www.PublicGaming.com The most-watched New Year’s Eve Program in the U.S. rings in the New Year with a nationwide celebration of the first Powerball® Millionaire Also including Executive Summaries of panel discussions and keynote presentations from the World Lottery Summit Vancouver and PGRI Lottery Expo NYC JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
© IGT. All things Lottery. All through one integrated solution. To learn more, visit: IGT.com/OMNIA When you digitize the retail experience via OMNIA’s Connected Play features, you gain unprecedented visibility into retail player behavior. These valuable insights can be used to optimize your product oerings and personalize player communications. This is the future of Lottery. © IGT. All things Lottery. All through one integrated solution. Visit us at WLS in booth #543 to learn more. With the channel vers tility to transform any lottery, the visibi it into player dat that allows you to unlock the potential of curr nt players, the playability by design to attract your future players, and the proven reliability that comes with four decades of leadership. This is the future of Lottery.
4 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 Publisher & Chief Executive Officer Paul Jason pjason@publicgaming.com President Susan Jason sjason@publicgaming.com Brand and Design Dan Eggers Design Lottery Industry Consultant Jim Acton Honored Founders Doris & Duane Burke Subscriptions United States: $145 USD Canada & Mexico: $160 USD All other countries: $225 USD For email address changes, subscription requests and requests to be placed on our e-Newsletter distribution list, e-mail Susan Jason at sjason@publicgaming.com Contact Information PGRI, Inc. 1769 Flagstone Terrace, The Villages, FL 32162 PublicGaming.com T: +425.449.3000 F: +206.374.2600 Public Gaming International Magazine Published six times a year and distributed to readers all around the world. Electronic version is e-mailed and is also available on our news website: PublicGaming.com January/February 2023 Volume 52, Issue 1 ©2022 all rights reserved. Public Gaming Research Institute cISSN: 1042-1912 10 Building the healthy, dynamic, and productive lottery ecosystem Rebecca Paul, President & CEO of the Tennessee Lottery, President of the World Lottery Association Fabio Cairoli, Chief Executive Officer, Global Lottery, IGT Pat McHugh, Chief Executive Officer, Scientific Games Doug Pollard, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Pollard Banknote and NeoPollard 14 Unlock your creative brain-trust Reimagine your Mission and Connect with your audience Michel Laprise, Theatre Director and Creator of the Cirque du Soleil – Kurios 16 Positioning for the Growth and Prosperity that follows the Cyclical Reset Leonard Brody, Co-founder and executive chairman of Caravan 24 iLottery: If we Knew Then What We Know Now John Martin, Director, Maryland Lottery and Gaming David Barden, President and CEO, New Mexico Lottery Amy Bergette, Vice President, Digital Content Studio, Scientific Games Brad Cummings, Founder & CEO, EQL Games Mike Lightman, Chief Commercial Officer, Instant Win Gaming (IWG) Julin Shaw, Sr. Director, Brand Marketing & Business Development, NeoPollard Frank Suarez, Executive Director, DC Lottery CONTENTS J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 P A N E L D I S C U S S I O N S & K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R S 10 16 24
LETTER FROM THE CEO To all our clients and partners around the world, I think business gets done better in person. In fact, I think real-time, face-to-face interactions are essential to the ongoing success of our clients as well as our company. That’s why, for the better part of 2022, I traveled the world, meeting with all the people that make up GLI’s incredible team, as well as you, our valued clients across the globe. And I’m not stopping. If the team and I didn’t see you last year, you can bet we’ll be headed your way soon. In my travels and in our recent survey, I’ve especially enjoyed hearing from you that GLI’s service goes above and beyond to be accommodating, is unmatched in global coverage, and that we shepherd our clients forward with the kind of consideration and assistance that one can only experience with GLI. We are grateful for your feedback and will continue to invest in our team to uphold our high standards. Even in the age of automation, we are committed to providing personalized service that puts your needs first. Our strong relationships with you continue to inspire our mission of offering a world-class customer experience. This includes fulfilling our commitment to hiring the best talent so that we can provide the highest caliber guidance, the most efficient testing, and the best value - even during periods of elevated demand. In the last few months, we have hired an additional 241 new personnel, including 25 new mathematicians, increasing the capability in that department alone by over 33%. Currently, GLI’s testing group has over 1,000 highly qualified experts touching every emerging and regulated market in the world. Further, we continue to train and upskill our team members, providing growth opportunities and ensuring we remain competent to certify all the latest technologies well before you bring them to us for submission. We are also reinforcing our ability to protect you from cybercrime utilizing Bulletproof ®, our fully integrated cybersecurity company, acquired by GLI in 2016. The Bulletproof team has grown to over 250 exceptional security experts, continuously protecting users around the globe from rapidly increasing cybersecurity threats - especially those that target our industry. Our ability to continue to protect you from known and evolving risks is an essential part of our commitment to you. This is just one example of how we are continuing to expand our insights, resources, and delivery teams to meet new challenges while exceeding your expectations. As I think back on all the miles I’ve traveled, and all the wonderful people that make up our client base and GLI team, I’m reminded that our top priority is to meet you, anywhere in the world, to help you get to where you are ready to be. I encourage you to reach out to me personally any time and to say hello the next time we see each other. I cannot thank our clients and partners enough for your continued trust in GLI’s professionals. Wishing you a prosperous new year and looking forward to seeing each of you somewhere on the globe. And remember, at GLI we are always just a call or flight away. Sincerely, James Maida gaminglabs.com ILLUMINATING YOUR PATH TO GREATNESS
