Major League Baseball (MLB) officially entered the lottery draw arena this week after announcing a multi-year deal with Kentucky-based EquiLottery Games.

The partnership with the North American sports lottery developer will see the launch of a new officially licensed draw product called Baseball Bucks featuring the official brand marks of both the MLB and all 30 representative teams.

“We are pleased to be working with one of the most iconic leagues in professional sports worldwide,” said EquiLottery Games CEO Brad Cummings in a press release announcing the deal.

“We have already hit the ground running and the early response from lotteries to Baseball Bucks has been exceedingly positive. … As with all of our games, Baseball Bucks is designed to be a win for all parties involved.”

Live MLB Sports Lottery

When launched, Baseball Bucks will work similarly to other number-based lottery games such as Mega Millions or Powerball according to a report by sportbusiness.com.

Just like those platforms, players will purchase a preselected ticket that features 10 randomly selected games from that day’s schedule. Lucky tickets will see winners match anywhere between seven and 10 victorious teams. The finished game will reportedly feature four separate prize tiers, with odds ranging from 6-1 for users matching 7 out of 10 results, to 1,024-1 for winners who match all 10.

The preselected format means that Baseball Bucks will be a pure game of chance rather than the skill style format you find in traditional sportsbooks. The aim is to market the product to a different kind of player and increase engagement among baseball fans who don’t plan to participate in the knowledge-based arena of sports betting.

“We are always aiming to work with partners who share our goal of providing innovative ways for fans to engage with live games,” said Kenny Gersh, MLB executive vice president of gaming and new business ventures. “Baseball Bucks is a completely new gaming opportunity for lottery players and baseball fans.”

Those fans may have to wait until at least 2020 to get their hands on Baseball Bucks however, as the timetable for rolling out the product will depend on EquiLottery Games gaining approval from each individual state lottery board.

Future MLB Gaming Developments

According to Yahoo, EquiLottery Games and MLB have big plans for their partnership and plan to collaborate on future lottery games based on live baseball, featuring what the company describes as “life-changing jackpots.”

EquiLottery Games is also continuing to pioneer the development of similar games with other sports franchises. The company already boasts a proprietary series of games based off of popular sports including basketball, football, golf and horse racing.

Recently, EquiLottery also signed a similar partnership with Speedway Motorsports to launch a product called Race Car Cash. The deal looks set to be the first of a string of similar product as the company seeks to partner with other major sports leagues to launch similar lottery games.