Public Gaming Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

8 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 From the Publisher Sustainable growth for the long game The headline we had on the cover of the magazine a few months ago was “iLottery EXPLODES onto the U.S. Market-Place”. I was thinking we were approaching the proverbial “tipping point” wherein state legislators would all look around and ask the obvious question as to why their state lottery isn’t making the products available online. Well, the epilogue to that story is that nothing is “exploding”. The number of U.S. lotteries authorized to sell lottery products online is now into the double- digits – but just barely and not evidence of a rush to sell lottery products online. And when I opine to industry leaders “with most states rushing to regulate sports- betting, and more lotteries demonstrating that iLottery does not cannibalize retail sales, doesn’t that create the right political environment for legislatures everywhere to sign off on an iLottery bill” … the answer is ‘no, not really’. State lawmakers are certainly exploring iLottery options, and we can expect that eventually most will likely authorize some form of iLottery, but there does not appear to be an impending tipping-point that will trigger them to accelerate the process en masse – at least not like there was or is for sports-betting. (See Scott Gunn, Howard Glaser, and Mark Hichar articles.) The good news is that Lottery has performed very well during this time of profound disruption. This is good news for our industry, and it’s wonderful news for players everywhere who delighted in finding a healthy games-of-chance diversion amidst all the challenges and adaptations that have been foisted upon us. This is also a time for profound optimism and bold vision as Lottery is poised to consolidate its position as the game of the people and for the people and the world looks for leadership on every front. And when it comes to consumer products in general and games-of-chance in particular, Lottery is the leader. The common thread, the theme that courses through most of the articles in this issue, is that as we emerge from the crisis-driven mentality of the pandemic era, and as we think about how to best serve our lottery stakeholders going forward – positive change is not so much about “transformation” (a word I am more guilty than anyone of overusing) as it is about steady, incremental progress. And it makes sense that the dominant actor in an economic sector execute a stay-the- course strategy. With what is by far the largest and most diverse mass-market of customers (i.e. players), Lottery is focused on driving progress through expanding the retail footprint and variety of trade-styles and POS; through expanding the portfolio of games and distribution channels and consumer touch-points; through evolving the games to appeal to the modern consumer; and doing all this by combining innovation and execution. Our customers aren’t asking us to disrupt or transform the industry. Their voice is coming in loud and clear that they want us to grow with them as their tastes evolve and they adopt new technologies and shopping behaviours. But, disruptive transformation isn’t on the menu. Steady, incremental progress; “small-ball” singles and doubles promises to win the game and keep us aligned with our players. Congratulations to the Hall of Fame inductees, class of 2021. Wendy Montgomery, John Schulz, and Angela Wong are most deserving and well-known to all of us and it will be such a pleasure to celebrate this honor with them in-person at Lottery Expo Nashville! Thank you to our fabulous interviewees: John Martin, Jennifer Westbury, Scott Gunn, Howard Glaser, Rhydian Fisher, Konstantinos Koutsias. It is more interesting and useful than ever to share insights on how the events of the future are likely to unfold. So we appreciate the industry leaders taking the time to help us chart our pathway forward. And thank you to all of our editorial contributors (Jim Acton, Mark Hichar, Philippe Vlaemminck, IGT, INTRALOT, Scientific Games, Abacus Solutions, EQL Games, Grover Gaming, and Team MUSL) for rounding out this issue with features on social media marketing, player-engagement strategies, consumer behaviour and shopping trends, retail modernization, political/regulatory/legal trends, and more. As many of you will be seeing this issue at Lottery Expo – Welcome to Nashville! It’s been awhile, and we are so excited and honored to be able to co-host this event with CEO Rebecca Hargrove and the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation. Let’s embrace the energy of this reunion, nurture the relationships so key to driving progress in this $100+ billion industry, and chart a course for optimizing what promises to be a golden era of Lottery. Paul Jason, Publisher Public Gaming International Magazine