22 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 When Stephanie Weyant, Deputy Executive Director, Marketing and Products at the Pennsylvania Lottery, hears that the future of lottery is with artificial intelligence or machine learning or improved consumer experiences, she knows firsthand that at her lottery, the future is NOW. All these technologies are currently being deployed today in the service of iLottery - and with great success as Pennsylvania boasts one of the largest iLottery programs in the world. But with the number of states offering iLottery still at 11, there is much room to grow. Stephanie’s goal with this panel was to make sure that all lotteries can learn something from those who have years of experience with iLottery and work towards a future that includes this important sales tool. Joining Stephanie were: Steve Beason, President, Digital and Sports Betting, Scientific Games Jason Lisiecki, Executive Vice President, Instant Win Gaming (IWG) Karri Paavilainen, Senior Director, iLottery, IGT Frank Suarez, Executive Director, DC Office of Lottery & Gaming Bishop Woosley, Senior Lottery Consultant, Jackpocket Stephanie’s goal for the panel was to provide something for everyone. “For the states that are currently offering iLottery, like Pennsylvania, we are looking at ways to manage the product for maximum growth, player engagement and integration with land-based retail,” she said. “But even non-iLottery states are looking at some of these same issues. Most lotteries offer some type of digital component – app, loyalty program, players club. And the high jackpot runs have enabled many lotteries to increase the pool of players engaging with them through these avenues. For iLottery states, once we have attracted these new players, we want to convert them to digital players, not to supplant their play at retail but to augment and enhance their play at retail stores. Let’s look at some of the best strategies for doing that.” DC Lottery’s Frank Suarez, who also served as CMO at the North Carolina Lottery (another iLottery state), said player outreach never ends. “The high jackpot runs are really beneficial for attracting new players, but making people aware that they can actually buy a ticket online is still a big challenge for us,” he said. “Once we have a player with a registered account, our CRM kicks in with promotions that lead the player to eInstant games that are more jackpot themed and eventually introduce them to other types of games. The initial promotions are simple – spend $50, get $25 on a specific type of eInstant games. Our conversion rate is about 65% for these types of promotions so they have been working well for us. From there, we do a lot of segmentation to identify who hasn’t come back after the jackpot runs and provide them with incentives to return.” IGT runs the digital platforms for several lotteries and Karri Paavilainen agreed that jackpot runs lead to large numbers of new players. “One issue is that they are ‘slippery’ players in that it is challenging to keep them after the jackpot runs end,” he said. “In fact, the retention rate of your average jackpot player is one-third that of a regular player. It is key that once jackpot players are on the platform, that lotteries build more engagement. The optimal time to present new players with an eInstant offer is when their online wallet is open and they are engaged in making draw game transactions. Present them with an eInstant offer. We have seen these types of offers really work and lead to future play. Ongoing communication will keep the player engaged and continuing to purchase through the platform.” Representing the lottery courier Jackpocket, Bishop Woosley said player attraction and retention is similar in the 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 Nashville Managing iLottery for Maximum Growth, Maximum Player Engagement and Maximum Complementarity with Other Channels Like Land-Based Retail “The real benefit of omni-channel begins when lotteries create managed player relationships across all the channels.”
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