30 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2025 The Lottery Industry is at a Turning Point Lotteries have always been a source of excitement, aspiration, and social good. The dream of a better life is a powerful motivator, and lotteries provide a simple yet thrilling opportunity to turn that dream into reality. At the same time, they fund important societal causes. However, as consumer behaviors change, so too must our industry. As the competition from sports betting and iGaming is heating up, we must keep lotteries fresh, relevant, and engaging. The modern lottery player demands more than just large jackpots. To be successful as an operator, we must address different user needs, appeal to new target groups, and create an experience that resonates with today’s players. Younger generations, particularly digital natives and Gen Z players, have different expectations when it comes to entertainment. Our ability to adapt will determine the future success of the industry. Of course we don’t claim to have all the answers at ZEAL. But what we do have is experience tackling these challenges. We have tested new approaches, learned from our players, and gained insights that have shaped our modernization efforts. From this we have derived insights into how we need to evolve our strategy to ensure that the lottery industry remains relevant and engaging for the next generation. The Challenge: Lottery Must Modernize to Stay Relevant The lottery business model is built on an incredibly strong foundation. The fundamental appeal of dreaming about a better future remains as powerful as ever. The lottery industry is also surprisingly crisis-resistant, as players dream of a better life even in times of crisis. However, despite these advantages, we have faced serious challenges that made us rethink the way we engage players and grow sustainably. One of the biggest challenges has been meeting the expectations of digitalfirst consumers. Today’s players expect the same seamless, engaging experience from lottery platforms as they do from any other online service. We had to ask ourselves how we could improve our offerings to align with these modern expectations. Another critical challenge was the need to expand our audience beyond traditional lottery players. The core lottery demographic is aging, and if we want to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry, we must attract younger and more diverse players, including more women. At the same time, we need to do this without alienating our loyal, long-time players. We also had to find ways to maintain engagement beyond jackpot peaks. High jackpots naturally drive excitement and participation, but what happens when there isn’t a record-breaking prize on the line? How do we keep players interested and engaged even during quieter periods? The E-Commerce Perspective Rather than looking only at our industry for best practices, we turned to e-commerce for inspiration. In today’s world, consumers expect seamless digital interactions. Whether they are shopping, booking vacation, or streaming content online, they demand an intuitive, frictionless, and engaging experience. If we want to attract and retain modern lottery players, we need to adopt the same mindset. One of the key areas we focused on was improving conversion rates. We examined every touchpoint of the player journey and refined the way users interact with our platform. By optimizing the user experience, we made the process of playing the lottery more seamless, intuitive, and engaging. We also embraced personalization. The lottery experience is not one-size-fits-all, so we leveraged data to tailor content, promotions, and game recommendations based on each player’s preferences and habits. This allowed us to create a more individualized experience, increasing both engagement and retention. To support personalization at scale, we implemented automation. Highly efficient processes enable us to segment players dynamically, trigger campaigns at the right moment, and deliver targeted offers. By automating these elements, we ensure that players receive timely and relevant messages, keeping them engaged without overwhelming them. The combination of these strategies has resulted in a lottery experience that feels as dynamic and engaging as any modern digital service. As a result, we could more than double the lifetime value of our customers over the course of the last five years. The Marketing Perspective As we modernized our platform, we saw a fundamental shift in our player base. One of the most striking changes was the rapid growth of first-time lottery players. Many of the people engaging with our platform had never played the lottery before, demonstrating that our efforts to modernize were successfully attracting new audiences. To continue this momentum, we had to evolve our marketing strategy. We adopted a full-funnel approach, meaning we no longer focused on converting immediate Modernizing Lottery Games to Meet Evolving Consumer Expectations Helmut Becker Chief Executive Officer, ZEAL
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