Let's have a lottery on start of lottery
I think if you want to "keep people occupied" until "other original PIPS programs" start up, and until the new lottery starts, why not have a lottery as to when the lottery will start?
First was before the New year( 2006, i presume). Then it started only being hours away.
So why not have some fun, and do a lottery, as to when it will actually start (1st payout date seems fair, not URL, or sign-up date).
If everyone is that antsy, give them something to do until then.
Don't have a clue who would monitor it, and account for it, but maybe someone else has an idea.
Might even save some bandwidth, speculating on opening of the lottery.