Public Gaming Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

16 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 in our ranks having been here for quite some time. We certainly want to leverage the institutional knowledge that resides with our senior management team, but we are committed to developing the young and diverse talent within our organization. PGRI’s WILL (Women’s Initiative in Lottery Leadership) is a good example of the kind of commitment the industry needs in order to harness adaptability that comes with diversity and youth. We want to foster a genuinely heartfelt feeling of inclusiveness and a fertile environment for achieving our career goals. We are stewards of this agency -- here for a short time to make it better and to mentor others along the way who will carry it through to the next generation. “R” is for Revenue. Not everyone has direct-line responsibility for driving revenue. Maximizing revenues for the benefit of our beneficiary, the State of Maryland, is the business that everyone, each of us, is in. We can and should all be fully engaged in the mission to manage costs, maximize operational efficiencies, enhance retail and consumer-facing activities, and otherwise optimize financial performance. “E” is for Expediting. Expediting sports wagering and whatever initiatives are on the front burner to make them happen now. Speed to market is a key metric for commercial companies and it should be key for a market-driven enterprise like the Lottery. CORE-4 is so much more impactful than a mission statement. Sports betting is imminent? J. Martin: There is no boilerplate of best practices or a regulatory model for sports wagering. Each jurisdiction constructs its own approach depending on their gaming culture and public policy objectives. Our legislation is probably the most expansive bill in the industry, allowing for more than 100 potential licenses with the provision that there be an inclusion of small-, women-, and/ or minority-owned businesses that have a seat at the table. The legislation specifically names 18 entities that would be first in line for 17 licenses. (Two of the racetracks, Pimlico and Laurel Park, would share one license.) These operators are designated to be our Class A1 and A2 brick-and-mortar locations. Then there is a Class B designation that includes named entities, primarily OTB (Off-Track Betting) locations and two bingo halls. Bingo is big here in Maryland. So the two largest bingo halls have been named in legislation as being candidates for sports wagering. Then there is an open docket to sign up 30 other brick-and-mortar locations. That’s almost 50 operators right there. Add to that the potential for granting up to 60 mobile entities, and that’s over 100 potential sports wagering licenses. The legislation also creates a sister commission called the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission, affectionately known as SWARC. The SWARC’s role is to counterpoint us – they vet the applicants’ business plans and the minority and small business and women ownership applications. The SWARC then hands that license over to us to conduct the financial due diligence and criminal background checks, and further vetting (processes that we are already familiar with, as we have been doing it in the casino sector for 10 years now) and then determine if they should be issued a license to operate sports betting. A license needs to be “awarded” by the SWARC and “issued” by the MLGCA before the applicant can be in the sports wagering business. You can appreciate that all of this takes more than 30 days to happen. I’m kind of amazed at the complexity and the depth of knowledge required on your part to implement sports betting. You need to learn a whole new business that has countless moving parts, and lots of ways for things to go wrong. J. Martin: I may have been a little naïve, but I knew what I was getting into. Of course, I love it. I love the opportunity to learn about this completely new area of gaming and being in the position of needing to figure things out as we go along. I am extremely fortunate to have a great team of industry professionals well versed in operating a lottery and regulating a statewide casino program. The MLGCA is a complex, multi-faceted enterprise. A little nerve-wracking -- but never boring! And is iLottery on the horizon? J. Martin: Not imminently. We have our hands full now and are happy to wait for the legislature to reach out to us to review its iLottery regulatory policy. It is prohibited right now and there’s no indication it will be considered over the next 18 months. Of course, we will be pleased to make the products available online if or when the legislature decides that is the direction they want us to go. Kind of a corny question but one that I think our readers might like to hear about: What advice would you give to someone wanting to maximize their potential in this industry? J. Martin: Nothing that you probably haven’t heard before. I always try to learn from every person that I interact with and every situation I encounter, every job I have had whether I loved the job or not. I learn from people who work for me as well as people I work for. I learn from clients and vendors as well as mentors. Knowing what you want helps to clarify the pathway to getting from here to there. I always wanted to be a CEO and so all my energies were focused on that goal. I try to be objective and analytical as I assess my strengths and weaknesses to leverage one and hopefully shore up the other. I also believe you need to take calculated risks, especially in our business. The future is not necessarily a function of the past. New ideas can come from anywhere. I want everyone in a meeting to participate. I used to just impose that expectation on everyone without realizing that could be intimidating instead of the inclusive and welcoming attitude that I want to engender. Now I look for ways to make sure interactive group sessions come from a place of positive reinforcement and inclusiveness. n Do we have strategy sessions about bringing in new consumer groups? Not really. We do, however, strategize about producing great products and making them readily available to our players. Instead of worrying about who might be stealing our lunch, we should focus on making a better lunch.