JACKSON MAN WINS $10,000 ON INTERNET

JACKSON -- Christmas will be extra cheery at Jeff Kennett's house this Christmas thanks to his love affair with the Internet.

Earlier this week, the 27-year-old Domino's Pizza manager won $10,000 from iWon.com, an Internet search engine that has been giving away that amount daily since its launch in October.

Navigating the site earns points that count as entries into the contest. The number of entries accumulated is displayed at the top of each page by a tracking system.

Located at www.iwon.com, the company is giving away $10,000 every day, $1 million every month and will give away $10 million on Tax Day 2000. Kennett also is eligible for the $1 million monthly contests and for the Tax Day bonanza.

Kennett accumulated the daily limit of 100 points on the day he won, but company spokeswoman Stacy Chaloiecheep said some people have won the daily prize with as few as 17 points.

Chaloiecheep said the company has not released information about the number of hits it is receiving per day. "The site is only two months (old) and any data would be premature," she said.

iWon.com has search, Web directory and shopping engine capabilities.

The Jackson resident has entered the contest most days since the company launched the site in October. He spends lots of time on the Internet, he says, "More than I'd like to admit."

Chat rooms, games and e-mail are his primary destinations, using e-mail to keep in contact with his far-flung family.

He still goes to the search engine to get points every day, even though that might be fruitless.

"I don't know if I can win again," he said.

He was notified about winning while at Domino's and thought the phone call might be a hoax. "I wasn't sure, but I was the next day when the FedEx guy came," he said.

The point of the contest is to promote the search engine and to force users to visit advertisers. iWon.com is a CBS-backed search engine. CBS is providing $70 million and advertising for a majority stake in the company.

The daily $10,000 winners are posted on the site. The $1 million monthly winners and $10 million Tax Day winner are to be announced in prime time on CBS.

Kennett and his wife, Missy, have three children under the age of 6 Jeff, Jake and Josh. They have plenty of uses for the money, he says.

"We have a car we're going to get taken of and we'll fix a few things around the house. We'll have a real nice Christmas and we'll save a lot of it."

One of the 27-year-old Kennett's goals is to return to school to work on his computer science degree.