When the modern day lottery came into being, the emphasis by the operators and regulators was on the fact that you could win millions of dollars. You could become a millionaire. You could do or buy anything you wanted. And that was the message that was touted over and over again in commercials, advertisements, and all other media the industry uses to reach out to past, current, and potential players.
The thought and the tease of winning millions of dollars sounded good to the public. The industry touted how a winner could find “freedom” in life to do anything or buy anything they wanted. The emphasis was on the money itself and what is could do to a person’s life.
And that worked well for many decades. But as the 18-35 year old demographic started changing as the decades went buy, marketing research found that 18-35 year olds were slowly becoming less important type of player, with the number of players in that category falling year after year. It so became apparent for both operators and regulators that were losing a very major portion of the playing public.
So, the marketing research teams began to investigate why this trend was happening. And a suprising thing was discovered. As technology progressed in computers and smartphones, 18-35 yar olds were gobbling up the technology in a voracious way. They were hooked on the instant gratification digtal technologies provided. They loved getting “it” now and getting what they wanted, not what was being offered.
So no longer did the words “millions of dollars” or “freedom of life” resonate in the maketing and advertising campaigns with this demographic. Seems they couldn’t care less about winning millions of dollars and having a life of “freedom.” It was discovered that 18-35 year olds were interested in personalized experiences and not money.
So the lottery industry had to change the way it looked at the lottery. Pushing the fact that winning millions of dollars could be free up one’s life to live debt-free and do anything they wanted no longer worked on younger customers. Losing them was actually causing a notice in the lower amout of ticket sales money that was coming in. And that scared the lottery industry to the core.
So what could be done to get these players back into the game. After looking at all the statistics and data it was determined that a marketing and advertising platform emphasizing money and freedom was no longer working. As the 18-35 demographic was more hungry for “experiences” rather than money, the idustry decided to change its tactic.
That is probably why you see and hear lottery commercials that now emphasize how winning millions of lottery dollars can give you exactly what you want. No longer is paying off bills, getting out of debt, or “freedom” of life the core of lottery marketing. It is now all about what you can experience from winning jackpots. You can now buy the latest and greatest technology and be ahead of your friends and family. You can build a lavish entertainment centre in your home where video games of all kinds can be played, movies and television shows can be watched on a wall-sized monitor, and everything is wireless.
You are not going to buy a car. Instead, you are going to go to a racetrack and pay for the experience of driving an actual racecar around the track. Vacations? Not any more. Why take a plane somewhere where you can easily book time in a flight simulator and fly the darn plane yourself to whereever you want, and can easily even crash the plane into the ocean or a mountainside without actually dying. What an experience!
That’s what young people want today. Experiences. Not the money, not the freedom, not the mansions that money can buy, but the personal experiences that money can buy. “Win the jackpot and have your freedom” just doesn’t cut it anymore. “Win the jackpot and be a king in your video game, fly a fighter jet in a simulator, or enjoy roaming the sea in your very own real-life submarine.”
So in today’s lottery environment, “freedom” has been replaced by “experience.” And that has brought the 18-35 year old demographic back into the lottery fold and has increased ticket sales dramatically for that age group. But for most players, including a few younger ones, it is the money and the freedom from debt, to buy a new house or car, to travel, to not worry about life, that is still the driving force in the majority of lottery ticket sales. For most players, that desire will never change.