Public Gaming International • September/October 2014
10
pacity for growth in the multi-state game cat-
egory. It would enable us to think about the
multi-state games as an integrated product
category, and not as three isolated products.
Of course, the Powerball and Mega Mil-
lions Consortium do work well together al-
ready. We meet and try to coordinate plans
to maximize the overall aggregate perfor-
mance of both games. But, the process of
the two groups meeting separately to work
on their own game and then all of us getting
together to coordinate our plans restricts our
ability to build momentum for a long-term
strategy to build the category. Working to-
gether as one single governing body, so that
all decisions regarding both games are made
as a single group with the focused goal of
maximizing overall sales for the entire cat-
egory of national games, would just be a
more productive for of governance.
Strategies to build the product category
would seem to mean managing the national
brands for maximum synergy and overall re-
sults. Is that a big part of the dialogue now?
M. Scheve Reardon:
We all agree that
the business needs to be managed with the
objective of creating maximum overall re-
sults and that would mean applying a cat-
egory-management approach that focuses
on synergy between the brands. We think
that the Monopoly Millionaires’ Club is dif-
ferentiated quite effectively from Powerball
and Mega Millions already, so we aren’t
obsessing over the broader concept of cat-
egory management right now. Our energies
and resources are all focused on effective
implementation of Monopoly Millionaires’
Club. But I am sure that the principles of
category management will be applied as we
develop the next National Premium Game
(NPG), and even as we evolve the manage-
ment of the three current national games.
When a fourth game is added, we will al-
most certainly need to manage the portfolio
of national games strategically, for optimal
synergies and overall results.
It’s taking larger and larger jackpots to
capture media and consumer attention in
the national games. Is “jackpot fatigue”
reaching a high-water mark where it will
become difficult to meet consumer expecta-
tions? And, is Monopoly Millionaires’ Club
the antidote?
M. Scheve Reardon:
Jackpot fatigue syn-
drome has been a challenge for many years,
even decades. The fact that it is a challenge
does not seem to diminish sales and consum-
er excitement for the game. Sales keep going
up for Mega Millions and Powerball.
Instead of being an “antidote” to jackpot
fatigue, Monopoly Millionaires’ Club will
provide a new gaming experience that will
draw in new consumer groups. We expect
sales of Powerball and Mega Millions to con-
tinue their growth and success.Whenwewere
figuring out the concept for a new national
game, we took into consideration that we had
two very successful national jackpot games.
Our objective was to create a new game that
would appeal to play styles and buyer mo-
tives that did not overlap the two successful
jackpot games. The primary objective for this
new game is to expand the market, to bring
in new consumer groups. Since the jackpot-
driven play-style is already being met quite
handily by PB and Mega, we decided to cre-
ate a new design that would share the wealth,
create a “shower of millionaires” instead of
one ginormous winner. Monopoly Million-
aires’ Club is an entirely different concept
from PB and Mega and we expect it to ap-
peal to entirely different consumer groups.
You know, players have always said that they
wished there would be lots of smaller jack-
pot winners instead of giving all the money
to one winner. The truth is that the PB and
Mega players may say that, but they buy way
more tickets when the jackpot gets big. We
don’t expect them to change that buying pat-
tern. And that’s fine because that’s the buyer
motive that drives the tremendous sales of PB
and Mega. We just think that there are in fact
a lot of consumer groups who really will be
motivated by the prospect of having a higher
likelihood of winning a million dollars, or
$15 million or $25 million.
And since we started this game from
scratch, we could integrate into it a whole
constellation of promotional drivers that are
not a part of the other games. The Lottery
TV Game Show is the obvious biggie in
that department. But there is a whole multi-
media campaign that includes website and
Mobile-based promotional initiatives and a
large variety of creative concepts to engage
consumer interest. Monopoly Millionaires’
Club is truly a game-playing experience as
opposed to just buying a ticket with the sin-
gular purpose of winning a huge jackpot.
So, it’s not our goal to convince people to
switch from the jackpot-driven games. It’s
our goal to expand the market by appealing
to new consumer groups and play- styles.
The Monopoly Millionaires’ Club does
do a lot to nationalize the whole playing ex-
perience, to build a truly national consumer
brand. The Lottery TV Game Show will cre-
ate that sense of being a part of something
really big, something national with tens of
millions of people involved. And that’s ex-
citing. But even the TV Game Show will
include representative winners from each
and every state lottery. That is built into the
game. One of the benefits of Monopoly Mil-
lionaires’ Club is that there will be that many
more winners from our state of Missouri.
The “shower of millionaires” means that we
will all be able to celebrate more winners
that come from our own state. And each and
every U.S. lottery enjoys that same benefit.
There is an economy of scale for the pro-
duction of the TV Game Show that couldn’t
really be accomplished on an individual
state basis. Are there economies of scale be-
ing derived on the other components of the
advertising and promotions package?
M. Scheve Reardon:
Definitely. Econo-
mies of scale enable us to pay for the best
creative, the highest production values, the
smartest and most effective promotional
strategies. That is what you will see with Mo-
nopoly Millionaires’ Club. Achieving these
economies of scale is one of the key ratio-
nales for working together to build nation-
wide brands. The Lottery TV Game Show is
something that could only be done with scale,
with multiple states joining together to share
the cost. And it’s not just about production
costs. The whole media buy as measured by
cost per impression, or cost per viewer, comes
down dramatically when you wrap it around
a bigger market instead of local markets. A
national phone app and website with links
to the states is another important element all
states should embrace, as their statutes allow,
to help promote the national brands with to-
day’s omni-channel consumers.
But what about the aspect in which state
lotteries like to brand the uniqueness of
their own state, their own cultural heritage?
M. Scheve Reardon:
That’s a good ques-
tion because the reality is that our mission is
to deliver results for our in-state constituents.
Andwe all have strong convictions about how
to do that. When I came on as director of the
Missouri Lottery in 2009, our team agreed
that the brand was outdated, very 80’s with a
digital look and feel that may have been cut-
ting edge then but needed to be modernized
to appeal to the more emotional and lively
