12 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 Competing Through Value: Portfolio Management, Retail, and the Future of Lottery Tom Seaver Senior Director, Colorado Lottery Smoothing the Path to Universal Registration Paul Jason: Colorado sits at the crossroads of many forms of gaming. Sports betting is established, casinos have long been part of the market, and new forms of wagering continue to emerge. How do you think about today's competitive environment? Tom Seaver: We have historically thought of gambling options as distinct and separate. Today, all varieties of gambling are so easily accessible to everyone everywhere that players absolutely do not stay in their lane. We know that from our research. Many lottery players participate in sports betting. They visit casinos. Some are beginning to experiment with prediction markets. There is overlap among virtually all forms of gambling, and pretending otherwise does not help us understand our business or respond effectively. That does not mean there are not players who participate exclusively in lottery, particularly among casual players who purchase lower-price-point instant tickets or occasionally buy Powerball when jackpots get large. But our core players frequently participate in multiple forms of gambling, and the reality is that we compete head-to-head with these other forms of recreational gambling. The challenge, however, is not about defending market share or worrying about competition. The challenge is continuing to create value propositions that remain relevant. Scratch products account for roughly seventy percent of Colorado's sales, and those products have to evolve continuously. Different players want different things. Some seek giant jackpots. Others want longer play experiences. Some respond to lifetime-income concepts, while others are attracted to experiential products or entertainment value. No single game will appeal to every player, so we should not aspire to make that happen. The product portfolio has to provide multiple reasons for people to participate. PGRI INTERVIEWS PGRI Introduction: Colorado operates in one of the most competitive gaming markets in North America. Sports betting is firmly established. Casinos have long been part of the landscape. New forms of wagering continue to emerge. Consumers today have more entertainment choices than at any time in history, and lottery now competes not only against other games of chance, but against an entire ecosystem of digital entertainment, sports, gaming, and media. Given those circumstances, it would be easy to spend all our time discussing threats. Sports betting. Prediction markets. Changing demographics. New technologies. The fragmentation of consumer attention. The increasing sophistication of competitors. Tom Seaver certainly recognizes all of those realities. But what makes his perspective especially valuable is that he redirects our attention to what may be the more straightforward and actionable question: How does lottery continue creating value for players? Like the best product managers, Tom speaks less about defending lottery against competitors and more about understanding players, identifying unmet needs, creating compelling experiences, and continuously refining the portfolio. As competition intensifies and consumer behavior continues to evolve, Tom argues that instead of trying to become more like sports betting, casinos, or other forms of gaming, lottery must become better at what lottery does best: understanding players, delivering value, building trust, and creating products that occupy distinct and meaningful positions within the gaming marketplace. In the end, the most interesting thing about this conversation may not be what Tom Seaver says about competition. It is what he says about opportunity.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTg4MTM=