Public Gaming Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

61 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 It is often due to this pace of transforma- tion that Lotteries struggle with integrat- ing the mobile world into their product portfolio and strategy. A struggle that needs to be addressed and solved quickly as the retailers are quickly growing their mobile strategies to reach their consumers. The pace of this move to a digital mobile world has only accelerated since the start of the pandemic in 2020, with more and more retailers moving to a digital contact- less interactive platform. This continued growth of online and mo- bile services in retail is essential for future success in the lottery space, as retailers adopt digital and omnichannel solutions. Fortunately, the mobile phone multi-uni- verse is already accommodating many of the requirements set by regulators to help move lottery into the consumers’ pockets. MOBILE AND LOTTERY SERVICES Consumers want to be entertained with instant gratification games and the mobile phone offers the perfect platform to enable this. Online gambling in the US overall has risen from around $6 billion in 2016 to over $50 billion in 2020 and this growth will continue. For draw based games - for example the ability to fill in a digital bet slip and store those numbers against a player account – will simplify game play for those customers who use the same numbers week in week out and makes the casual player experience more interactive. The mobile also allows the lottery to securely deliver and store digital ticket data. Delivery of virtual tickets not only removes the consumers’ worry of losing their physical ticket, but greatly increases security for the lottery as it removes the risk of fraudulently modifying tickets. Digital tickets also fulfil the instant gratification that the consumer needs as winners can be notified immediately without having to remember to check their physical tickets. The mobile platform also allows for the delivery of new and exciting instant win games that can mirror the current lottery scratch off tickets sold in store today. These digital instant games are quicker to get to market as there is no inventory that needs to be printed and shipped to store, making them more secure, reduces shrink and loss for the lottery as games are only delivered and sold after payment is made. LOTTERY IN RETAIL: THE RETAIL DIGITAL WAY The mobile as an entertainment tool: games account for 43% of all smart phone use and 62% of people install a game on their phone within a week of owning it. Whilst there is a trend to move to a purely digital platform, the retailers who currently sell our lottery products are keen to embrace this new way of thinking. They can provide an invaluable cross-over service that sits between the old traditional way of selling physical tickets and games, and the new world of digital. Retailers are moving towards integrat- ing game play into their POS ecosystem through the use of the leading in-lane tech- nology providers such as Abacus. This opens up the distribution points for traditional physical games and provides a transition element that overcomes some regulatory re- strictions on online gaming. This cross-over technology allows lotteries to offer the new and exciting world of digital gaming with the ability to continue to sell in store, keep- ing regulators, players and retailers happy with the experience. Correctly handled, the retail integration should be a seamless transition and require minimal additional training for retail staff, improve reconciliation and accountability, improve relationships with their customers and strengthen the lottery brand image. It is important that regulators understand that lotteries should be given the means to embed mobile digital services into their games offering. As we have discussed here, there is a huge trend to move towards a digital environment and the risk of not allowing lotteries to embrace this change means that customers will be driven towards other forms of unregulated online gaming whose operators may be less scrupulous in managing responsible gaming, especially for the younger audience.