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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // July/August 2016
C
hange occurs in any environment. A meteor strikes. Ice caps
recede. Inventions are created that change our everyday
world. And then change comes again, and again, and with
every change new parameters for survival are set. Adding to the chal-
lenge to survive in this century is the fact that change now happens at
digital speed. It is not enough to keep up with the pace of innovation,
it is necessary to run ahead of it with big, strong and capable strides
—boldly, assertively …Bamm…Bamm…Bamm… running to be
the agent of change rather than becoming a casualty of change.
This force has been abundantly evident in the retail environment
for years. We don’t buy record albums or video tape movies anymore,
we stream music and click on Netflix. The mobile phone and tablet
have become the current retail hub for ecommerce. But even though
as much as 85% of lottery revenue is still associated with the retail
channel, lottery at retail is not ahead of the force of change. For years
we have been watching lottery become marginalized in the retail en-
vironment as fewer people are playing in less retail locations. And yet,
the change to our retail-based operational paradigm has been minimal
while we simultaneously acknowledge the need to revolutionize our
customer connectivity in the retail environment.
We have been offering the same thing in the same place in the same
way knowing we need different results.
Up until now!
It’s A New World
To state the obvious, the retail environment has changed, dramati-
cally. As consumers, we all enjoy that change every time we place an
online order from our mobile phone or stream music through our
tablet. Yet lottery at retail, which represents as much as 85% of lot-
tery sales, continues to require unique points of presence, separate and
costly hardware and software, and significant processing.
We must accept that as the retail environment changes, the pa-
rameters of survival change. Such a disruption to the status quo
requires assertive, inventive, and courageous action to survive. The
force of this type of inevitable disruptive change is the catalyst of
progress, but only if it is used to sharply break from the past and
adapt to a new present.
The Power to Say NO!
The one sure way to anticipate and successfully triumph over the
force of disruptive change is to say NO to the status quo. To identify
what must change in order to succeed in protecting the most impor-
tant dynamic in any business; connectivity with the customer.
While consumerism continues to move away from the physi-
cal toward the more personal, “noline” experience that directly
connects to the customer, lottery operators are largely still a step
Let the Force of Disruption
Inspire
You
By Frank Cecchini, CEO and Managing Director NLS
There is a cause and affect force in the universe that has driven
human progress since the beginning of time.
Disruptive Change—Adaptation to Survive.
BAMM! A powerful force.
It is not the strongest
species that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but the ones
most responsive to change.
—Charles Darwin