6 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 Visit Our Family Of Websites PublicGaming.com industry news & information PGRITalks.com videos of conference presentations PublicGaming.org PGRI conference information PGRIDigitalLibrary.com magazine archive of past issues PGRIDirectory.com listing of lotteries and vendors PGRIAwards.com Showcase of industry honorees recognized by the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame PGRI Lifetime Achievement Award Sharp Award for Good Causes Lottery Industry Statesman and Stateswoman Award Rebecca Paul Mentorship Award Collaboration Award Subscribe To Our Free Digital Newsletters Receive our daily newsletters at no charge, published 5 times a week to bring you the latest breaking news in the global lottery industry. Send an e-mail to: sjason@PublicGaming.com with “add to Daily Digest list” in the subject line. D E P A R T M E N T S F E A T U R E D A R T I C L E S 30 Moving the needle now: Maximizing short-term results Ryan Mindell, Deputy Executive Director, Texas Lottery Gary Grief, Executive Director, Texas Lottery James Carey, Executive Director, New Jersey Lottery Maxwell Goldstein, Vice President Sales-Americas, Carmanah Signs Sarah Taylor, Executive Director, Hoosier Lottery Brad Thompson, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Pollard Banknote 32 There is much work to be done, not a lot of time in which to do it, but change is still achievable Marga Hoek, author of the award-winning books The Trillion Dollar Shift and New Economy Business and catalyst for Transformational Change 20 New Perspectives on Retail: The Future of Shopping IGT 26 Start the Year with More Strategy Scientific Games 33 Looking Forward – Lotteries of the Future 11th EL Congress & Trade Show 2023 in Šibenik, Croatia 34 Top Performing Instants Fuel a Rich Pipeline, IGT 8 From the Publisher Paul Jason 18 Powerball Rings in the New Year with its First Millionaire on National Network Television MUSL NEWS (Multi-State Lottery Association) 37 Scenes from the World Lottery Summit Vancouver 38 Scenes from the PGRI Lottery Industry Hall of Fame at WLS Vancouver 43 Pulse of the Industry: Synopsis of Recent Gaming Industry News 50 Urgent need for government action to fight illegal iLottery and online gambling Philippe Vlaemminck, Managing Partner of Vlaemminck.Law, Brussels 38 37 18 34 26 33 20 P A N E L D I S C U S S I O N S C O N T . 30
8 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 From the Publisher Talk about leveraging the value of our brands for maximum impact … Check out the photo collage on pages 18 and 19, along with the cover. Powerball® has long been one of the most valuable brands in the world, not far behind Sony and the NFL, and way ahead of anyone in the games-of-chance sector (like Caesars, MGM, or DraftKings). What a treat it is to see Powerball’s place in popular culture recognized by others, especially by the most popular shows on network TV like Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. New Year's Rockin' Eve has consistently remained the highest-rated New Year's Eve broadcast on U.S. television for the past 50 years, with viewership exceeding 22 million in 2023 as it has for the last 10 years. Lottery players and those 22 million viewers celebrated the first Powerball® draw and newly minted millionaire of 2023 just minutes after watching the midnight ball drop high above Times Square in New York City. It was great fun for everyone. One interesting thing about the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve broadcast is that it reflects the profound value of Brand Powerball®. ABC and Ryan Seacrest are in effect trading valuable air-time for the benefit of affiliating with Powerball, its first-millionaire-of-the-New Year promotion and the millions of lottery players who tune in to watch. There is certainly a cost to this Powerball promotion, but the cost is a small fraction of the actual value of being an integral part of Ryan Seacrest’s New Year’s Eve show (and the power Ryan Seacrest’s brand itself ). ABC does that because they see the value of Brand Powerball and recognizes that Brand Powerball adds to the appeal of their show. Let’s talk about how the lottery industry, from multi-state games to individual jurisdictional brands, might develop other collaborations with media and consumer-products super-brands that yield similar kinds of synergies, with an ROI that factors in the intrinsic value of our own brands. Of course, the goal is to do more than just talk about what we’d like to see or do in the future. But we gotta start somewhere. At our last conference in NYC, we talked about some “elephant-in-the-room” topics like forging better alignment between government lottery operators and their technology partners. That discussion was continued at the World Lottery Summit Vancouver. We feature an executive summary of Rebecca Paul’s WLA Platinum Sponsor Panel Discussion that addresses other high-level topics as well. And we’ll continue the discussion at PGRI’s next event, Smart-Tech Miami at the end of March. Is it my imagination, or is public perception of games-of-chance and gambling quite different now from what it was even a few years ago? Sports betting and casino gambling now seem to me to be as socially acceptable as any recreational activity or consumer product. Sure, there is the age restriction, but there really is no more stigma than having a beer – in fact, casino gambling and sports betting would seem to be much more socially acceptable than smoking a cigarette or even drinking alcohol. And yet, oddly … we are seeing negative stories (and a recently-released book) about lottery, as if lottery is more of a problem gambling threat than casino gambling and