14 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2024 THE MORE COMPLEX THINGS BECOME, THE MORE VITAL IT IS TO FOCUS ON THE PLAYER Stephanie Weyant Deputy Executive Director, Marketing & Products, Pennsylvania Lottery PGRI INTERVIEWS Paul Jason: You are best known for your leadership role in the development of iLottery. But you are also responsible for marketing and product development for traditional lottery, and for all channels of distribution. Can you tell us a little about how you’ve balanced those different aspects of your role? Stephanie Weyant: My team has grown and works on all aspects of lottery, both retail and online, from the games to marketing, research and digital. That integrated approach reflects the reality that you won’t hear customers talk about traditional lottery versus online lottery - they just play the lottery. Our goal is to create a seamless, friction-free player journey that respects the players’ point of view. That collaborative approach has really helped to break down the silos that can separate organizational departments. I guess lotteries with separate iLottery divisions would argue that approach enables this new initiative to flourish without being constrained by the legacy ideas of traditional lottery? S. Weyant: Each model has pros and cons, and what works best for a given lottery depends on factors such as their starting point, culture, structure, and the flexibility they have with hiring new staff. The integrated model works best for us. Also, we did not have much choice, as our launch schedule for iLottery was so tight that we didn’t have time to hire staff and create a new division. We launched with our existing team, who was excited that Lottery finally got approval to sell online. We drew upon the expertise of our vendor partners Scientific Games, IWG and experienced colleagues, such as the Michigan Lottery. Integration enables us to look at our product and marketing plans holistically and we can easily do cross-product-line launches and cross-promotions between retail and online. Our goal is to be one Pennsylvania Lottery and not be siloed between traditional and online because our players expect everything to be integrated and seamless. PGRI INTRODUCTION: Stephanie has served the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 24 years in various communications and marketing roles. She was previously the spokesperson for PA Lottery and its first deputy director of digital marketing. She served in the PA legislature as the communications director of the House Appropriations Committee, before returning to Lottery in 2016 as deputy executive director. Stephanie was the executive lead on the successful launch of Pennsylvania’s iLottery program in 2018. Stephanie’s perspective on digital lottery and iLottery is informed by this much broader charter to integrate all aspects of the business to coalesce around the player. Stephanie holds a degree in communications from Pennsylvania State University.
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