Category Archives: Sports Contests and Promotions

Sports contests and promotions for every business, from basketball half-court shots to football perfect punts into the bed of a pickup truck.

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Insuring a Shot at Glory at Phoenix Waste Management Open

Phoenix, AZ –  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hit a shot on the famed par-3, 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale during the Waste Management Phoenix Open?

Two lucky golf fans, along with a host of local media personalities, Hollywood celebrities, community heroes and tournament sponsors got the chance to do exactly that a few weeks ago as they teed-it-up for charity in a unique closest-to-the-pin contest known as the “Shot at Glory”, which took place immediately following the FBR/Xerox Silver Pro-Am prior to the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Tournament hosts, The Thunderbirds, award more than $100,000 to the celebrities’ chosen charities during this unique event. And, if any participant is lucky enough to make a hole-in-one, Odds On Promotions’ sister company, Hole In One International, pays $1,000,000, to the charity of the acemaker’s choice.

While no one aced Number 16 this year, musician Alice Cooper won the “Shot at Glory”, picking up $40,000 for the Solid Rock Foundation. Brett Frazier from Waste Management, whose charity was Keep America Beautiful, came second, while former Phoenix police officer Jason Schechterle whose charity is the 100 Club, came in third.

To learn more about Hole In One International and how they can help you make your next fundraising golf tournament even more successful, visit their website at www.HoleInOneInternational.com.

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Million Dollar Tennis Anyone? Racket Up America!

Reno, Nev – Before the BNP Paribas Showdown last week, Christine Smith from Hurst, Texas got the chance any tennis fan would love – the opportunity to make a $1,000,000 Perfect Serve .

Smith got the chance to win the million-dollar prize after winning the “Racket Up, America” sweepstakes, a collaborative tennis industry effort created to build awareness and stimulate sales by giving anyone who registered at the playtennis.com website or bought a new tennis racket at participating retail locations the chance to win $1,000,000 by making a serve through a target template.

Smith, who registered for the contest in hopes of winning some tennis equipment for her daughter’s school, said, “Lo and behold, what do I win but the grand prize.”

As part of the grand prize package, Smith and her daughter also received a free trip to New York City, a sightseeing tour and introductions to Venus and Serena Williams and Billie Jean King, which made for a winning promotion even though Smith didn’t win the million dollar prize.

According to Zak Woodhead, Risk Manager for Odds On Promotions in Reno, Nevada, “Million dollar insured promotions are very effective in generating PR and generating traffic and sales both online and at retail locations. Even small companies can benefit from register-to-win promotions like this.”

Want to run your own mega-prize promotion? Give us a call at 888-827-2249 to learn more about creating a custom million-dollar contest for your organization.

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Million-Dollar Idea: Crash The Super Bowl

Reno, Nev – Wonder how Doritos was able to give not one, not two, but three people the chance to win a million bucks in their “Crash The Super Bowl” promotion?

It’s easy, they turn to companies like Odds On Promotions to insure their user-generated content contests and promotions so that in the event they have a big winner, the prize insurance provider will be there to pick up the tab.

In case you missed it, Doritos gave their “fans” the chance to win $1,000,000 if a customer-created Doritos commercial won the designation of best ad of the game as decided by the USA TODAY Ad Meter.

After having had a $1,000,000 prize-winning spot last year, Doritos doubled down, offering to reward a multi-million dollar bounty if 3 of the 4 Doritos “user-generated” ads that ran during the football game could sweep the top three spots on the Ad Meter.

According to Odds On Promotion’s Risk Manager Zak Woodhead, “We consider this promotion to be somewhere between a performance bonus and incentive program. Giant prizes are a very effective means of incentivizing behavior… in this case – getting customers to create great content. And by offering a “performance bonus” based upon how the well the ads did, it became an effective way to draw media attention to this user-created content (UCC) contest.”

While Doritos was beaten out by Snickers for the game’s top spot, the contest resulted in a number of fantastic game-day ads that got everyone talking about the Doritos brand on Monday morning.

UPDATE:  Crash the Super Bowl 2011!
Promotion ran again this year, courtesy of Frito Lay. This  year  all 10 Crash the Super Bowl finalists received $25,000 and a trip to attend the Super Bowl. Grand prizes were based on how each winning ad ranked on the USA TODAY Ad Meter:

• $1 million awarded for an ad that scores number one on the Ad Meter
• $600,000 awarded for an ad that scores number two on the Ad Meter
• $400,000 awarded for an ad that scores number three on the Ad Meter

If the consumer-created Doritos or Pepsi MAX ads swept all top-three rankings of the USA TODAY Ad Meter, an additional $1 million bonus would be awarded to each top-three winner for a total prize giveaway of $5 million.

You can view all of this year’s entries at the FritoLay Media Center

Then give Odds On Promotions a call today at 888-827-2249 to learn more about running your own giant-prize promotion featuring user-generated content!

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Who Can Make A $10,000 Shot From Half-Court? This Guy!


Grad Student Scores $10,000, paid by Odds On Promotions, after making half-court basketball shot!

Blacksburg, VA – Grant Howerton scored $10,000, paid for by Odds On Promotions, after he made a half-court basketball shot in a contest sponsored by University Development, Inc. during half-time at a Virginia Tech-Boston College basketball game.

Howerton, a full-time Virginia Tech grad student who has had student season basketball tickets for the past six years, got the chance to win the big bucks after he netted $50 in a qualifying free throw contest.   While you can read more about this giant prize basketball contest, why not check out Howerton’s amazing $10,000 basketball shot for yourself.

Then pick up the phone and give Odds On Promotions a call for a winning sports promotion that will put your product at center court this Spring.

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$1,000,000 Rally 4 Charity

Men Take a Swing at Guinness World Record, Million Dollar Prize
Milford, Conn. – Isidro Martinez of Stratford and Paul Coorssen of Milford attempted to break the Guinness World Record™ for the longest tennis rally and win $1,000,000, paid for by Odds On Promotions, as part of the 3rd Annual Rally 4 Charity fundraiser at Milford Indoor Tennis. Martinez and Coorssen won the right to go for the record after hitting 5,916 consecutive strokes in a qualifier. While the two men tallied a staggering 6,858 consecutive shots in about an hour and a half, an unofficial world record for such a short time period, it wasn’t enough to beat Rally 4 Charity organizers and world-record holders Angelo and Ettore Rossetti who have set the bar high with a giant 25,944 consecutive strokes.  “Win or lose, it was about the charities,” stated Coorssen, and on that front the event was a success, raising around $10,000, the biggest amount to date.  According to World Record holder and Rally 4 Charity organizer Rossetti, “The million dollar prize did help us to capture more publicity – which is good for the charities as well as for tennis. We were very happy with the service from Odds On Promotions. Zak is always very organized and professional.”