12th June 2001 - The Times

Keep Your Eyes Peeled On Big Ben In June

The company PDV is keen to find out about its customers, so instead of paying to enter a lottery, it asks for personal information. It's UK lottery site, www.TheDailyDraw.com, enables registered users to pick six numbers out of 64 with the possibility of winning £1 million a day. The players are promised that the data will not be passed on to a third party. They will be presented with banner ads tailored to their interests and sent two or three targeted e-mail messages a month. Staff from Ernst & Young witness the draw to ensure its fairness. The draw uses viral marketing: a "share your winnings" campaign means that users are linked to friends they refer. If the friend wins £1 million, they get £25,000.