sports betting. And we notice that sports betting gets approved with nobody even blinking while regulatory approval of iLottery has stalled in most U.S. states. How has it happened that casino gambling and sports betting came to be seen as more socially acceptable than lottery? I can’t say for sure but I’m wondering if those other game categories are directing their PR assets to focus on the goal of denigrating public perception of lottery. If this is the case, what can we do about it? Of course, we need to continue to get our message of support for society and good causes and Responsible Gaming into the pipeline of the general media, political constituents and influencers, and the public at large. Maybe we could get beneficiaries like Public Education to be more outspoken advocates for Lottery? Harness the power of our many thousands of retailers? I do not have an answer, but I think we need to do more. We need to forge a pathway towards more effective political action. In the mean-time, we need to continue to optimize our strategies in the marketplace. That is where Team Lottery has excelled and continues to learn from experience, gain confidence in our ability to compete, and apply talent and hard work to drive innovation and progress. After all, we must be doing something right as lottery does still command by far the largest player-base and generate far more economic benefit for society than any other game-of-chance category. Next up is the EL/WLA Marketing Seminar and ICE Gaming Show in London February 7-10 (see page 33) and then PGRI Smart-Tech Miami March 28-30 (see page 51, inside back cover). See you there! A special thanks to all our editorial contributors and advertisers! I appreciate our partnership, the leadership you provide this industry, and the brain-trust you share with our readership. And a special thanks to Jim Acton, who so effectively captures the essence of the issues in his edits of the Executive Summaries in this issue and the articles he writes for PGRI Magazine. Paul Jason, Publisher Public Gaming International Magazine
10 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 Competing with Sports Betting and Casinos In years past, Lottery has not really thought of itself as being in head-to-head competition with other games-of-chance categories like casinos and sports betting. And it might be arguable how much the player migrates from one gaming opportunity to another. What is not arguable any more is the actions of operators in these other categories. Commercial casino and sports betting operators recognize the large number of people who play the lottery as a market with dollars to spend (more than $100 billion in the U.S. alone) on games of chance. As they see themselves in competition with lottery, they are now targeting lottery players to convince them to move to casinos, online sports betting and eGames and legislators for their power to shape a regulatory environment that is favorable to commercial casino and sports betting (and unfavorable to lottery). Sports betting and casino operators are lobbying not just for expansion of their sectors. As they have come to see lottery as a threat, they are expending resources and effort to promote anti-lottery legislation or constraints. This new world order represents a threat to lottery revenue growth. It is time we think more about how that affects our own approach to marketing, promotion, and brand positioning of lottery. We need to think more about defending lottery’s market share and keeping lottery players from migrating to other gaming categories. Globally, lottery generates more than $100 billion for good causes that benefit everyone. Unlike commercial operators, our mission is to serve society. It sometimes seems as though legislators who shape public and regulatory policy do not appreciate that. We need to find ways to advocate for the stakeholders of lottery as well as drive new strategies to retain player-ship. We need to explore new ways to fight back against those who are lobbying to constrain the growth of lottery. We need new ways to connect with the public, the general media, and legislators to promote the benefits of lottery, and to make sure they too embrace the mission of lottery as the public service that is owned by the people. Maybe it is just a PR initiative to ensure our message is getting out there. Or maybe it could be something more than that. In any event, this is a team-effort that involves all of us who care about the government lottery industry. It took years of legislative debates for most states to finally end up with their own state lottery. Conversely, look at how quickly sports-betting is getting approved throughout the country. These are the same legislatures who continue to prohibit iLottery. As an industry, we need to find a way to harness the power of our collective voices to convince the general media and general public to be more proactively supportive of lottery. Think about it – sports betting and casino operators compete with each other and yet they saw it as in their interests to collaborate on the shared goal of getting legislation passed that was favorable to their sector and disadvantaged lottery. Team Lottery needs to forge a pathway towards more effective political action or at least advocacy. P A N E L D I S C U S S I O N Following is an executive summary of a one-hour panel discussion held at the World Lottery Summit in Vancouver Rebecca Paul, President & CEO of the Tennessee Lottery, President of the World Lottery Association Fabio Cairoli, Chief Executive Officer, Global Lottery, IGT Pat McHugh, Chief Executive Officer, Scientific Games Doug Pollard, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Pollard Banknote and NeoPollard Rebecca Paul leads the WLA Vancouver Platinum Contributors Panel Discussion
Science Inside The the Success © 2023 Scienti c Games, LLC. All rights reserved. With 70% of global instant scratch game retail sales, 30+ iLottery customers, 40+ systems customers, and partner to the largest government sports betting program in the world, Scienti c Games brings 50 years of innovation and experience to responsibly drive lottery performance.
