Loser Hockey Pool Archives

Operating a minor hockey team or organization is becoming increasingly expensive at all levels, and companies aren’t throwing around sponsorship dollars as readily as they have in the past, so teams have to come up with other ways to help ease the financial burden on the players families. There are a whole host of different fundraising opportunities available out there, and we offer one that is both fun for all involved, and ties in nicely, since you’re already dealing with a group of people that are into hockey.

Why Run a Hockey Pool Fundraiser?

Hockey Pools are both easy to manage, and fun for everyone involved. You’re a hockey team or organization, and your fundraiser is centered around hockey, so it’s a natural fit. Our Loser Hockey Pool is the most popular, but we do have other options. Almost all of the legwork is prior to the pool starting, sending out invites and collecting entry fees (which you can track on the site). Once the pool has started, there really isn’t much to do until the pool is over and you have to make the payout.

It can increase interest in the on ice performance of the team/organization, which can also help at the gate, for those that charge admission. Post a link to the pool and sign up information on your team website, and a link to your team website on your pool home page.

Things to Consider

What type of prize structure will you use? A fixed pot or a split pot? A fixed pot is a set amount that isn’t dependent on the number of entries. For example, you set your prize at $1000, and it doesn’t matter how many entries you have, the winner earns $1000. The funds raised will be anything above that $1000. A split pot (usually set at 50/50) is a little different as the prize is set based on the number of entries, with half going to the team or organization and half going to the winner of the pool.

Some teams will set minimum entry numbers for each player to ensure a minimum number of entries, so you can advertise a minimum prize, if you’re using the split pot structure.

Is it legal in your area? Will you need a gaming licence to run your pool? If you’re running a large hockey pool for an entire organization, we suggest you explore the options to find out the details of what is and isn’t allowed. There can be very specific rules about prize structure involved. I know some areas specify you must have a fixed prize pool, so your prize is a set amount, and is not dependent on the number of entries.

Ideas for Success

Offer some sort incentive to team/player that ‘sells’ the most entries. You’re dealing with competitive people, and an incentive can really drive up numbers. If there’s a major junior hockey team in your area, tickets to a game can be a great options.

Set your pool to allow for multiple incorrect selections before elimination to keep people in and engaged for a longer period of time. Hockey is much more ‘random’ game to game than football, so Survivor/Eliminator style hockey pools tend to be shorter than football ones.

An alternative to multiple lives/strikes is to run multiple pools per season – one beginning in October, and another beginning in January. If you advertise this when setting up the 1st pool, you’ll already have people expecting it. You can even set up both at the same time, and collect for both at the same time if you wish. We offer a discount on your 2nd pool in a season, which is more money for your team or organization.

While this isn’t really anything you can do or encourage, occasionally people that win will donate a portion of winnings back to the organization. If it ever does happen, be sure to publicly thank the person that did so.

Send us a message if you’d like to know more about setting up a hockey pool fundraiser on HostedPools.com! Ask us about a discount on multiple pools in the same season.

The Loser Hockey Pool, is a variation on the Survivor or Eliminator Hockey Pool, which features more specific rules. It’s a format where one person will often set up multiple entries to take a shot at the winner take all prize.

Loser Hockey Pool Basics

For each Saturday of the NHL regular season, you pick a team to lose their game that day. If they lose, prior to the shoot-out, you proceed to the following week. If they win the game, or lose the game in a shoot-out, you are eliminated from the pool. The origins of the Loser Hockey Pool go back to the days of NHL ties, and still treat shoot-out games as ties/eliminations. Each entry may only select a team once for the duration of the pool. The pool runs until you’re down to only one remaining entry, or the regular season ends.

If the pool makes it to the end of the regular season with multiple entries alive, they would split the prize money equally. Entries may also choose to split the prize once the pool only has a few remaining. We recommend a partial split with entries still playing to be the sole survivor.

On HostedPools, our deadlines for Loser Hockey Pools are always at Noon (Eastern) on Saturdays. We are considering modifying this for the 2015-2016 season, to be puck drop of the first game on the schedule.

Loser Hockey Pool Options

Multiple Lives/Strikes

You can set up your Loser Hockey Pool to allow for multiple chances for each entry, so you’re not eliminated until you’ve accumulated the necessary strikes. It’s a solid option unless you have a very large pool, as these tend to only last a couple months out of a 6 month season. As a result, many pools will allow 2 or 3 strikes, and still run a first half and a second half pool (ask us about our 2nd pool in same season discount!).

Default Picks

Set up a default pick option, so when someone forgets, or is unable to make a pick, they still end up with a selection according to the default pick criteria. HostedPools doesn’t currently have hockey pool defaults, but we are considering adding them for the 2016 season. Pool Managers can however choose their own criteria and set picks as necessary for anyone that hadn’t chosen.

Set Up Your Loser Hockey Pool