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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // July/August 2016
es on the day of launch of the e-newsletter,
and for the days following the launch. This
was our first significant foray into direct
mobile marketing, and we are very optimis-
tic about the potential of digital to directly
engage our known players. And that was
basically just broad mass market messaging.
Now we are working to customize and pin
point our messaging based upon learnings.
Where did you get 400,000 email addresses?
G. Gurney:
Some of them were from
the winning numbers app, some were from
subscriptions, and some were from people
that sent in winning tickets. We have held
second chance drawings for years and that
is a source for email contact information.
Now we are thinking about how to gather
more email information and really build
on this to develop an even stronger email
marketing campaign throughout this year.
With the new winning numbers app
we’ve also developed, through our market-
ing partner, fun ways to pick your lucky
numbers and interact with the NY Lottery.
We integrated illustrated scenes of New
York State into the app, like Niagara Falls
and mid-town Manhattan, to add local fla-
vor. We also have a feature that enables the
player to set the jackpot amount for draw
games of when they want to be notified
when the jackpot hits that point. We are
working on creating digital coupons that
are scannable to make it easier to use your
mobile device to play at the retailer or a
self-serve station.
You did not get many complaints from people
not wanting to receive the emails?
G. Gurney:
Correct, hardly any at all.
Keep in mind, we emailed only people who
had signed up to receive notices or some-
thing from us. And we make it easy to be
removed from the list if they want. We may
have had a couple thousand people ask to
be removed. But in one month alone, we
gained 20,000 new followers. We need to
look at the big picture and just make sure
we deliver relevant messaging and respect
everyone’s preferences.
What is your thought on managed jackpots, or
capping the jackpot of the big jackpot games?
G. Gurney:
Mega Millions and Power-
ball are two highly successful games. Like
any other product, they have to be man-
aged with a long-term strategy and with
an eye towards sustainability. Jurisdictions
sometimes change lottery directors, which
means we get different input and some-
times fresh input from the stakeholders of
these games. That makes it even more im-
portant for us to have a defined long-term
strategy in place. We all need to respect
the fact that these games serve the interests
and objectives of all participating lotteries.
We need to realize that every decision to
change something is based on the informa-
tion we have now about how to grow the
games. And that information changes over
time. Three years from now, we will have a
different perspective on what is needed to
produce optimal results. In spite of uncer-
tainties about how demographics, market-
ing methods, consumer preferences, tech-
nology, and everything else about what the
future holds, we need to continually push
to keep the games fresh and relevant.
More and more, we need to view our
business as a competition for the discretion-
ary spend, the entertainment dollar. That is
an important concept because competition
for the entertainment dollar is getting more
intense and innovating far faster than lot-
tery games are evolving. So I think capping
or managing jackpot size may well be a part
of working with a maturing product, and
trying to keep ahead of players, and keeping
them from getting turned off or tired of a
product. I would say it’s just good business
sense to stay ahead with known changes
in consumer mindsets and what consum-
ers consider important. The answer can’t
be that we just keep changing the matrix,
making it more difficult to win, in order to
drive the jackpot to higher levels.
Retailers, especially corporate accounts, need
advance notice to cross-sell and otherwise
help Lottery to promote its products. Does the
NY Lottery give its retailers advance notice
about the games to be launched in the coming
months?
G. Gurney:
Yes, we do give retailers
advance notice. We know well in advance
what we are doing and have a pipeline of
Instants ready to launch as needed. Next
year will be the NY Lottery’s 50th anniver-
sary, and we are preparing games and pro-
motions to celebrate that. And we always
have a great set of holiday games which we
give the retailers lots of advance notice so
they can help us promote them.
We work closely with our retailers and
especially our corporate accounts to ensure
we are doing everything possible, or at least
making the suggestions, to optimize perfor-
mance. For example, there is a new feature
on a recently launched instant game - Gold
Castle. Months before launch, we started
demonstrating how the game would work
at the New York Association of Conve-
nience Stores Conference. Closer to launch
the sales staff was introducing the game play
to our retailers to make sure that they know
about it and hopefully help us to promote
it. Corporate accounts like 7-Eleven like to
cross promote products to promote their
high margin categories like food and bever-
So I think capping or managing jackpot size may well be a part of working
with a maturing product, and trying to keep ahead of players, and keeping them
from getting turned off or tired of a product.
Gardner Gurney Interview
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