26 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 Entertainment, Not Channels: Building Lottery Experiences for Digital-Native Players Matthew Lynch President of Digital, Scientific Games Paul Jason: Lottery players don’t think about a journey across multiple channels. They want an entertaining play experience. As an example, Scientific Games’ omnichannel JURASSIC WORLD products. Can you talk about the importance of this for the next generation of gamers, and what’s in the pipeline to appeal to the lifestyle and entertainment preferences of digital natives? Matt Lynch: Absolutely. When you look at the player experience, two forces really matter today. The first is convenience – enabling players to engage however, whenever and wherever they want. The second is experience – bringing more to the table in terms of entertainment, rewards and content depth. Both are critical as the lottery industry competes for players’ attention and wallets in an increasingly omnichannel world. Scientific Games is creating immersive, omnichannel brand experiences with the player at the center, and our collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences to design and produce JURASSIC WORLD-themed digital and retail lottery games is a great example. Highly recognizable, trusted brands allow us to design adjacent but connected gaming experiences across retail and digital channels for all types of players. The blockbuster instant scratch games are delivering powerful results, with sales up to 161% higher than other games at the same price point in the market. Beyond retail and digital game play, we introduced a JURASSIC WORLD-themed Linked Game. Players can enter a digital secondchance drawing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii, where the original JURASSIC PARK was filmed. Winners from 20 participating U.S. lotteries will enjoy multiple days of themed experiences topped off with the $1,000,000 JACKPOT CHALLENGE, where each trip winner has a chance to win up to $1 million. We recently wrapped an equally exciting event, THE SEVEN KINGDOMS EXPERIENCE. Nearly 100 winners and their guests traveled to a medieval-style castle in Napa, California to take part in a GAME OF THRONES-themed immersive trip that included a jousting tournament, curated tours and an exciting cash prize event. I talked to many players during the event, and their feedback was unanimous: it was an unforgettable experience. Beyond the more than $1.69 million in prizes collectively won, it was the kind of experience that simply cannot be replicated. Looking ahead, we’re continuing to build a pipeline of omnichannel content around both our proprietary brands and licensed brands. That includes more experiences that are complementary and connected across every channel, designed cohesively rather than as standalone retail or digital products. Ultimately, the goal is to energize players and give them the freedom to play where and when they prefer, with deeper engagement that matches the lifestyle and entertainment expectations of digital-native consumers. The extended-play category has grown by 32% and now represents 18.3% of U.S. lottery sales. Could you talk about this trend? M. Lynch: Enthusiasm for extended-play games, whether crossword, bingo, etc., ties back to something very human: nostalgia and engagement. These games bring real-life experiences into instant scratch games or digital formats in a simple, fun way. Extended play products offer a bit more cognitive engagement – beyond a quick scratch and easy win or a click and win. They ask players to “connect the dots,” which increases immersion, anticipation and enjoyment. PGRI INTERVIEWS PGRI Introduction: Matt joined Scientific Games’ Executive Leadership Team in October of 2024, bringing more than 20 years of digital leadership from roles at Amazon, Samsung, Symantec and Firework. An e-commerce expert in subscription and marketplace-driven businesses, Matt is now focused on scaling Scientific Games’ digital solutions to support Scientific Games’ 150 lottery customers—including 30 iLottery customers— in 50 countries around the globe, providing games, technologies, analytics and services that responsibly drive maximum returns to their beneficiary programs.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTg4MTM=