Game show combines lottery, Monopoly

Future contestants will be chosen via scratch-off tickets.

— It sounds LOS ANGELES like a Swiss Army knife version of a TV game show: a combination of a venerable board game, state lotteries, Las Vegas and seasoned comedian Billy Gardell as host.

The result is “Monopoly Millionaires’ Club,” a syndicated series its creators say draws on the board game’s “iconography” — Get Out of Jail and Pass Go cards and such — while morphing it into something new and telegenic.

“Watching people play Monopoly for an hour probably wouldn’t be that exciting,” said executive producer Kevin Belinkoff.

Instead, he said, the prime-time show that debuts this weekend (check local listings for day and station) looks for adrenaline in its structure, including giving players in participating state lotteries a shot at getting into the game and every studio audience member a stake in the outcome.

There’s serious cash to be won. The show has taped 12 episodes so far and produced a pair of $1 million winners and other contestants who have claimed prizes in the $200,000 neighborhood.

“There’s such a rush when somebody wins lifechanging money,” said Gardell, the “Mike & Molly” CBS sitcom star who was looking to emcee a game show writ large.

Future contestants will be drawn from those who purchase Monopoly Millionaires’ Club scratcher tickets, said Steve Saferin, president of Scientific Games Properties, a division of instant-win lottery games seller Scientific Games.

The scratchers include codes that, entered online, can help a player get into a drawing to win a trip to Las Vegas and an appearance on the game show. The show will be available in most TV markets, but only 14 state lotteries are involved at this point, a spokeswoman said.