12 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 On creating a healthy, dynamic, and productive lottery ecosystem Inflation rates have driven up the costs of producing almost all products and services. Insurance and labor costs have also risen more than usual. And the shortage of paper has made the costs of producing instant tickets rise even more. The winners of the lottery bids are obligated to sign long-term contracts based on the lower costs prevailing. This disrupts the whole business model of the technology partners. They have to pay more, sometimes much more, to produce products but are not able to increase prices to cover those increased costs. This is a problem for the whole industry, not just the vendors stuck with costs that exceed revenues. We want suppliers to bid the lowest prices (based on lower costs) and deliver the best product. If the commercial technology partners must factor in the possibility of an increase in costs, that will result in higher bid prices which is not good for the government lottery operators. A solution to this problem is to incorporate into the RFP and resulting contracts provisions that allow for adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index. Some cost factors may be hard to measure. But the data on others, like paper, is readily available and would be easier to apply. This is a very do-able proposition as it is already being implemented in a short list of lottery operators. We are all in this together, dedicated to increasing revenues for government lotteries and funding for good causes. A healthy lottery ecosystem depends on a financially healthy base of commercial technology partners to support growth and innovation. To that end, let’s be open to solutions that help all of the component parts of that ecosystem function optimally. That is what will produce the best long-term results for the benefit of the good causes supported by government lotteries. On driving investment in innovation We know that continual improvement of products, operations, business process, and distribution is key to long-term success. Lottery depends on its commercial technology partners to invest in the research that is needed to drive this innovation and progress. The pressure to optimize short-term results can impinge on the need to invest in the kinds of initiatives and innovation that require a longer ROI timeline. Commercial enterprises are flexible to apply a variety of risk/return models to justify the allocation of funds to invest in innovation today even though the payoff time-line may be longer than this quarter, this year, or even longer. But there does need to be a payoff, an incentive to invest because the industry needs the entrepreneurial energy, the creative ingenuity, and the financial resources of the commercial sector to support innovation and growth. RFP’s (Request for Proposal) include a system of weighting the various parts of a value proposition. Of course, pricing is a major factor, as it should be. But it is not the only factor. The lowest price for a substandard product and service is not what anyone wants (well, maybe except for some state procurement departments). So, the bidder is invited to describe the technologies and services that will produce the desired outcomes and explain what differentiates their offer from their competitors. What makes them special, or proprietary, or deserving of a higher a price? How or why can we expect the superior quality of the technology to produce revenues and net profit that exceed the difference in price, or otherwise deliver more value? Since cost as measured by the amount paid to commercial technology partners is a tiny fraction of the revenues produced by lotteries, the evaluation process should elevate the importance of technical abilities, investment in R&D, in innovation, in producing better products and services. The return on investment to lotteries is off-the-charts which means the likelihood that a thoughtful increase in price will produce a much larger increase in revenues is very high. And yet, RFP’s continue to be stuck in a cost-centric mold instead of the outcome-centric mold that would drive better performance and financial results. Solution: Increase the weight applied to technology and the ability to produce results and decrease the weight applied to price. When you start with a fundamental dynamic of costs being such a small percentage of revenues, the highest ROI of any industry anywhere in the world, it just makes sense to construct the RFP and subsequent contracts in ways that drive more investment in growth. Technology partners are willing to assume the risk, make that investment in growth and innovation, and to factor in a longer ROI time-line. As an industry, let’s find ways to incentivize them to invest in our future! A way to update RFP’s to be more effective is to include the technology partner input earlier in the process. It is understood that the process is strictly controlled by the lottery and state procurement policy and procedures. Nobody wants to impinge on that. We would just respectfully submit that more information and better, and vendor input in the earlier stages of building the RFP would result in an RFP and vendor contract that drives better alignment between vendor and operator, increased investment in innovation, and optimal revenues and funds for good causes. Input from vendors should at least be known because the perspectives of the supplyside of the equation are different from the buy-side, and some of those insights would undoubtedly contribute to the objectives of the lottery and state procurement and the bid process. Digitization = Responsible Gaming Sustainable growth depends on evolving the platforms that support an effective approach towards Responsible Gaming. And those platforms depend on migrating from an anonymous retail playing experience to a connected digitized relationship with the player. Digitization provides the data and insights needed to help the players manage their play to avoid problems, and it enables the two-way communication to share those insights with the players. Exhorting consumers to not give lottery tickets to under-age people at Christmas is one way to show dedication to Responsible Gaming, but the effective Responsible Gaming platform of the future will be more than that. And it all starts with establishing the interactive relationship with the players enabled by digitization of both the retail and online iLottery playing experience. The vendor community has integrated a host of Responsible Gaming tools into the digital platforms that are being implemented right now. Responsible Gaming is truly a foundational component to lottery play. It is what separates us from other gaming options, like sports betting and casinos. Let’s make sure we leverage this strength and turn it into the competitive advantage that further differentiates the lottery sector from its competitors in the gaming industry. Lastly, Rebecca pointed out that it has been four years since this industry has had any kind of trade show. That is a lifetime of progress in the technology industry and the evidence of that can be seen on the trade show floor at this World Lottery Summit Vancouver. It has been so great to see everyone again! n
