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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // November/December 2016
Government Regulated Lotteries Need to Up Their Game
Joni Hovi, Executive Director Lotteries for Kambi, explains why sports betting is the key
driver to integrate the land based and online gaming experience for players.
The ‘on-demand’ economy is growing
Competition in the games-of-chance industry is increasing
at an exponential rate. The good news for government gam-
ing operators is that they are better positioned than anyone
to build the 360-degree relationship with the players than
any other gaming sector. That’s because the omni-channel
marketplace puts the power into the hands of the consumer.
And the consumer does not think in terms of channels of
distribution. The consumer expects and assumes that their
affiliations will be there. Consumers expect intuitive inter-
faces, seamless experiences and relevant offers. This is the
new norm.
Lotteries are poised to personalise
the gaming experience.
Lottery’s network of retailers, and it’s competency at man-
aging large networks of land-based store-fronts, is the most
powerful competitive advantage. Other operators connect
with the consumer via the internet. Of course, the internet
and mobile are vital links in the omni-channel relation-
ship that is the cornerstone to building the 360-degree re-
lationship with the consumer. That is why all operators are
continuing to raise the bar in the world of customer-facing
internet and mobile connections. But insofar as all games-of-
chance operators strive to build out the most advanced digi-
tal platforms, it will be harder to differentiate in the future.
The missing link for most other operators than government
regulated gaming operators is the land-based connection.
Lottery’s network of land-based retailers is the proprietary
advantage that sets them apart from their competitors in the
games-of-chance industry.
Grabbing attention is straight forward
with sports betting services
The other key to building out the 360-degree consumer
relationships is to be the one-stop destination for all games.
Lotteries already offer some of the most popular games in
the world, but the modern consumers need more. They want
convenience, entertainment and a wider service offering. In
gaming, one critical success factor is to become the one gam-
ing destination that fulfills at least most, if not all, modern
consumers’ gaming desires. This also includes i-games of all
varieties, games of chance, and the fastest growing category,
Sport Betting.
The modern consumer wants the option to migrate from
category to category, to enjoy a variety of gaming experienc-
es. They expect the gaming operator to make it easy for them
to do this by providing the broadest and most entertaining
portfolio of games. Further to this, modern consumers want
more than ever the gaming provider to have a trusted and
responsible brand.
Scalable, flexible and differentiated
Look at the themes of the two major conference events in
Europe this year. One is titled “Digital Transformation in
Marketing” (the WLA/EL Marketing Seminar in London in
January) and the other was “Renaissance of Retail in Digital
Times” (EL Industry Days in Marrakech in June). The host
of EL Industry Days, Younès El Mechrafi, put it this way:
We don’t need a digital strategy. We need a business strategy
for digital times.
Continued on page 59