程阳：美国加拿大彩票的机遇与挑战

 

Internet and Mobile

 

One session provided case studies on how four North American lotteries are taking advantage of what Internet and mobile channels have to offer. The British Columbia Lottery Corp. and the Georgia Lottery have been actively selling lottery tickets via the Net, the Delaware Lottery was about to launch casino games, and the Michigan Lottery has developed full-featured mobile apps that offer enhancements for players even without being able to sell tickets through that channel.

 

BCLC’s Cameron Adams, Director for Product and Business Development, eGaming, provided a brief overview of the lottery’s interactive strategies, including its latest option, the PlayNow mobile app. PlayNow is the umbrella brand for all of BCLC’s interactive games, with some 250,000 registered players and a smaller subset of active players.

 

Launched in 2004, PlayNow currently offers lottery, poker, casino, bingo and sports betting games online. There is always a fear that sales at retail will suffer at the expense of direct sales through the Internet, but that has not been the case in British Columbia. Over the years, Adams noted, “the Lottery retail space continues to grow while online sales grow,” and he added that the experience has been similar with land-based casinos and traditional sports betting.

 

In fact, said Adams, “Players are much more valuable as multi-channel players,” meaning that the more ways they can play, they more likely they are to purchase the products, whether at retail, through online channels, or now through the new PlayNow mobile app. “We have created a mobile optimized experience to make mobile sales easier for players.” The key with successful online platforms, especially mobile, is to “make it easy, not flashy,” because many players often wait until the last minute to play their numbers.

 

The Michigan Lottery has spent a lot of time and effort developing its own mobile strategy, one that works despite not being able to sell through the channel as does BCLC. There are three apps at the present time, said Interactive Category Manager Dan Bogus – a brand app and two game-specific apps (for Bingo and Cashword) that offer things like play-for-fun and second chance games. The Lottery also has two mobile websites. “Mobile is the fastest-adopted product in US history,” said Bogus, noting that one-third of the Michigan Lottery’s website traffic comes from mobile devices, and that 51 percent of its Keno to Go games are watched via the Lottery’s mobile apps.

 

The main challenges in using apps come from the reliance upon Google (Android) and Apple to define product development schedules, and the vast number of different kinds of devices available in the market. But that shouldn’t stop lotteries from embracing mobile apps. “You need to think like a media company,” said Bogus. “Recognize the competition in mobile [such as other companies offering lottery result apps] and invest now or pay later [when you lose customers to those other apps].”

 

The Georgia Lottery also recognizes the importance of mobile, but officials there have a long-term plan that has first taken them from offering a limited number of lottery games online through a Players Club beginning November 25, 2012, to the June 2013 launch of an iHOPE prepaid debit card for account-based play at retail or online.

 

The iHOPE cards are purchased at retail, and can be funded with cash, through prize redemption and with bank accounts linked to a Players Club account, explained Jack Dimling, the Lottery’s Vice President of Sales. In addition to purchasing Powerball, Mega Millions and Fantasy 5 games online, the cards can be used to buy any lottery games at retail locations. Branded with the Discover logo, they can also be used to make non-lottery purchases anywhere Discover is accepted.

 

The online experience in Georgia thus far has generated more than 70,000 new Players Club members and more than 20,000 iHOPE cards. Sales have averaged about 0.4 percent of total game sales. But the best is yet to come, said Dimling. The Lottery will launch iKeno in December, play-for-fun games and electronic instant games next Spring, followed by the development of a mobile-focused platform and a loyalty club by late Spring. By next fall, the mobile channel will be more fully developed with the added ability to purchase tickets with mobile devices.

 

Another ambitious online program was summarized by Vernon Kirk, Director of the Delaware Lottery. On October 31, the Lottery was scheduled to launch interactive casino games in partnership with the state’s three racetracks. To develop the first regulated online casino games in the U.S., Delaware wanted “best of breed” vendors to help them, said Kirk. After an RFP process earlier this year, the Lottery chose to award a management contract to Scientific Games International and 888 Holdings.

 

Eventually, Delaware will offer its traditional lottery games online, and is open to forming agreements with other states to allow for multi-state participation – especially in games like poker where liquidity is an important component of success. All speakers addressed the importance of working with the retail industry as interactive efforts move forward. Global experience shows that online sales are always a small portion of a lottery’s total sales, and in almost all cases, retail sales grow even as online sales expand. “The Internet option actually complements a retailer’s business,” said Cameron. Dimling emphasized the importance of getting in front of retailers at the beginning of the process, so they understand what is going on. And in Delaware, part of the legislation authorizing interactive gaming addressed retailer concerns – retailers will sell funding sources such as debit cards, for example.

 

Lottery from a Retail Chain Perspective

 

Retailers were also the focus of a panel discussion featuring representatives from four major chain stores that offer lottery products. Moderated by GTECH’s Vice President of Retail Business Development Sue Strouse, the speakers included Simone Blaakman, Continuous Improvement Support, Wegmans; Lynda Lee Martone, Senior Regional Manager, Cumberland Farms; John Paris, Manager of Treasury Operations, CVS; and Mario Vendittelli, Operations Manager, Colbea Enterprises, which has a chain of Shell-branded gas stations and convenience stores in Rhode Island.