13 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 the clear retail solution Lottery integration into a retailer’s checkout platform can be quite confusing. With our team of experts, our retail and lottery partners and expanding product portfolio Abacus is now able to offer Print on Receipt, Quick Ticket, instant ticket dispensing, validation and redemption along with a suite of digital solutions for mobile. Abacus offers you a clear retail solution for all your lottery needs. Contact the Abacus team for more information: info@abacuslottery.com
14 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 UNLOCK YOUR CREATIVE BRAIN-TRUST REIMAGINE YOUR MISSION AND CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE As the producer and director of numerous stage events – from Cirque Du Soleil productions to Madonna’s 2012 world tour, Michel Laprise understands how to create a connection with people, engage them with content, and develop them as on-going supporters. What has worked in theaters in Disney Springs, Florida; stages in Montreal, Canada; and festivals in London, England, can also be effective in communities, businesses and workplaces. To illustrate his point, Laprise drew a large chalk circle on the stage. The circle represents the boundaries in which a performer leaves his current world and enters another dimension, within which he can become a different person. “Within this circle, whether it is in chalk on the street or on a theater stage, a performer has to catch the audience’s attention, show them their talents and leave them satisfied,” said Michel. “They must be generous with their talents so the audience walks away satisfied. This allows performers to continue with their craft and at the end of the day, pay for a roof over their heads through the support they receive from passersby on the street or the theater companies for which they work.” Michel explained the many similarities with how street performers attract attention (and revenue) and what businesses can do to support and promote their activities. Customers have many distractions, and you must work hard to get their attention. For a street performer, their customers are on their way to a meeting or the supermarket and he or she has to attract their attention and get them to stop and watch. “We have to make a connection with potential customers and that connection has to be made quickly and efficiently,” he said. “It’s all about the customer – what can we do to make them happy and want to stick with us. Like any business, a street performer needs customers to stay and put money in their hat. And if they’re satisfied with the product, they’ll tell others, and those people will become customers.” While the worlds of lottery and street performers might be different in some ways, it is the behind-the-scenes work that brings them closer together. Michel’s most recent work has been on a new Cirque du Soleil show for Disney, the first collaboration between the two powerhouse entertainment companies. The experience was eye-opening for both companies, he said, and provides lessons for all of us. Collaboration is key. Michel said that the circle that represents the performance stage is critical to their creative process. Even when they are on the road with a show, they meet often to ask questions and talk openly about how things are going and what can be improved. “This is important to our culture because everyone knows that all topics can be addressed and communicated,” he said. “You'll be able to be challenged as a manager, as people will speak up. And you’ll be able to hold everyone accountable for the success of the production.” When Michel is working on new products, he again uses the circle motif to make everyone feel comfortable. “The creative process, and something that can work for many companies, takes place around a round table, of course,” he said. “There is no hierarchy, everyone at the table has an equal voice. All departments are represented and at some point, we hear from everyone.” Michel said that he likes to work within the impossible because by removing “I” and “M” you have “possible.” In the planning stages, many of the Cirque shows appear to include impossible stunts and acrobatics that won’t make their way into the final productions. But when the different parts of the company work together, impossible becomes possible. “When we connect as a company, the end result is amazing,” he said. “There is a philosophy that together we can send each other to a higher level, more than we can if there are just a few people working on a project.” Michel said that the success of an organization is based largely on the people making decisions working together with those who provide support to co-workers. “With many different factions working together, the level of innovation is sky-high,” he said. “The end result will be a much better product for your customers.” The launch of a new product by a company is like the opening night of a new show. Many months of planning have led up to the big unveil. The road to get there can be bumpy but with everyone working together, the end result should be magical. “The bigger the challenge, the more we need to act together, regardless of what business you’re in,” Michel said. “For Cirque, on opening night we expand the circle of creation to include the audience,” he said. “We welcome their energy as it pushes our shows to new levels. The audience will also tell us where we need to make changes as they react differently to different parts of the show. It is a very dynamic process that doesn’t end with the premiere of the show.” n Following is an executive summary of one of the fabulous keynote speeches delivered at the World Lottery Summit Vancouver. Among many other theatrical innovations, Michel Laprise is the genius behind the Cirque du Soleil – Kurios which transforms the performance into a modern hero-quest story that captivates the modern audience.
