41 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2023 #3 Entertainment How entertaining the games are. Scratch players and Sports Bettors have this as the #1 driver of their Gaming Player Value, which could explain why there is a lot of play crossover between the two categories. #4 Regular Play Both Draw Players and Casino Gamers are driven by Playing Regularly as their #1 Player Value driver, although there are very strong and significant differences between Heavy and Light Spending players. #5 Luck Although luck plays a moderate part in driving players value of each gaming category, Sport Bettors feel that it has a bigger part to play in their ability to bet and win. However, this changes significantly when comparing Heavy to Light Spending Sports Bettors, with Heavy bettors feeling luck plays a very important role in their future play. The different player attitudes as regards to the role of luck, and how it varies across game categories, is a most interesting object for future research! #6 Money Spent Not a driver at all for the Social/Video Gamers (at least not at the total level), the amount of Money Spent is still an important driver (4th) for Scratch Players and Casino Gamers, especially Heavy Spending Scratch purchasers. #7 Winning/Losing The winning proposition is a Top 3 driver for Online Gamblers, but this factor is truly driven by those Low Spenders in the category. #8 Winning Odds Although mostly a tertiary driver, Winning Odds, which will not come as a surprise to industry experts, does have a stronger drive of future play among Heavy Spending players in both the Casino and Sports Betting sectors. We need to understand more about the way lottery players perceive Winning Odds, and how that may be changing. #9 Social (v Individual) Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the Player Value study, is the fact that Gaming overall has always been more of an individual activity as opposed to a social one. However, both Heavy Spending Sports Bettors and Online Gamblers are driven in part by a ‘social connection’ to their gaming. We might expect the industry to work on finding ways to tap into this universal desire for a more social experience. How overall Player Value affects a Gaming category in terms of future play Although a one number score can be seen as somewhat simplistic, it does offer an insight into the health of a gaming category. Right now, Video/Social Gaming is the healthiest category in Gaming in terms of Player Value, driven especially by Gen Z and Millennials. Lottery Draw Games have the lowest overall Player Value in 2022, slightly behind Online Gambling. This ultimately means that Video/Social Gaming is doing a better job at meeting future needs (‘convenience’, ‘entertainment’ and ‘spending time’), than the Draw Games sector (which is lowest for ‘convenience’, yet highest for ‘important to play regularly’). At some stage, Draw Games will need to offer something more enticing other than ‘regular play’, especially for Gen Z. Are the four Generations different in their Gaming Player Value, and if so (ok, yes, they are), what drives each one in the six gaming categories? For Gen Xers, spending more money is less important for Social/Video gamers than most other types of gamers. However, unlike younger generations, spending more time and deriving entertainment from their choice of game starts to emerge as more important drivers for gaming, perhaps a distraction from their everyday lives. This can be seen among Gen X Scratch gamers, Casino Gamers, and Online Gamers. Millennials derive the most value from five of the six gaming categories, with the notable exception of Social/Video gaming which has the highest PVS of all gaming types among Gen Z. As the ‘owner’ of two Gen Z boys, their iPhones are never far from their hand irrespective of what they are doing, and the younger one plays high speed Chess on his device while engaging in other activities. Boomers derive their highest PVS from Casino games, and their lowest from Draw Lottery games, although they have the lowest PVS among all gaming categories, among all generations. Ironically, the two generations at opposite ends of the spectrum, Boomers and Gen Z, are both driven by ‘Entertainment’ as the #1 factor for Player Value for Draw Games, which allows U.S. State lotteries to perhaps proverbially ‘kill two birds with one stone’ in designing new Lottery numbers games that could connect with both generations. Scratch ticket ‘heavy spenders’ derive as much value from their play as Casino Game players and Sports Bettors, and significantly more than Draw Game players. So what does all this mean for the future of some of the main gaming and gambling industries? Video/Social Gaming – Video/Social gaming has the highest Player Value of any Gaming sector, and notably among the highest spending group in their sector. It also has the highest Player Value scores across all Gaming variants, plus the least variance among ‘heavy spenders’ across the three youngest generations (Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X), and so it is primed for additional growth over the next decade. The ‘heavy spenders’ are driven by Convenience, Entertainment, and also
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