14 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024 ‘Comes A Time’ after the election you may feel ‘Helpless’, but I am going to inform you why ‘Ordinary People’ like us need to think about the ‘Restless Consumer’, ‘For What It’s Worth’, in the next twelve months. ‘Tell Me Why’ I should care about ‘Walkin' On The Road (To The Future)’, even with an ‘Old Man’ in charge potentially leading America to a ‘Fork In the Road’. Let’s see what Lotto Research’s 2025 crystal ball says… “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World” Since COVID, the % of Americans who have gambled at least once in a year has increased from two-thirds to more than three quarters in late 2023. This has been primarily driven by increases in sports betting (which has almost doubled over the same period), with other categories also on the rise, including casino play and online play. Gambling as a preferred recreational activity is also up significantly, while the importance of gambling to those playing has also risen significantly over the last two years.. Lotto Research fully expects these gambling trends to continue to increase into the next calendar year, as U.S. laws are further relaxed and competition in the Lottery and Gaming space increases. “Are you my friend? Or are you my enemy?” The legalization of sports betting and ways to gamble on a state-by-state basis has also increased the market scope in 2024, with 38 states now having some form of legalized sports betting. The two prized states of Texas and California have had several attempts to legalize, but 2025 provides another time-period to attempt to pass legislation (and probably tens of millions of dollars in bribes, sorry I mean “lobbying”). Personally, until May 2023, I had held out on adding a sports betting app’ to my precious iPhone. (Sidebar. Did you know that us humans touch their phones 2,617 times a day…and that number was from a 2016 study. Frightening. You just put your phone down didn’t you!). I now own four sports betting apps, purely for research purposes. Don’t tell my wife. Lotto Research predicts at least two of the top ten sports betting companies will be bought out in 2025, leading to more market consolidation. Consolidation enables online destinations to entice players with bonus offers to try new game categories and further divide the amount they spend on any one game like lottery, “A dreamer of pictures” Social media is central to the “attention economy”. A player's attention is a valuable resource, and U.S. lotteries need to capture it and sustain it with compelling online experiences to combat that the competition. Expanded Player’s Clubs, greater second chance experiences and prizes and being an integral part of player’s daily routines and lives, whether they decide to play or not. I started playing Connections in the NY Times earlier this year, and I haven’t missed a single day since. Lotto Research believes the “attention economy” is an evil necessity that lotteries will embrace at record levels in 2025. We predict a Lottery Instagram followers boom! FL Lottery hits 150k followers, CA Lottery 120k, and my tri-state gang of PA, NJ and NY all hit 50k each…not quite the levels of Ronaldo (642m) and Messi (504m), but it’s progress, and it’s poised to explode. “Attention shoppers, buy with a conscience and save” Thirty states currently allow sports betting online, while 14 states have some form of iLottery and 18 states allow Jackpocket (owned by DraftKings) to collect your lottery monies. If anyone thinks that’s the only Lotterytype product that the sports betting operators will produce, maybe you didn’t see they missed their revenue target in Q3 2024. We can expect DraftKings, and online gambling behemoths of all stripes, to increase their focus on attracting new customers from the massive $100 billion+ lottery player-base. Lotto Research predicts greater competition arriving from uncharted territory in 2025, and likely with directly A Lottery Heart Of Gold: Gaming and Lottery predictions for 2025 (with a little help from Neil Young lyrics and songs) Simon Jaworski, Founder & CEO, Lotto Research continued on page 44
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