14 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 A cornerstone of supporting policy advocacy initiatives and protecting our ecosystem are the certification programs to ensure the highest quality of security and responsible gaming. The WLA only accepts members who comply with all aspects of the legal and regulatory framework. We have developed programs to help our members to achieve the highest operational standards in our industry. We must need to be able to demonstrate these standards through a certification process that is respected by all our stakeholders. Combine this operational excellence with great games that consumers love to play, funding for society and good causes, and a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation… we see this as the path to continued success. In the U.S., we have seen the power of well-funded lobbying campaigns to determine regulation that is not consistent with the interests of the citizens. It’s not that sports betting should not have been legalized and regulated. But how can legislators justify, for instance, legalizing online sports betting while prohibiting online iLottery? A. Kötter: This is a similar problem in many countries around the world that are facing market liberalization, driven mainly by new and digital business models. However, from my own experience, lottery companies in Europe recognized early on the importance of digital lottery, online sales and building a registered player base. While purely commercial operators lobbied hard for regulatory changes that would be favorable to them, lotteries pushed to be allowed to build a digital platform and sell lottery products online. We recognized that the key to long-term success is Knowing Your Customer (KYC). The digital connection is mission-critical and the key to transforming your players from anonymous consumers into loyal customers. The transformative power of data analytics is then applied to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) infrastructure, enabling us to win in an increasingly competitive gambling market. As you know, the lottery starts with the largest customer base, probably more than most other consumer products and certainly more than any other gambling product. Strengthening the interactive online relationship, embracing KYC, investing in CRM and creating customerfocused products are key to retaining that customer base. Eurojackpot has grown from €894 million in sales in 2013 to €4,960 million in 2024. Could you describe how your strategies and methods have evolved over that period to keep the players so engaged? A. Kötter: The creators of Eurojackpot had the advantage of seeing what worked so well with games like EuroMillions and even Powerball and Mega Millions in the US. We could therefore also identify product details that might not work well in our cooperation. Sustainable development was at the top of the list of our objectives. We wanted the cap to be above our local offerings. And we decided that the cap should be below €100 million, so we set it at €90 million. The jackpot did not reach €90 million very often, but when it did, there was a lot of publicity and excitement. Eurojackpot was a huge success from the beginning and popularity and sales continued to grow. We anticipated that raising the cap to triple digits, over €100 million, would be an exciting marketing event. As more and more countries joined Eurojackpot, the volume of sales increased, the game became even more stable, and the time we needed to reach the €90 million jackpot was shrinking. And we saw that we had no jackpot fatigue even at jackpots in the range of €50 or €60 million. We looked at all sorts of ways to add to the game or change the game. We wanted to be conservative and not make too many changes to avoid what we call change fatigue. In March 2022, ten years after the launch, the time was right, and we increased the jackpot to €120 million and introduced a second draw on Tuesdays. For this change we had a 100% agreement among our cooperation partners, and we have been successful with an increase in turnover of around 30% since then. Eurojackpot works as a cooperation where WestLotto, Danske Spil in Copenhagen and Veikkaus in Helsinki have operational support functions like first and second control center, Administration Unit or Draw Center. Lastly, Eurojackpot represents a common European value that strengthens mutual respect and cooperation between several European countries. It is exciting to work on a product and business model that can only be achieved by working together with our neighbors, with a joint European approach, building something that benefits each of us and the society we serve. The games-of-chance industry has changed dramatically over the last ten years. How have the needs of WLA members changed, and how has the association evolved to continue to deliver value and exceed its members’ expectations? A. Kötter: The challenges in our industry are driven by changes in consumer behavior, illegal activities, liberalization of markets, digitalization, new approaches in gaming and gambling and for some of us even by the capital markets to name just a few. The WLA is committed to supporting its members adapt to change, to continuously improve their level of performance, to evolve their individual business strategies and methods to meet the needs of the consumers, and to succeed in their mission to serve good causes and society. To this end, the WLA Executive Committee has built a new strategic framework that will be rolled out starting now and being implemented over the next four years. There are four components to our new strategic plan. First, we want to ensure that our value proposition is distinct from and complementary to the regional associations. The WLA will remain “THE WLA VISION IS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS THE GLOBAL LOTTERY AND BETTING GAME AUTHORITY AND TO SUPPORT ITS MEMBERS IN CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIETY.” continued on page 37
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