8 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 From the Publisher The World Lottery Summit Paris (October 21 to 25) will be a most excellent adventure: the biggest WLS ever, held in the most splendid City of Lights, featuring world-class speakers from within and outside of the lottery industry, hosting the biggest tradeshow of technology partners, and countless side-bar meetings of global lottery leaders. Visit world-lotteries.org for complete info on the bi-annual WLS, as well as the other seminars and services offered by the World Lottery Association. After serving as president of the WLA for three 2-year terms, Rebecca Paul will turn over the leadership mantle to the new president (who will be elected and assume the role of president at WLS Paris on Oct. 24). With massive industry changes being compounded by a pandemic, this has been a volatile six years for all of us. The WLA has evolved with the times, producing timely and relevant educational seminars, updating its standards and procedures for certifications in Security & Risk Management and Responsible Gaming, advocating for regulatory frameworks that protect the interests of government lotteries, strengthening its affiliation with regional lottery associations, and inventing new products to serve its members. Thank you to Rebecca Paul and the fabulous team of World Lottery Association leaders whose dedication supports the global lottery sector as well as each one of it members individually. The World Lottery Summit Paris is also a celebration of the privilege it is to embrace the wonderful mission of government lotteries and service to good causes. Susan and I look forward to seeing you there! BCLC has always been on the leading edge of technological innovation. Among many “firsts”, BCLC was the first in North America to launch iLottery (in 2004) and manages almost all games-of-chance categories (including casinos, sports betting, and online gambling) in its jurisdiction. BCLC Chief Operating Officer Dan Beebe takes us behind the scenes of their recent lottery-centric technology transformation, executed in one big-bang cutover fashion. It’s a fascinating story, and perhaps illustrative of things to come for all of us. Wondering about how player behavior is changing with the growth of iLottery? Do players think of iLottery as different from traditional land-based lottery, or as just another way to play the same lottery games? Is there research to show whether lottery spend increases when the players play on multiple channels? Answers to these questions and more can be found in IGT’s report on page 26. Scientific Games not only talks about the amazing enhancements to Instant Tickets, they drill down on the strategy of Instant Game portfolio management. Maximizing sales, and funds to good causes, is partly about producing fabulous games that capture consumer attention and ongoing playership. To that end, Scientific Games is pushing the edge of the Instant Ticket enhancement envelope. Their article on page 32 also delves into the strategy of managing the portfolio (and application of enhancements) to optimize overall performance of the category. Abacus CEO Simon Butler brings us up to date on the latest technologies enabling the in-lane sales of lottery products, a crucial step towards evolving with consumer shopping and retailing trends. Nobody understands how political, regulatory, and business dynamics coalesce to shape the world of lottery like Philippe Vlaemminck. He shares the vision of others who aspire for government lottery to fulfill its highest calling as a leader, not just in the games-of-chance industry, not just as drivers of innovation and progress, but in business conduct and in society writ large. Pollard Banknote builds out its iLottery portfolio with the launch of Catalyst, its new fully cloud-native, modular, and API-first iLottery platform. Digital pioneer Fennica Gaming is reengineering games for the Mobile generation with entertainment-enhanced games to attract a attract a younger, more diverse audience. Gaming Laboratories’ (GLI) Angela Wong describes some of the ways AI is being applied to the lottery sector. The EL (European Lotteries Association) is always on the cutting edge of new ways to improve performance and results. The EL seminar on Connecting with Gen-Z focused on leveraging AI tools to enhance communications and brand storytelling, particularly for new generations of players. Actually, read the article as it traverses a whole range of ways in which AI is being applied in lottery right now to transformative effect. Government Lottery is not the only operator class that is innovating. “Gray” operators continue to find ways to disrupt the industry in ways that should be illegal but manage to stay at least one step ahead of regulatory modernization. Among our “Pulse of Industry” news stories is the way the “sweepstakes model” is raking in huge sums of money while evading regulatory oversight and even the obligation to pay taxes. The sweepstakes model allows customers to play for free or to buy virtual currency to enhance gameplay and win cash prizes. Sweepstake operators cost US states in lost potential tax revenue, present a greater risk for players since they don’t face regulatory scrutiny, and represent a competitive threat to government lotteries and legally authorized forms of gaming. Similarly, watch out for the ever-expanding portfolio of game categories and distributional strategies of DraftKings and Fanduel. They started as operators of “Fantasy Sports”, moved right into sports betting, and are now moving rapidly into every games-of-chance space including lottery. See you at WLS Paris! Paul Jason, Publisher Public Gaming International Magazine
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