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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // November/December 2016
You don’t need me to tell you
that the biggest challenge facing
today’s lottery industry is ap-
pealing to a player base that is
spending an increasing amount
of time online.
There has been plenty of talk in
our sector about the importance
of digital innovation and building
a suite of products that reso-
nates with the much sought after
millennial demographic.
What I have not seen is much
advice on the practical benefits
of a coherent digital strategy and
the synergies that can be gained
when that digital strategy com-
plements an existing retail offer.
I believe one of the main
benefits of doing a Brick
N’ Click launch is to
capitalize on the brand
awareness among our
customers. They are
able to find their favorite
retail scratchcard online
and vice versa.
We’re really pleased
with the result.
Launching
new instants
simultaneously in
physical and digital
forms can provide a
host of benefits for
lotteries, says IWG
CEO Rhydian Fisher
“
THE POWER
OF THE DUAL
LAUNCH
This path is well-trodden by our
cousins in the private sector; a
number of casino operators have
stressed the importance of om-
ni-channel releases – simultane-
ous launches of new titles across
land-based machines and online
– for a number of years.
While retail sales will remain the
priority for most lottery retailers
for the foreseeable future, they
need to diversify and bring in rev-
enues from other channels.
Dual launches of instant win
games can provide a major boost
to nascent digital operations,
and it is an area we at IWG are
expanding rapidly following a
number of successful roll-outs
with Loto-Québec, Norsk Tipping
and ONCE in Spain.
The halo effect
The benefits of a dual launch are
far-reaching. Launching a phys-
ical ticket that shares the same
prize structure and design as its
digital equivalent creates a halo
effect in marketing, giving play-
ers a wider range of options to
respond to the same campaign,
in turn boosting ROI.
It also helps operators drive
traffic between the channels.
In Québec, a call-to-action was
included on the physical ticket,
suggesting players visit a URL to
play the same game online.
Loto-Québec’s head of online
Sovanna Phan said that the
simultaneous launch of a game
across retail and online, known
as a ‘Brick N’ Click’ launch, allows
the operator to leverage sales on
both channels.