New app 'Jackpocket' buys lottery tickets from your phone

NEW YORK (WABC) -- If you ever lamented not buying that lottery ticket, you're in luck.

Jackpocket is a brand new app that allows you to buy tickets instantly from your phone.

Pete Sullivan created the app with his father in mind, a lottery loving MTA worker.

"I grew up kind of hating the lottery due to the fact that my dad plays not only in New York, but in New Jersey where we grew up. So he'd come home and he was the coach for all of my sports which was great, but he'd have to get the Jersey numbers in before practice started or else he would miss them so we were always late to our own practices," Sullivan said.

That prompted an "aha" moment.

"I said, 'Wait a second, why can't he get a lottery ticket on his phone?'" Sullivan said.

Sullivan worked on the app for more than two years and it launched Monday.

"You can pick your own or do a quick pick," Sullivan said.

Buy a ticket on jackpocket and it charges your credit card. Meanwhile, there's a crew of jackpocket workers buying tickets from lottery vendors. Those tickets are scanned with a high tech machine.

"It looks at the ticket and deciphers all of the numbers on the ticket and is able to match it back to the user. So the users actually get a picture of the actual physical ticket that was bought on their behalf right inside the app," Sullivan said.

The app notifies you if you win, and if you win less than $600, jackpocket deposits the money in your jackpocket account, which you can use to buy more tickets or transfer to your own bank account.

If you win more, the winning ticket is securely delivered to you. And in case you're worried about buying too many tickets, there's a $100 daily cap.

Right now jackpocket only works in New York State, but the app's developer hopes to be able to sell in other states soon.

To be clear, jackpocket is not a lottery retailer, instead it partners with licensed vendors that sell tickets, and it shares the commission the vendors make. That's a cut of 6 cents on the dollar.

It's free to use jackpocket and jackpocket doesn't take any of your winnings, it's all about convenience.