16 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 Continued on page 42 The past 300 of years provide a looking glass into the pattern of repeating cycles that include periods of invention, progress, and growth preceded by historical resets, sometimes cataclysmic events like world wars, or epidemics like the Spanish Flu. As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, we are entering one of these “reset moments,” according to Leonard Brody, a Canadian entrepreneur, venture and technocapitalist, and co-founder and executive chairman of Caravan, a joint venture with the Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The confluence of events, innovations, and changes of the past few decades set the stage. The disruption of the pandemic just ignited the massive cultural and technological shifts which now represent tremendous opportunity for businesses to transform their value propositions for a new era of growth and prosperity. “We need to think of these huge reset moments as part of a larger pattern with enormous cycles that literally reset the operating system of earth. The pattern has been repeating itself over and over for hundreds of years.” Since we have the benefit of historical hindsight, and we know that events like those we just lived through will happen again, it is critical that we use our experiences to “get on the right side of history” and make sure everyone is ready for another “new normal.” Leonard provided two examples of companies focused on understanding how to take advantage of the cycles. First is Amazon. At the start of the pandemic, very few people predicted we were going to be in a lockdown and that suddenly everyone would adopt e-commerce as quickly as they did. Seizing an opportunity, Amazon quickly made a bet that demand for its services would explode. Sixty percent of Amazon’s employees joined the company in the last 20 months, and they went from 500,000 employees worldwide to about 1.2 million in less than two years. Covid produced a dramatic decline in airline travel, causing most airlines to sell their gate slots or even abandon airports. It was the opposite for American Airlines. The company watched how U.S. citizens were shifting where they were living, moving to cities like Austin, Miami, Indianapolis, and Salt Lake City. So when gates were available in areas such as those, American scooped them up at a discount in hopes that travel would bounce back post-pandemic. And they were correct as travel rates have now soared past 2019 levels. “We must keep in mind that most processes end in growth and remember the pattern because we have no precedent otherwise,” Leonard said. “There is always opportunity in resets.” Critical to the lottery industry is current consumer trends which emerge from the cycles. It appears that the increasing importance of data is one of the latest trends. Apple has taken the lead of harnessing data from phones and putting it on customer’s wrists, thus making us more data-obsessed as we collect more and more data about ourselves. Corporate transparency has also become more important to consumers. “Research in Western Europe and the United States has shown that almost 70 percent of people will not buy products unless they know the value system of the company behind the product,” Leonard said. “It doesn’t mean that everything an organization does has to have a social cause. It just means that what the company stands for is important when people are making purchasing decisions. “Given that lottery profits go towards the service of society and good causes, it puts all of you in a pretty good place,” he told the crowd. Leonard said that lottery leaders should look at the companies with the largest market caps and see how their leaders are performing. “One commonality of the strongest leaders is that they are incredibly adept at seeing a grand picture of the world and then getting their employees and ultimately their customers to see the world in the same way,” he said. “It is critical to have a story to tell, a narrative with consumers that they understand and support.” Global resets typically ends in solid economic growth. What he is seeing now Positioning for the Growth and Prosperity that follows the Cyclical Reset Following is an executive summary of one of the fabulous keynote speeches delivered at the World Lottery Summit Vancouver. Given that lottery profits go towards the service of society and good causes, it puts all of you in a pretty good place
18 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 For the fourth consecutive year, Powerball® celebrated the New Year with a $1 million drawing on ABC’s live broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. For the first time since the inaugural event in 2019, 142 Powerball players and guests returned to New York City for a VIP experience, capped off by an exclusive New Year’s Eve gala in Times Square and the $1 million drawing. 29 lotteries participated in the national Powerball promotion, with each sending a finalist to NYC for a chance at the $1 million prize. Shortly after the ball dropped in Times Square, Ryan Seacrest and Jessie James Decker announced Gary Krigbaum of North Carolina as the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year. n MUSLNEWS MULTI -STATE LOTTERY ASSOCIATION Powerball took over the 9th floor of the NewYork Marriott Marquis in Times Square for a private welcome dinner. Players and guests enjoyed cuisine inspired by iconic NewYork City neighborhoods, live entertainment, and an on-site portrait artist. Mangiamo! The Powerball VIPs dined on classic Italian at iconic Carmine’s before taking in a Broadway performance. Powerball players had a choice to see several Broadway performances, many choosing to see Phantom of the Opera and the Lion King. Places for rehearsal! The $1 million finalists and their guests participated in two show rehearsals prior to the live broadcast on NewYear’s Eve. Finalists for the $1 million prize and their guests were seated at state-branded tables surrounding the Powerball stage. MUSL sourced new ball sets with postal abbreviations from Smartplay International for the final two drawings of the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year promotion.
