8 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2022 From the Publisher What a joy it was to see our European friends at European Lotteries Association (EL) Industry Days conference in Wiesbaden, Germany. Congratulations to Hansjörg Höltkemeier (CEO Berlin Lottery), Dr. Heinz-Georg Sundermann (CEO Lotto Hessen), and Arjan van’t Veer, executive director of EL, and Level 1 partners IGT and Scientific Games for producing a most fabulous event. No trade-show, just great keynote speakers and world-class presentations to address the timeliest of issues in this time of extreme disruption. We may have thought the rate of change was breakneck before the pandemic. It may not feel this way exactly, but we will look back on this time, right now as we hope to begin the transformation into a post-pandemic world (I know the timelines on even that aren’t clear yet) and appreciate the auspicious inflection point we occupy at this very point in time. That’s my take-away from Industry Days. I know it’s a cliché, but the choices we make and the actions we take will have more dramatic upside, and potential downside, impact than ever. Of course, let’s focus on the upside! PGRI conferences try to capture the zeitgeist, the essential ideas that are catalyzing forward momentum in our industry. The content focus is guided by lottery directors and their technology partners. Who better to lead a discussion that looks at how the competitive landscape has changed over the last five years than Drew Svitko (who operates in hyper-competitive Pennsylvania). Drew’s expert panel explored the implications of the head-tohead competition we find ourselves in with other games-of-chance options like sports-betting, casino gambling, online casino-style eGaming, and unfortunately, an increase in online and off-line illegal gaming options. Retail Modernization is a perennial topic that continues to be mission-critical to our industry. Gary Grief agreed to moderate but only if his panel could context it as a call-to-action. The pre-pandemic rate of modernization will not serve us well in a post-pandemic environment of much more rapid change. And a shout-out to my friend Jim Acton who edits and writes many of the great features in PGRI Magazine, including this month’s executive summaries of PGRI conference panel discussions – Thank you Jim! The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) has never been more energized with positive expectations and forward momentum. We look forward to an exciting future as David Barden and Drew Svitko assume the roles of president of MUSL and chair of the Powerball® Group respectively. Thank you, Simon Jaworski, for converting research and survey-driven data into meaningful insights. Simon, who contributes three or four articles a year, signs-off with “Trust me I’m a researcher.” Well, I trust Simon to stretch to help us glean meaning from the data and turn research into relevant business intelligence. Research is a science and practitioners like Simon are keen to avoid impinging on the objective facts with interpretation which, sorta by definition, is subjective. Years ago, I asked Simon to take the next step and help us understand the underlying implications of data and consumer survey results. Actually, I begged and he relented. Of course, he does not prescribe an action plan. But he does frame some interesting questions and endeavor to answer the question that I pose to him “What does this mean for Lottery?” In this article, Simon provides the metrics to compare the consumer awareness of, and trust in, different consumer-facing brands; to see how Lottery’s flagship brands measure up, and fully appreciate the incredible assets owned by government lottery. This topic was recently addressed by Gregg Edgar and panel of experts at PGRI Smart-Tech in April. And we will be drilling down further at our next event (Lottery Expo NYC end of August). The executive summary of that panel discussion introduces us to the idea that there is lots of headroom to leverage the value of these brands to increase reach, impact, sales, and ultimately funding for Lottery’s beneficiaries. One of the strategic directions is to develop relationships with other mega-brands like the NFL, and media personalities like Ryan Seacrest. In order to come to equitable agreements, though, we need our partners to accord proper valuation of the brand equity that Powerball and Mega Millions brings to the table. Simon’s research reveals, for instance, that as huge as brand NFL is, Powerball and Mega Millions are almost its equal in brand awareness, and actually higher in brand trust. These data-points are quite relevant to the goal of striking a deal that fairly allocates costs and profits in a collaborative relationship. And a special thanks to editorial contributors Scientific Games and IGT. I appreciate our partnership, the leadership you provide this industry, and the brain-trust you share with our readership. We’re getting back to normal when it comes to Fall conferences. PGRI Lottery Expo NYC will be held a little early this year to allow some time before we head up to Canada for the World Lottery Summit Vancouver, October 16-20. The WLS is a bi-annual event, moving to a fabulous location on a different continent every two years. They had to skip 2020, so the last one was in 2018 in Buenos Aires. (2016 in Singapore; 2014 Rome; and 2012 in Montreal). The World Lottery Association collaborates with the regional association (this year that is NASPL in North America) to produce the biggest conference/trade show in the industry. We hope to see you all there! But first, we hope you will come to PGRI Lottery Expo NYC on August 30 to September 1. Keep up with conference updates on PGRI’s news website PublicGaming.com. Paul Jason, Publisher Public Gaming International Magazine
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