Promotional campaign award validation methods through a distributed computer network

摘要

Code processing for promotional games and the like. In a preferred application, a lottery ticket holder who has purchased a lottery ticket is encouraged to access a designated Internet site by rewarding access thereat on the condition that information visibly supported on the lottery ticket from a given drawing is input at an Internet site and a test indicates that the information so-input matches lottery numbers that were picked for that drawing. Access to predetermined Internet-based services or sites can also be had as an award to an individual for inputting an iconic code at a machine connected to the Internet if the input code tests as valid, with the code being marked so as to be usable only once. Preferably, the iconic code is input by click-selecting displayed icons one after another in an order that corresponds to that of a code provided to the individual. POS methods for code processing are also described.