Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Jackpot Rewards no longer ensuring $1M-per-week winners

The Newton company that launched a web-based weekly $1 million sweepstakes in February is no longer guaranteeing a weekly $1 million winner, company officials said.

Jackpot Rewards Inc. CEO Jim Miller said the company is still completing weekly drawings, but there may not be a $1 million winner each week.

It's a "shift in resources to enable us to have more winners," Miller said, noting that it will give more members chances to win at other levels.

Jackpot Rewards, which counts among its investors former Fidelity Investments manager Peter Lynch and Boston advertising executive Jack Connors, launched in February with plans to sign up members for $3 per week to shop at 550 participating retailers, providing the members with quarterly rebates averaging 10 percent.

The company planned to generate revenue solely through its membership fees while donating half of its profits to charity.

In June 2007, the 55-employee Jackpot Rewards closed on a $16.7 million Series A round of funding from angel investors who included Chuck Clough, CEO of Boston investment firm Clough Capital Partners LP and Tom McDonnell, CEO of Missouri-based DST Systems Inc.