38 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2024 Do you think that there is more we can do now to get retail to support iLottery? S. Weyant: Maybe it’s too much to ask the retailer groups to support iLottery, but I think the goal should be to at least get them to not oppose it. Retailers have a lot of lobbying influence. When we launched, we had limited industry data available, but we knew that iLottery would help grow retail sales, not hurt it. Lotteries today have even more data and studies available to disprove the myth that iLottery hurts retail sales. In Pennsylvania, our retailer groups wanted an increase in their commission, so we used that as an opportunity to create a Retailer Incentive Program where we said, “Okay, we’re not just going to give you an increase in commission because that’s not going to generate more lottery sales and profit, but we will structure a program to give you an opportunity to earn more commission, if you meet or exceed your sales goals.” The retailer incentive was part of the deal and allowed retailers make more money, and defuse their opposition to iLottery. We also encouraged retailers to trust that we had no intent to hurt retail lottery sales. After all, retail still generates the vast majority of our sales and profits. Another factor was the human factor, and our District Sales Representatives worrying about losing their jobs if retail sales declined, which couldn’t have been further from our intentions. We’ve invested heavily in retail and expanded our sales force. How might state lotteries advocate for themselves against the influence of sports betting and iCasino operators who are opposed to iLottery? S. Weyant: Any jurisdiction that hears of an interest in the state legislature for regulating online gambling, especially online casino gambling, should raise their hand and say, “Don’t forget about lottery.” That’s how it happened in Pennsylvania. When the casinos started pushing for iGaming, that gave us the opportunity to push to include iLottery. We defended ourselves, with the result being that both iGaming and iLottery were authorized at the same time. Another advantage of iLottery is that players have to register to play online, which brings a lot of benefits. In Europe, we’ve seen that there’s an emphasis on player registration even though a surprisingly large number of their players don’t even play online. Should lotteries in the US that don’t sell online also be trying to get more players to register? S. Weyant: Absolutely, it is a huge benefit for lotteries to turn the anonymous play of retail into an engaged and interactive relationship that begins with registration. It forms the basis for a player-centric relationship. Even if you’re not selling online, you want to know who your players are, and what they’re playing so you can communicate directly with them and send them better, more customized promotions using a CRM program, and promote responsible gaming much more effectively. The increased focus on KYC and CRM brings with it a rise in customized advertising, which seems to raise questions about customer confidentiality. But isn’t the modern consumer becoming more comfortable with personalized messaging? S. Weyant: Yes, I think so. I think it’s become an expectation, and some consumers are annoyed if you serve them an ad that’s not of interest to them. We also send more customized offers and promotions to different customer segments, and we test different ones to see what’s more effective, and those are all things you can do in the digital space if you have a CRM platform that supports that. At the same time, there is an expectation that we will protect and secure their personal data. Lottery has always worked to get infrequent players to play more often. Do you have any insights on how to do that? S. Weyant: That is a particularly big issue when we get the high jackpots and see an influx of new players. First, we try to engage them with Draw Games, through promotions or subscriptions. Then, we try to cross-promote other products that they might enjoy. For example, if they came in for Powerball, maybe a natural progression would be to a licensed property game with a progressive jackpot. Another thing we do during the big jackpot runs is rearrange our virtual lobby, i.e., the games you see when you land on our app or the site, so that new players who are there for Powerball will see other games around it that might attract their attention. How does portfolio management differ in the online space versus the retail environment? S. Weyant: Online portfolio management is quite different from retail games because we have basically unlimited bin space online, which raises the question of when to terminate the games. We only close them if they become outdated, and we’ve closed very few. We’ve launched over 200 games, and out of those, we still have around 175 games right now. So, the question becomes how to organize them so you don’t overwhelm players with too many choices. We are also looking at how we can improve game categorization and offer more niche games to appeal to all of the different types of online players. And what about launch cycles online? S. Weyant: Online games are launched more frequently than retail games. The best practice is a new online game launch at least every two weeks. And we’ve tested different days of the week, double launches, and multiple games in the week. The objective is to maximize sales and not cannibalize other game launches because that’s wasted resources for us and our partners. We’re still testing, learning and launching at least three to four games a month, trying to identify that sweet spot to maximize sales. 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. The more complex things become, the more vital it is to focus on the player — continued from page 16
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