19 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 A team of professional hair and makeup artists were on hand to get the Powerball players camera ready for the big show. The so-called “glam appointments” were a big hit with both women and men. Event producers at PRA transformed the 5th floor ballroom at the Marriott Marquis to host the NewYear’s Eve gala, adjacent to the Powerball stage. The Powerball stage from the 2019 set was adapted to the new venue and expanded to fit Ryan Seacrest, Jessie James Decker and the top five $1 million finalists. The finalists take their seats ahead of the first drawing to determine the top five advancing to the $1 million drawing. Ryan Seacrest was rushed from his stage in Times Square to the Powerball stage to help announce the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year. MUSL teammembers: J. Bret Toyne, Executive Director; Sue Dooley, Director of Draws & Productions; Anna Domoto, Senior Communications Manager; and Barb Niccum, Project Manager. Sue Dooley, MUSL Director of Draws and Productions, and Alexi Mazareas, Vice President Programming & Development, dick clark productions. The top five finalists included Powerball players fromMinnesota, North Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, and Maine. A Powerball proposal! Minnesota Lottery finalist Jared Jank proposed to his girlfriend Alicia during the NewYear’s Eve festivities. Jank later went viral during the broadcast for his signature mullet. Powerball co-host Jessie James Decker interviewed the top five finalists ahead of the $1 million drawing. The Powerball First Millionaire of the Year is…North Carolina! Gary Krigbaum was named the $1 million winner shortly after midnight EST on January 1. Krigbaum’s daughter, Sarah Day, represented him at the event. Guests hit the dance floor in-between the five Powerball segments throughout the New Year’s Eve broadcast. Drew & Gretchen Svitko, Jim Acton, lottery consultant for dick clark productions Drew Svitko, Powerball Product Group Chair & Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director; David Barden, MUSL Board President & New Mexico Lottery CEO; Rebecca Paul, MUSL Marketing & Promotions Committee Chair & Tennessee Lottery Executive Director; Gregg Edgar, MUSL Marketing & Promotions Committee Vice Chair & Arizona Lottery Executive Director; J. Bret Toyne, MUSL Executive Director.
20 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 It’s not often that lottery sales executives have the chance to gather with their counterparts from other markets and literally “talk shop.” Recently, 17 executives from 11 lotteries took advantage of the opportunity to share insights and strategies when IGT convened its latest International Lottery Retail Workshop. After a one-year pause following 2020’s online event, this 10th-anniversary session returned to its origins at IGT’s North American Lottery headquarters in Providence, RI, from November 15-17, 2022. Attendees included many past participants and, for the first time, representatives from IGT’s newest customer, the National Lottery of Malta. Some of IGT’s U.S. lottery customers were also included in the workshop for the first time. “The U.S. is now a different gaming landscape after the pandemic, and its unique challenges generated huge amounts of discussion from workshop participants,” observed Sharon Duncalf, IGT Vice President Global Insights, who co-hosted the two-day event with Paul Riley, IGT Vice President Retail Innovations & Partnerships. Among many highlights over two days, participants heard directly from fellow Lottery sales directors gathered from around the world to discuss the future of shopping and share current challenges and success strategies at IGT’s 10th International Lottery Retail Workshop. The Retail Experience: As in past years, IGT’s 10th International Lottery Retail Workshop was designed to foster collaboration and shared insights among retail lottery professionals from around the world. The format allowed for impromptu peer-to-peer conversation and group discussion around a range of current retail challenges. New Perspectives on Retail
21 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 workshop attendee, Anne Johnson, Walmart Director Retail Services, on how the world’s largest retailer is approaching the growth of its lottery business. Johnson’s keynote presentation reflected on her team’s 10-year journey to develop the category and cited a number of ways the retailer has sought to deal with the challenges that lottery presents while recognizing their consumers’ desire for accessibility and convenience. Johnson went on to discuss many initiatives now in progress to advance the category with partners such as IGT. To support growth and further success with large corporate retailers, Johnson emphasized the need for the lottery industry to continue eliminating manual processes; to involve retailers in evaluating the impact of important new game and automation technologies currently in development; and to establish workable lead times with large retailers to enable the extensive internal planning they require – and even to expedite initiatives when possible. “Our learning is never finished,” said Johnson. “We’re always excited to hear what’s next and how we can bring that to life in our stores.” “It was great to hear the perspective of such a well-known national and even international chain,” said Paul Riley. “Anne’s presentation had great relevance to the international lotteries in understanding all the touchpoints of their lottery products for a huge store network.” Macro Trends to Watch IGT’s Sharon Duncalf kicked off the Workshop with a keynote presentation on “Innovation in a Post-COVIDWorld – The Future of Shopping,” a look at new research on consumer trends that are expected to reshape the retail landscape. “Across all age groups, more than 20% of consumers surveyed globally said they will go to stores in person more often in the next 12 months,” she noted, citing 2022 research data from IGT’s longtime trendresearch partner The Foresight Factory. “We believe that technology will play a vital role in the recovery of bricks-andmortar retail and boost the shopping experience both online and instore,” Duncalf continued. “This might sound counterintuitive as new technologies are often seen as negatively disruptive, after all. But, done right— and built around human behaviors, rather than the other way around — the impact can be very positive and lead to a step-change in innovation.” What exactly will the shopping experience look like in the future and what’s driving this evolution? A few examples among the many that Duncalf explored with attendees: • The Growth of Self-Service Biometric payment methods will help deliver a frictionless shopping experience — for example, in clerkless stores driven by artificial intelligence. Researchers at The Foresight Factory expect that by 2025, 41% of the global population will have used their fingerprint as a form of ID to make a purchase, and a further 29% will be interested in doing so. • The Connected Shopper One in three global consumers select their mobile device as the preferred channel when shopping for products, but that doesn’t just mean shopping on the mobile. A full 50% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers say they never go shopping without using their mobile. “Mobile devices are empowering connected shoppers across entire shopping journeys, connecting online and offline channels, and bridging shopping and social interactions,” noted Duncalf. “It’s clear there are opportunities for retailers to capitalize on this behavior “Some countries shared their strategies to accommodate the culture of playing lottery, and it’s inspiring for us to look to them. Digital as a tool is extremely important. Once we master it properly, we can deliver a better customer experience and much, much better results. That’s the bottom line for me: how to adapt.” Stanislav Molnar, Executive Director of Products, Tipos Slovenská Trending Now for Retail and More: To get a look at broad trends likely to shape consumer demand and behavior in the year ahead, download IGT’s annual 2023 Trend Report, available at IGT.com/2023Trends.
