A look at the evolition of the lottery
Lottery regulators, operators, and retailers have always believed that the key to running a successful lottery is in making sure that the top priority should always be a great and hassle-free customer experience. Since the beginning of the lottery, physical retailers have been the very first contact point for players discovering more information about their favourite games and for buying their tickets through planned play and impulse purchases.
There is also a recognition that many players are more comfortable playing the lottery online due to the convenience of remaining at home, being able to implement automatic repeated purchases, and instant notification of wins and prize deposits into their accounts. The added ability to scan tickets at home to verify wins also is attractive to online lottery players. And for the lottery operators, online accounts allow them to collect player data in order to offer customized promotional campaigns and push informational notifications to players about their favourite games.
To capitalize on both in-person retail play and online play, lottery operators understand that they are not promoting digital gaming over retailing gaming. There is no competition between the two avenues of lottery play. It is a new way to offer the best customer experience for the player in the way and when and how they want to play the lottery. Lottery operators are using both methods to create a future in which a player can purchase their lottery tickets wherever they are and whenever they want, even when retailers are closed, or in the wee hours after midnight.
Some initiatives for the future of the lottery include a more online presence on both the operator’s website and a multitude of social media outlets to be able to provide services to the highest number of players across a wide range of demographics. The improvement of the customer experience is also an item that is being done so that more players can be brought into the player community and more current players can be retained to become regular customers. The accumulation of player statistics will set forth a new way to provide the ultimate personalized real-time customer service experience for every single player.
Both online and retailer customers will be able sign up to get notifications on draw dates and times, estimated jackpots, bonus draws, special draws, updated gaming play for games, draw wins and winners, and much more information to keep customers informed and interested in both current games they play, and games that they don’t but might find interesting through the marketing material.
Also in the future for the lottery is to improve on its public perception, integrity, honesty, and more up-front emphasis on problem gambling. A high degree of marketing to emphasize the lottery’s contribution and commitment to financially supporting charities and good causes is also on the table. This improved proactive approach to transparency of the gaming industry, its role in a commitment to the all the charities and social programs it supports, and larger more public responsibility for recognizing and offering several areas of help for players with problem gambling issues, will improve both the public and government’s view of the lottery industry in a more positive way.
Ultimately, the future of the lottery is to increase the number of customers who buy tickets, provide larger jackpots and more smaller prize amounts, and to increase the number of charities and the amounts they receive as beneficiaries from lottery revenue. Of course there will be challenges, but as with any type of future plans for business improvement, a dedicated commitment combined with over-site by the regulator will ensure that the goals for the future of the lottery come to fruition.