Public Gaming International Gaming July/August 2021

12 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2021 concerned about lottery revenue. In the end, FDJ learned a lot about their operations and how to best serve its players. “We have known that digital is growing but it was amazing to see how quickly our players adopted the technology during the first half of last year,” she said. “Our business has been transformed, not in ways we didn’t expect but in a much more accelerated way. We also learned that our consumers like both worlds. They like digital, but they also remain committed to their local points of sale. They have told us they want both, confirming the relevance of omni-channel distribution. These were some great learnings for us. “Another interesting thing I learned during this challenging year is that consumers are very attached to the values of brands, the values of companies, and they want evidence of those values in our business, in our actions,” she said. “Consumers think that a good company for them is a company that has a positive impact on society and is able to demonstrate and prove they are a part of the solution to societal and environmental problems. It tells me that we must continuously show our players that we share their values, we care about society, and are acting on those convictions and values.” During the pandemic, FDJ contributed to several national initiatives, through its Corporate Foundation, but also by providing material support for its retailers with sanitary protections, and financial help for the most vulnerable. FDJ employees also contributed to support health workers by donating leave days. Doug Pollard, Pollard Banknote, observed that the players’ affinity for lottery, noted by Stephane, evolved and played out in different ways. At the beginning of the pandemic, sales dropped and there was widespread concern about the future. That worry didn’t last long. “What the past year has shown us is the resilience of the product,” he said. “We have always known that people buy our products to win money, but it really reinforced for me the notion that people buy lottery products for entertainment as well. And when other entertainment products aren’t available, lottery becomes even more important.” He continued, “Along with the appeal of the lottery games themselves goes the availability of the product and that is why omni-channel is here to stay. We’ve seen its value. Certainly, at NeoPollard Interactive, we witnessed firsthand the explosion of new activity in the iLottery states that we service. iLottery is an area where we can really explore new and innovative ways to deliver lottery products in entertaining ways. That’s how we will keep people engaged in our products.” For Sam at Scientific Games, one interesting development was the increased communica- tion between vendors and retailers. Strong retail relationships have historically been directly with the lotteries. But during the challenges of the pandemic, retailers were asking vendors for help to distribute lottery products. “One of the industry’s biggest retailers located in 34 states implemented curbside pickup and home delivery, but asked Scientific Games for ideas on how best to get lottery products to their customers,” said Sam. “Because we have been working on alternative delivery avenues for many years, we were able to quickly respond and work with this company. Everyone needed to move quickly to respond to the changing marketplace. “And the results from the collaboration and hard work have been incredible. Fast forward to today and we’re trending up about $62 billion in instant sales, a 19% increase year-over-year, and that is a result of hard work at lotteries that were dealing with their own internal pressures, retailers and vendor partners. During the pandemic, our industry learned a lot of new and improved business practices and innovative ways to do business that I think are here to stay.” Paul said that IGT has been focused on technological innovations while simultaneously ensuring that in-person retail has the tools needed to succeed. “There has been substantial growth in self-service during the past year as retailers have been focused on customer and employee safety,” he said. “The expansion of self service within retail is an on-going trend we’ve all been aware of, and it dovetailed with the COVID-induced desire for consumers to minimize their contact with others. So, on one hand, lotteries benefited by their ability to support player self-service, however we also know that nothing compares with the traditional lottery sales model of interaction with a clerk. “We forget sometimes that our product can be intimidating. It’s important that we recognize this as we try to bring on new players. Players have traditionally been guided through the process of learning how to play by lottery retailers, but that option may not be as readily available to us as self-service proliferates and we start to see the adoption of clerkless and checkout- free retail locations. Increasing online engagement will be better for everyone, including retailers, as that will make it less intimidating and easier for players to play at retail. For Drew, the past year has seen growth on several fronts, with an explosion of iLottery activity as well as increases at retail. “We’re one of the fortunate lotteries that can sell online,” he said,” and we saw tremendous growth in our online platform. Continued on page 28 “ We have always known that people buy our products to win money, but it really reinforced for me the notion that people buy lottery products for entertainment as well. R O U N D TA B L E D I S C U S S I O N