Public Gaming November/December 2020

20 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 PGRI ROUNDTABLES W ant to know as much as possible about the past, present and future of instant scratch- o tickets? Learn where the product is going, how the move to digital will impact players and lotteries? Let’s ask the experts who have been on the front lines of driving sales of both products. Better yet put them all in one (Zoom) room and let them talk. at’s exactly what happened at the “Instant Scratch-O s Roundtable” which featured some of the industry’s most respected leaders. As roundtable leader, Beth set the table for what would be a spirited 90 minutes of lottery discussion. In her previous job as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Lottery, the lottery rst hit the $5 billion mark in sales (more than 70% of which were instant sales). She now oversees the DC Lottery, which has recently implemented sports gambling. But it is the instant ticket product that truly moves the needle for Beth, and the industry. “Building a successful instant ticket portfolio is truly both an art and a science,” she said. “How to assess the playstyle and theme, how to build an attractive prize structure, what colors to use, what call-outs to feature. ese are not the things going through a customer’s mind when they walk into a convenience store and see a display of tickets. But these points, and many others, are on all of our panelists’ minds, every day. ose who think bringing an instant ticket to market is an easy task have never fretted over call outs, color schemes and prize structures. It’s one of the most critical tasks we undertake as lottery representa- tives.” And with that, they were off. First stop – the meteoric rise in scratch ticket sales in 2020. Charlie McIntyre, who served as General Counsel at the Massachusetts Lottery before moving north to take the top spot at the New Hampshire Lottery 10 years ago, has had a busy 2020. Expansion of Keno and iLottery was always on the table, and then sports gambling was added. But for right now, scratch tickets continue to pay the bills. PGRI INTRODUCTION: Scratch ticket sales have been growing for years, but exploded for many lotteries during the pandemic. What’s driving the growth during these pandemic times, and what can lotteries do to leverage new insights and drive ongoing growth in Instants? How can a balanced and mutually-reinforcing relationship between online and off-line Instants be built? Why is it important to attract and engage players on multiple channels? What are future growth platforms, POS devices, pathways to expand access to the games and attract new consumers? PGRI LOTTERY EXPO & POST-COVID19 LOTTERY: THE MOVIE Executive Summary of the Instant Scratch-off Roundtable Maximizing the Endless Potential of Instant Scratch-offs to Continue to Drive Growth INSTANT SCRATCH-OFFS ROUNDTABLE LEADER: Beth Bresnahan, Executive Director, DC Lottery PANELISTS: David Barden, Chief Executive Officer, New Mexico Lottery Charles McIntyre, Executive Director, New Hampshire Lottery Meghan Dondero, Regional Vice Presi- dent, Scientific Games Mike Purcell, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Kentucky Lottery Corp. Brad Thompson, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Pollard Banknote Continued on page 24