Public Gaming International March/April 2021

18 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2021 nightly game. ere were ve Instant Play games ranging in price from 50 cents to $3 available at launch (these numbers now include ve traditional games including Keno, and almost 60 Instant Play games from 50 cents to $20). To prepare for the launch, the lottery rebuilt its website to increase its capacity, as it would be evolving from a marketing- only website to an all-purpose site that included processing lottery transactions. When looking back, according to Senior VP of Information Technology Gary Ruskowski, the main thing he remembers was the number of choices that had to be made. “When you start down this path, be prepared to make decisions you were not aware would come your way,” said Gary. “You’re looking at a completely di erent model to go to market. We had a lot of unknowns that we had to make decisions about, because it was so di erent than anything we’d ever done in retail.” And, of course, there was retailer outreach. is is an area of concern for many lotteries and Kentucky took this communication seriously. For Ms. Harville and her colleagues, it was a bumpy road at rst. “Lotteries now are at such an advantage over those of us who were early adopters because of the data and evidence they have available,” said Kentucky’s Director of Interactive Content and Customer Service Lauren Walker. “We were convinced retail sales wouldn’t be harmed as a result of our iLottery sales, but the only data we had on the e ects at brick-and-mortar locations at the time was from Europe. is was a non-starter with many of the people to whom we tried to make this argument. e evidence now is so clear, and here in Kentucky, retailers have enjoyed more sales and commissions every year since our iLottery launch. Retailers can now even ask other retailers about how this has played out for them.” Fast forward to 2021 and the iLottery program o ered by the Kentucky Lottery is in the midst of its best scal year since launch. iLottery sales in FY20 totaled $45.0 million and accounted for 3.7% of total Lottery sales. In FY21 (through 2/28/21), those sales have skyrocketed to $74.7 million, a 255.5% increase over the same period in FY20, and accounted for 7.6% of total Lottery sales. With the scars to prove their hard work to get iLottery planned and executed in Kentucky, here are tips they have for colleagues at other lotteries: n You don’t have to recreate the wheel. Talk to sta in states (like Kentucky) who have gone down this path and can provide years’ worth of experience and insights. n Have your legal ducks in a row and do your homework with legislators, Governor and retailers. n If your lottery has not been collecting SSNs and other personally identi - able information, know that o ering accounts to players opens the lottery up to a whole new area of risk that must be addressed. n When introducing a digital product, explore the various ways that something could go wrong and have a plan in place. For example, consider how you will help players who are having problems with the product, address their questions, understand- ing/evaluating fraud controls. is needs to be clearly addressed in the vendor contract. n Incorporate a wide variety of consumer end point devices (phones/ tablets/laptops) into your testing e orts and refresh the device portfolio as new devices are introduced over time. n is testing can be a huge issue for lotteries who prohibit employees and vendors (including third party vendors) from purchasing lottery products. is can pose a signi cant barrier to appropriate testing. n Take a look at what sta changes/ process changes you need to address to have your teams working e ec- tively. “In the end, we convinced everyone we were going to do this the right way. And we did,” said Ms. Harville. “ at’s been proven. Our retail sales remain higher than at any other time in our history, and our iLottery sales continue to break records. All of this has combined to mean more proceeds for the college scholarship and grant programs we fund, which is at the core of everything we do.” STEPHANIE WEYANT PENNSYLVANIA LOTTERY T he Pennsylvania iLottery ended the last scal year with over $63 million in pro ts and earned $42 million in pro ts through the rst six months of the current scal year. With eye-popping numbers like that, it’s hard to believe that the Keystone State has only o ered iLottery for less than three years. More amazing is how quickly the lottery had to act to put the program in place. Forward-thinking elected o cials in Pennsylvania decided in 2017 that the state was ready for a host of new gaming options – iGaming, casino-run sports betting, video gaming terminals (VGTs) at truck stops, Keno and iLottery. e legislation passed in October 2017 and the lottery needed to be operating and generating revenue before the end of the scal year. e Lottery launched online on May 22, 2018. Seven months to nd a business partner, re-assign internal sta , communicate with players and launch a program. “No sweat,” said Executive Director Drew Svitko and Deputy Executive Director for Marketing and Products Stephanie Weyant. Or perhaps they used more colorful language. STEPHANIE WEYANT PENNSYLVANIA LOTTERY “Everything happened so quickly that we could only operate on one speed,” said Stephanie. “We didn’t have time to add employees for launch and we didn’t have a separate iLottery division at that point. So employees with already-full plates were asked to add iLottery to their job duties. And while we’ve added a few employees since launch, for the most part it’s the same teams handling the work. e marketing team is handling advertising, the product team is handling the games, the New Media team is handling digital, etc.”