May/June 2015 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL //
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it, understand it and have the skills, ability and resources to put it
to work. It is these people that, up until now, have been directed to
make the way things have always been done better, faster and more
efficient. The same people, already subject to cognitive barriers and
biases, who work in organizations that likely don’t reward critical
thinking, taking risks and creating new ways of doing things. The
same people that are often already tasked with delivering the busi-
ness needs of today. It is these people that must create change. It is
possible, but it will take time and supported plans that recognize all
levers, needs and barriers.
It’s a Journey, Expect to Fail Before
You Succeed
Perhaps most important is the need to accept that creating an ex-
panding ability to leverage data for value is a journey. A journey requir-
ing participation and resources from across the organization. It isn’t a
one-time installation with an end date, but instead an ongoing effort
to gain a clearer picture of the market and a greater ability to meet and
stay ahead of its demands. It requires time, commitment and daily
working it to derive more than interesting points, dashboards and re-
ports. Regardless of budget, it will take a commitment from many, a
centralized vision and a clear understanding of resources. Even with all
of that, be prepared to be disappointed, to fail and to find more barri-
ers than discoveries in the early days. Continue to work and eventually
results and value will be exponential.
As the market has gotten more challenging and both consumers
and retailers demand more, there seems to be a growing narrative
around all the reasons why lotteries can’t stay competitive. Games
are changing, marketing is changing, consumers are changing and
technology is changing. That said, instead of listing why lotteries
can’t keep up, perhaps the list should be all the reasons why lotteries
can. Lottery remains one of the most popular entertainment prod-
ucts, drives traffic into retail doors like no other product can, touches
millions every single day and raises billions for good causes. With a
vision, enough resources, new types of enabling technologies and a
commitment to change, lotteries can maintain their preferred enter-
tainment status. It might be more than getting more out of Power-
ball, but it can be done. That’s what data has to do with it.
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Figure 7: A Multi-Path Journey
want to repeat-play Instant games, or they may want to know what the
latest promotions, coupons or offers are. This experience needs to be
different for these player than for the new/infrequent players.
The role for the operator is to be able to provide different messages,
experience and navigation of the site by player segments (whether they
be by value or usage). The operator must have the ability to be able to
meet the needs of these differing player needs and have the dynamism
to convert and upsell against a narrow and broad product offering.
Shouldn’t an Interactive website include free-play options to engage the
consumer? Is the goal to maximize the “dwell time” as key to maximiz-
ing the likelihood of purchase, as land-based retail stores try to do?
R. Bateson:
Yes, iLottery channels should offer free-play options
(where allowed to by their state or regulator). This allows players to
try before you buy and is common across the i-gaming industry. In
our UK business, 80% of IWG players that try a game also play a
wagering game. So backing up our hypothesis, we offer games to
new/undecided players to help drive conversion, and ultimately the
majority of them do go on to wager as well.
Operators need to decide whether free-play options are only avail-
able to players with active accounts. The advantage of this is that it
can become a data capture exercise to build out prospect pools and
build player understanding—for example—which games/types of
games/price points are driving trial.
Free-play can increase dwell time on site as it is likely to encour-
age increased visitation of the site, but this is by no means the only
activity to do so.
Lotteries must focus on content, social integration and on site
promotions. Content, whether it be rich media, user content, ben-
eficiary stories is really important in giving players a reason to drive
engagement and revisitation. We all know that there are times when
jackpots aren’t big and there isn’t any new news, so a content/promo-
tional calendar should address those gaps with fresh and engaging
content – increasingly we are seeing this being achieved through rich
media, be it video or infographics for example.
Exactly how is Mobile Gaming different from home-computer-based
gaming? Isn’t it all delivered via the internet?
R. Bateson:
This is about a shift in usage by consumers. More
people are accessing lottery websites through mobile rather than PC.
It’s true that in its simplest form a mobile device should be seen as
just another distribution channel and many of the same principles
and disciplines do of course apply.
It’s also worth considering that there will be some differences. We
know that our players accessing games on their mobile behave dif-
ferently—they play different types of games, at different times of the
day and respond to different marketing techniques. All of these need
to be understood, considered and acted upon in order to give your
players the experience they want.
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Richard Bateson Interview …
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