players, if you recommend a friend.

Bananalotto really is worth playing. They don’t ask anything that you might be uncomfortable telling them about and they don’t bombard you with junk mail. (You get an e-mail confirming your entry and an e-mail with the results each day and that’s it. There is a weekly newsletter too, which you can opt-out of, but I choose to receive it as they have a number of good offers for players with a number of on-line retailers)

It is easy to integrate into your daily routine too. It takes seconds to play, and it could make you £1,000,000 richer – If you’re VERY lucky. At worst, you’ll probably win 50p every now and again. Everyone I know who plays has won at least 50p at least once, and it really is FREE to play.

So go on, give it a go, and be sure to play every day. You’ve got nothing to lose and up to £1,000,000 to gain…

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Well, Bananalotto seems to be going more and more towards being a site that wants to make as much money as possible out of its players whilst offering them increasingly poor incentives to play.

Relatively recently, Bananalotto decided to cut the number of chances to win per day from three to one. (Before I originally wrote this op).

Now, Bananalotto is abolishing the prize for matching three numbers correctly. It may only have carried a 50p prize, but this is the only prize that I - and most people - have won from Bananalotto. The 50p prizes really did begin to add up after a while too...

Bananal
otto says that it has done this in response to requests by players for bigger prizes - however it seems to me that they have deliberately misinterpreted the feedback from players, as they have kept the prizes at exactly the same levels in the main game and just slightly upped the value of (non cash) prizes in the games which really make money for Bananalotto. (Such as the "Bananastar" 'game', which is actually a market research exercise.)

The level of spamming from Bananalotto has also sadly increased recently... the previous owners (BingoNet) were always very good in this respect - they never sent out any spam. But the whole thing seems to be going down the toilet since the new owners (I believe they are called "Net Target") took over...

The latest reduction in opportunities to win is just another profit making exercise and another dis-incentive to play.

Last year, Bananalotto sent out 363,353 cheques.

343,891 for 50 pence,
19,110 for £5.00,
349 for £50.
And three for £100,000.

It's quite clear to see therefore that the chances of winning anything have now been greatly reduced - especially when you consider that these figures include the period where players had three chances to win per day.

Nobody ever played Bananalotto to win 50p... we're all after that £1 MILLION... but it was nice to win something, even if it was just 50p.

And of course 50p wins did add up.

The Daily Draw is now probably the better lottery. It has higher payouts and also runs an accumulator system that gives extra chances to win.

I'll still play Bananalotto, but it's no longer my favourite and I don't think that it's deserving of the No. 1 Online Lottery accolade anymore.

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