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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // May/June 2016
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What’s your
legacy?
C
lose your eyes and fast forward twenty years … what’s your leg-
acy? What future did you leave for your lottery? Did you and
your team grow sales? Did you successfully launch a new game or
scratch ticket? Did you drive participation? And more importantly
did you leave your lottery in a better situation that you found it?
This year we have celebrated huge, rolling jackpots and the re-
sultant record breaking sales. But what sort of legacy is left behind
after these brief events? The player’s expectations have been re-
set—$100 million dollar jackpots are no longer so exciting. And so
begins jackpot fatigue. This same phenomenon can be true if one
increases payouts on a scratch ticket; you risk teaching your players
the art of jackpot chasing. Although win-ability and jackpot size are
effective drivers to play and help to increase sales, they both come
at cost to your lottery’s future as the net revenue itself is eroded.
Other successes we measure—the launch of a new game which,
more often than not, comes in the form of new imagery on a
scratch ticket. Given the decline in player participation and our
industry’s current struggle to capture the attention of the younger
demographic (in America, 51% of over 25s play the lottery, but
only 30% of 18-25 year olds play, already down from 35% only 6
years ago), it’s clear that new imagery on scratch tickets alone isn’t
going to build the lottery’s foundations for the future.
So what are the steps you can take now to ensure your legacy is
one you’ll be proud of? What can we all do to leave a legacy of a
healthy, thriving lottery with a broad player base—in other words
to ensure your lottery continues to thrive in the future?
I believe strongly that digital has to play a key part in this. We are
living in a digital world where more and more consumers buy prod-
ucts online, and this is especially true for younger consumers. Nearly
two thirds of all Americans own a smartphone, a figure which in-
creases to 85% in the 18-29 year old category—the very demographic
we need to appeal to. Research also shows that people are increasingly
comfortable transacting online—57% of all smartphone owners use
online banking, a number which once again increases when consider-
ing the young adult category, as 70% use online banking facilities.
Consumers can buy pretty much anything online these days, from
banking to holidays, to household appliances—but apart from in a
handful of States, they cannot buy a lottery ticket online. This is
eroding our player base, and is going to prove increasingly damaging
for our industry in the future—unless we do something about it.
We do not underestimate the challenge of going digital. Legisla-
tors, retailers, and lobby groups are all ready to express their objec-
tions and concerns. But for the sake of our industry, and the ben-
eficiaries we support, we must do all it takes to get there. It is true
that the road to a fully digital lottery world is a challenging one. So
much so, some of us may even have left the industry before that day
finally comes. But, just because we have no certainty of reward in
our careers (but a great sense of the risk!), does not mean we should
be complacent. A strong legacy would be to safeguard the future
of the lottery and the causes it supports through the execution of a
clear digital strategy, that broadens the player base.
Undertaking the challenge of positioning your lottery, your play-
ers, and your beneficiaries for a digital-future is most certainly a
worthy cause for celebration. But how do you do this?
There are numerous steps you can take immediately. Executing
a mobile led strategy which bridges the gap between online and in-
store is a great place to start. Ticket scanning, mobile results check-
ing, store locators, and ibeacon messaging … these are all digitally
hosted features you can offer players without any transaction hap-
pening in digital. Once you have begun to develop your digital
presence, you can continue to evolve and develop the offering,
introducing enhanced content with digital second chance games,
such a Collect and Win. This not only gives players the opportu-
nity to interact with your lottery and to play exciting games, it also
gives you the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with
your players. And, in time, you can use this digital presence to dem-
onstrate that the digital lottery world is not something to fear—it
is a necessary evolution which can be well managed to ensure your
lottery is able to achieve sustainable growth in a responsible way.
The key throughout this process is communication. Tell your legis-
lature of its success, explain the benefits of your strategy, and how you
will develop it. Build their support, and engage them in your vision.
Help your players to gain confidence in the concept of digital lotteries,
reassure them that you can meet their needs safely, securely, and per-
sonally. Bring your retailers on the journey. Share with them the success
stories from Michigan, Georgia, British Columbia, and the UK Na-
tional Lottery, among others, who have succeeded in growing retail in
conjunction with digital. Show them examples of retailers who them-
selves have embraced digital technology in retail, such as Starbucks
who offer in-store transactions on a customer’s mobile device—they
have now reached 13 million users and transact over 16% of purchases
via this channel. Show your retailers what digital can do for them.
To achieve this, to begin the very daunting and challenging task
of positioning your lottery, your players and your retailers to be
ready for the digital world is not an easy undertaking. It is filled
with many small steps, slow success, and great victories.
We need to think beyond the ‘record breaking sales’ headlines and
understand what lies beneath them—what are the small triumphs we
should be celebrating instead? What is the future going to look like
because of something we have done? What will your legacy be?
■
CamelotGlobal.com