Public Gaming November/December 2020

44 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 “We’ve done a lot of testing and we know that Australia and the UK are ready for a $5 price point and multi-day drawings,” she said. “It’s been 10 years since we started pressing the price point to $2 in the United States. We will have a platform in Australia to test the idea of an increased price point and if it works, we’ll want to seriously consider the same move here. Firmly in the “Opportunity” category is iLottery and all panelists agreed that if anything positive comes out of 2020, it’s that the digitization discussion within the lottery industry is in hyper speed. From robust features added to cashless purchasing to player clubs to full online lottery sales, all lotteries are having the internal discussion centered around “what can I launch and how soon can it be in the market?’” Some states, like Maryland, are legislatively prohibited from selling lottery product online while others, like Pennsylvania and Georgia, have seen internet sales explode since March. “In Georgia, we have worked hard to expand the ability to buy our products without cash,” said Gretchen. “It’s been a priority, both from a sales and safety perspective. And iLottery provides another safe channel for sales. We’ve grown the product 300% this year and while we saw growth throughout the rst three months of 2020, certainly the pandemic was a major driver of this huge spike. “My hope is that states like Georgia can assist lotteries that are pursuing iLottery and want to share with their stakeholders that adding this important sales channel will boost revenue without hurting retailers. iLottery is not a threat to retailers…it is an opportunity for all of us to add new players, a younger demographic, and the overall lottery customer base. We need to get that message out there.” While Bret agrees that the iLottery category is the future for the industry, he sees the current status of the channel as a weakness and threat as well as opportunity, all in one. “MUSL’s product planning committee saw iLottery as an important channel many years ago and began to study the best course for lotteries,” he said. “But the scattered approach to launching iLottery is certainly a threat to gaining the new customers that will make it a success. It is a challenging category, it’s not like an instant ticket. You need people to take a number of steps that sometimes involves alternate payment forms. It can be complicated, especially for a multi-jurisdictional imple- mentation that would involve di erent constraints from state to state. “At MUSL, we’re working on a three- to ve-year plan regarding iLottery. What’s the national strategy that we can create to help lotteries more e ciently roll-out their own plans for the category? We have 48 lotteries with 48 di erent agenda and di erent priorities. But there are only a small number of vendors that are supplying these programs and only so many di erent ways to o er these games. If we start there, with a plan that begins at the ground oor, the opportu- nities become much more achievable. Gordon said he is heartened that the industry, particularly the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL), has answered the clarion call for iLottery and responded with support and forethought. e realization that this is not just a moment in time created by the pandemic, that iLottery is here to stay, bodes well for the expansion of iLottery into states beyond the handful currently o ering these platforms. “NASPL’s pivot to education and continu- ing with seminars that provide lotteries with the information they need, especially with respect to iLottery, has been encourag- ing and helpful to this important cause,” said Gordon. “NASPL is a unifying umbrella organization for all of us and they have certainly embraced that role this year. We’re a business with consumer products but we’re also government agencies. Having NASPL serve as the entity that can focus on the business side while we handle the government side is incredibly helpful.” An additional opportunity for some lotteries, a potential threat for others, is sports betting. e increase in sports betting has been eye-popping as it has eclipsed iLottery in terms of legislative debates. Whether a lottery or another state agency is overseeing sports betting, all lotteries must monitor this additional form of gambling. is includes non-sports betting states with border states that allow it, as players may cross state lines to make their bets. “Sports betting wasn’t necessarily on my radar screen a few years ago but it has been my primary work in 2020,” said Rebecca. “I’m the regulator for mobile-only sports betting which is now live in Tennessee. None of us knows what the threat will be to our tradi- tional lottery products. But if sports betting is on mobile and lottery is not available on mobile, that is potentially a threat and is something that needs to be recti ed.” Staying with “threats”, Drew said he, like other directors, is concerned about the strength of the overall product mix. It’s been widely discussed that Powerball and Mega Millions have faced strong headwinds over the past year-plus. But other games have been impacted by the pandemic too, such as Keno which is primarily played at social settings. It’s troubling and needs addressing. “In Pennsylvania, as with other states, strong instant ticket sales are masking other problems because they are adding so much to our top line revenue,” said Drew. “But we are seeing some signi cant long-term trends with our product lines that we have not had to address in depth because our overall nancial picture looks strong. I’m certainly grateful that my instant ticket sales are so strong, as they are just about everywhere. But the conditions that contribute to those sales are not permanent, so we have to gure it out sustainable solutions going forward.” Closing out the discussion, Gretchen said that in this time of little travel and no in-person meetings, planning and commu- nication is critical. “Taking us back to the subject of this panel discussion, I love a good SWOT analysis and a good plan because it keeps us on a path to success,” she said. “We must also make sure we keep open lines of communication between our states. When we share informa- tion, we are better as an industry and as individual lotteries. Together we can identify our threats and weaknesses, focus on our strengths and act on our opportunities.” n SWOT Roundtable continued from page 15 MUSL’s product planning committee saw iLottery as an important channel many years ago and began to study the best course for lotteries