18 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2023 With four multistate lottery game jackpots of more than $1 billion since 2021, and three of those in just the past year, the expectations of lottery players have permanently shifted. Gone are the days when media outlets set up remote broadcasts outside convenience stores for $200 million jackpots. Sometimes even $750 million jackpots don’t get you much attention. With most U.S. lottery jurisdictions now selling both Powerball and Mega Millions, plotting the future of these flagship brands is a collective effort for the country’s lottery directors. The directors all acknowledged that Powerball and Mega Millions are at one of the most important inflection points since 2010, when “cross-sell” allowed the MUSL states to license Mega Millions and the Mega Millions states to license Powerball, effectively enabling all jurisdictions to sell both Powerball and Mega Millions. More than ten years after MUSL raised the Powerball price point to $2, the Mega Millions consortium, made up of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Michigan, California, Ohio, Washington’s Lottery, and Illinois, is about to increase the price of its ticket to $5. This change, which will start later in 2023, has added to the conversation on the future of these two games which, despite the meteoric rise in the sale of scratch tickets, remain critical components of most lottery’s game portfolios. David Barden kicked things off with a topic of great debate in the U.S. lottery industry – are we better off with two groups managing the two different national games? Does it make sense to have a MUSL group consisting of 38 states voting on Powerball issues and a Mega Millions group consisting of 10 states voting on Mega Millions issues? “In the end, all directors are beholden to the rules of their locales and must look out for what is best for their jurisdictions,” David said. “But given all the changes we have faced over the past few years, from the localization of casinos to the proliferation of sports betting, are there efficiencies to be had with two management groups or might it make more sense to combine the management of the multi-state games into one group? The two groups have collaborated more recently than ever before, but is that enough to truly optimize synergies and the performance of the games?” Drew Svitko, who oversees a lottery which is a MUSL member, is a believer in the economies of scale. “We have worked more together recently than at any point 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 PGRI Lottery Expo Conference in Miami. Several of the directors who are on the frontlines of wrestling with these issues participated in a spirited panel discussion at the PGRI Lottery Expo in Miami in early spring. Moderated by David Barden, President & CEO, New Mexico Lottery, and President of MUSL (Multi-State Lottery Association), the panel included: Mark William Bracken, Executive Director, Massachusetts Lottery Norm Lingle, Executive Director, South Dakota Lottery John Martin, Director, Maryland Lottery Drew Svitko, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Lottery, Chair of Powerball Group Bret Toyne, Executive Director, MUSL Optimizing the overall sales of Powerball, Mega Millions, & Multi-State Games
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