 

CVS uses a variety of models to sell lottery, from over-the-counter sales to self-service kiosks. The two convenience- store chains utilize counter sales, but noted that employee theft is often an issue with instant tickets in particular. Wegmans sells lottery at its customer service counters, but moved instant tickets to vending machines. “We only sell instant tickets with ITVMs now,” said Blaakman. “It has made accountability much better and eliminated theft, and our instant sales went up when we went with only ITVMs.”

 

When asked how lotteries could improve their experiences, there were several suggestions.

 

More information.

 

“We want relevant, action-driven data on what lottery means to our stores,” said Blaakman. That means getting the store’s commission revenues by game and by terminal. “We need to understand the basic income potential of each machine.”

 

Be flexible.

 

“Directors need to be flexible and willing to think about things differently,” said Paris. Blaakman agreed. “We want a successful partnership with lottery and we want lotteries to listen to us when we have ideas.”

 

Standardization.

 

“It’s difficult when there is no standardization in policies and reporting,” said Vendittelli.

 

Provide web-based training.

 

“Web-based training would really help us train our employees,” said Martone. “It’s frustrating for our customers if our employees don’t know how to use lottery.”

 

Do more marketing using digital displays.

 

“Customer monitors have great marketing potential,” said Blaakman. “You can individualize the monitors to each location, announce winners from that store, etc.” Vendittelli added that retailers should be notified right away if they sold a big winning ticket. “Sometimes the media knows before WE do.” The companies are also open to using mobile strategies to help drive business into retail stores.

 

None of these businesses are enthusiastic about current non-cash payment methods. “Lottery is a low margin product for us,” said Martone. “Fees with debit cards and such would erode into that, and we don’t want to spend more money on lottery.” However, everyone agreed that mobile payments systems do hold some potential as long as fees are manageable.

 

Management structures

 

Another hot topic in the lottery industry in recent years is private management, or outsourcing. “Outsourcing sales and marketing is a way to overcome those things that often inhibit growth in a traditional lottery organization,” said Carole Hedinger, Executive Director of the New Jersey Lottery. She participated in a panel discussing new management structures, moderated by Texas Lottery Executive Director Gary Grief.

 

 Although New Jersey was already a well-run lottery, it was felt there was room for improvement. New Jersey signed a contract this fall with Northstar New Jersey for sales and marketing services, and the whole process, including the transition of employees, went more smoothly than expected, said Hedinger. A sales rally marked the jumping off point and got everyone energized. “We wanted to avoid an ‘us versus them’ environment,” she added. “We wanted a partnership.”

 

That was also the goal in Indiana, which required the private company to share the Hoosier Lottery’s facilities and to hire the Lottery’s employees with the same level of benefits for a minimum of one year. “Employee transition came much earlier than required,” said former Hoosier Lottery Executive Director Karl Browning. “And GTECH brought enthusiasm to the business. Most people are happy with it.”

 

Oliver Wyman Consultant Jodi Winnett said that in deciding whether to go down this road, there should be a full assessment of a lottery’s performance and a determination of what it is capable of across all of its operations. “The end goal is integrity and value.”

 

Grief, who has led the Texas Lottery with one outsourcing model for years, emphasized that “both parties need clear goal alignment. Sometimes a contract doesn’t cover everything, and both parties need to do what’s best for the lottery.”

 

The Evolution of Multi-Jurisdictional Games

 

For so many American lotteries, the performance of the two national mega-jackpot games can make or break their financial performance. And these games have had two high-profile years – with a world record Mega Millions jackpot and the move to $2 Powerball that generated several huge jackpots to help drive sales. To help keep the momentum going, Mega Millions launched a new matrix in October with a new prize structure in an effort to rejuvenate the game and build the attention-getting jackpots that drive sales.

 

The new game format was chosen after extensive consumer testing, said Paula Otto, Executive Director of the Virginia Lottery and Lead Director for Mega Millions. There are three major objectives, all of which lead to greater spend, she said:

 

• Bigger jackpots with a 1 in 75 plus 1 in 15 matrix, a 30-year annuity and more money going to the jackpot;

 

• Greater awareness with $1 million second-tier prizes and the potential for $5 million prizes with the Megaplier; and

 

• Greater involvement with more wins for players at lower levels.

 

Of course, successful games create their own challenges. “It’s always the curse of a good year – what to do NEXT year,” said Chuck Strutt, Executive Director of the Multi-State Lottery Association. To that end, MUSL is always looking for new games and new opportunities to balance the mega- jackpot games.

 

There could be several possibilities in the near future, he said, including a multistate version of All or Nothing, progressive keno, Internet poker (as a game of chance), games for the mobile platform and various themed games.

 

But beyond new game ideas, now that Powerball and Mega Millions are true national games there are unprecedented opportunities to develop national promotions on these games, said Cynthia O’Connell, Secretary of the Florida Lottery and Chair of MUSL Marketing and Promotions Committee.

 

“Brand association is important in shaping the portfolio,” she said. Knowing how successful the Florida Lottery has been with in-state Powerball promotions, like the Miami Heat Powerball Playoff Experience, she knows that national promotions will resonate across the country. Several states are participating in the Football Hall of Fame Ultimate Tailgate Party Powerball promotion this fall. “Luxury brands can be associated with national games,” said O’Connell. “We need real collaboration between states.”