22 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 and keep shoppers within their brand ecosystem when customers are using mobiles in-store.” • The Connected Player Journey Even lotteries’ most sophisticated directto-consumer sales platforms (via their websites or mobile apps) are often still operating in isolation of the retail channel. “It will be critical to bridge the current gap between retail and digital, and allow players to benefit from instore seamless transactions that can be continued out of store,” said Duncalf, discussing a capability that IGT refers to as Connected Play. “We are exploring new game initiatives that will work in this omnichannel environment,” she noted. “In such an instance, retailers will also benefit as a complementary channel.” • Virtual Economy According to Foresight Factory research, the primary reason consumers will consider buying a virtual product is to get discounts on real-life products from the same brand. “This points to the significant role that virtual products could have in the future shopping journey, showcasing products and introducing customers to more substantial purchases at a later stage,” explained Duncalf. One aspect of this trend is Blending Digital & Reality. Lotteries can take steps to understand how existing and selling in virtual worlds can bolster their “in real life” (IRL) strategy to reach new audiences and chime with consumers’ desire to forge identities and lives in online spaces. The metaverse may be an opportunity to deliver messaging about lottery goodcause beneficiaries. Or, as consumers want to show off their digital inventories by collecting in the virtual economy, could lottery prizes expand to offer digital assets that “money can’t buy?” Deep Dive – AWorld of Retail Challenges & Opportunities As part of the workshop experience, attendees toured IGT’s Player Experience Laboratory for a close look at a number of IGT innovations and unique product concepts directly relevant to lottery retail operations, giving participants an opportunity to offer feedback in the early stages of product development. IGT’s Paul Riley provided a deep-dive on the current state of In-Lane Sales globally, drawing on IGT’s extensive experience supporting lotteries around the world in selling directly on retailers’ point-of-sales systems. The discussion spanned current and potential solutions for selling lottery in-lane, the benefits to players, retailers, and lotteries, a detailed
23 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 look at a range of current implementations, and a comparison of approaches, challenges, and success stats. Along with a presentation on Connected Play — IGT’s vision for helping lotteries deliver new player experiences via digital touchpoints at retail — and a presentation on digital signage from invited guest Jason Barrs, Vice President of Product Marketing, Carmanah Signs, the agenda included a series of peer-to-peer presentations in a collaborative setting, offering ample opportunity for questions and group discussion. On Day 1 of the program, attendees’ presentation topics included highly targeted lottery incentive programs to activate a lottery’s entire sales network; the evolution of point-of-sales outlets via the development of branded lottery stores; in-depth strategic plans to modernize the in-store environment with technology to support lottery’s relevance and maintain consumer health and safety; a successful program to drive the growth of scratch-off products via promotional and merchandising initiatives, self-service optimization, and customized marketing programs with key corporate accounts; and evolving the retail experience relative to the draw-game category. On the second day, attendee presentations discussed player experience, pointof-sales process innovation, and marketing and communications for both draw and instant products; challenges and opportunities in the post-COVID environment; pursuing new retail partnerships, innovating with interactive jackpots signs, and other initiatives to expand the lottery brand at retail. “IGT’s goal with all of our customer workshops is to expose participants to the newest and best methodologies, technologies, and trends in the field, and give them an opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas with each other,” said Duncalf. “Based on feedback we’ve heard from participants, they left with some new insight and a more finely detailed picture of how other lotteries are rising to meet their retail challenges and opportunities.” n For information about future workshops, contact IGT’s Paul Riley or Sharon Duncalf. As part of the workshop experience, attendees got a close look at a variety of lottery retailers and trade styles in Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts. Many attendees also opted to participate in organized retailer visits in New York City (pictured). “The sharing is very helpful for us, as we get to share insights, best practices, and lessons learned from various lottery retailers across the globe. We also have had the opportunity to learn from other retailers on their innovative initiatives to improve operations.” Leng Leng Chia, Deputy Director, Singapore Pools
publicgaming.comRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTg4MTM=