(AP) -- The Illinois Lottery, responding to complaints from the NFL, has dropped its Little Lotto Fantasy Football promotion.
The league said it was illegal to run the promotion that promised lucky fans tickets to the Super Bowl without NFL permission.
``Our legal team sat down with the legal team of the NFL and kind of worked through the ins and outs of everything and came to the conclusion to just shut it down,'' lottery spokesman Courtney Hill said Tuesday.
The game, which started Oct. 1 and awarded one set of Super Bowl tickets and other goodies to a single winner each night, was supposed to run through Oct. 31. Now it will end Wednesday night.
Winners will still receive their prizes, Hill said.
Lottery officials believed they didn't need NFL approval under the terms of a contract with Promo-Travel International, the company that sold the state the rights to the promotion.
``Our thinking was that all of these rights had been secured,'' Hill said.
Hill also said lottery officials were aware that the words ``Super Bowl'' and ``NFL'' are licensed trademarks that belong to the league. So they used the words ``Super Game XL'' instead.
In radio ads for the promotion, they even made sure that the word ``Super'' could be heard, but where listeners might have expected ``Bowl'' there was only cheering.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said it doesn't matter if the exact words ``Super Bowl'' appear in any ads.
``If you are describing what everybody perceives as the Super Bowl ... that is a trademark infringement,'' he said.
McCarthy said if lottery officials had called the NFL, the league would have informed them of its policy against taking part in state or municipal lotteries. He noted that NFL game tickets say the tickets aren't to be used for promotions, ticket giveaways and contests without the league's written permission.
The NFL's legal staff, which routinely searches for such promotions, notified the lottery earlier this month that what it was doing was illegal.
Promo-Travel International has since been purchased by MDI Entertainment, and MDI president Steve Saferin said his company will make sure the winners receive their Super Bowl tickets. Saferin said he did not know there were any legal problems with the promotion until this week.
The league said it was illegal to run the promotion that promised lucky fans tickets to the Super Bowl without NFL permission.
``Our legal team sat down with the legal team of the NFL and kind of worked through the ins and outs of everything and came to the conclusion to just shut it down,'' lottery spokesman Courtney Hill said Tuesday.
The game, which started Oct. 1 and awarded one set of Super Bowl tickets and other goodies to a single winner each night, was supposed to run through Oct. 31. Now it will end Wednesday night.
Winners will still receive their prizes, Hill said.
Lottery officials believed they didn't need NFL approval under the terms of a contract with Promo-Travel International, the company that sold the state the rights to the promotion.
``Our thinking was that all of these rights had been secured,'' Hill said.
Hill also said lottery officials were aware that the words ``Super Bowl'' and ``NFL'' are licensed trademarks that belong to the league. So they used the words ``Super Game XL'' instead.
In radio ads for the promotion, they even made sure that the word ``Super'' could be heard, but where listeners might have expected ``Bowl'' there was only cheering.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said it doesn't matter if the exact words ``Super Bowl'' appear in any ads.
``If you are describing what everybody perceives as the Super Bowl ... that is a trademark infringement,'' he said.
McCarthy said if lottery officials had called the NFL, the league would have informed them of its policy against taking part in state or municipal lotteries. He noted that NFL game tickets say the tickets aren't to be used for promotions, ticket giveaways and contests without the league's written permission.
The NFL's legal staff, which routinely searches for such promotions, notified the lottery earlier this month that what it was doing was illegal.
Promo-Travel International has since been purchased by MDI Entertainment, and MDI president Steve Saferin said his company will make sure the winners receive their Super Bowl tickets. Saferin said he did not know there were any legal problems with the promotion until this week.
