12 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2026 Continued on page 39 “product” options created more competition in this nascent space. The massive news industry that exists today went from 0 to 60 in like ten years. So it may be misguided to assume that can’t happen in the games-ofchance industry. Today, it’s the mechanisms of capturing attention and engagement that matter as much as the content itself. The mechanisms that enable instant and always-on access, hyper-targeting and personalization, and digital relationship-building are changing the competitive landscape. Another part is geography and convenience. Years ago, certain entertainment choices required commitment: you got on a plane to go to Las Vegas; you traveled to a casino destination. Today, most people are within an easy drive from a casino. Or you don’t drive at all; you simply turn to your mobile phone to open an app. That incredible convenience collapses barriers between categories, minimizing friction that used to impede players from migrating across game categories and channels of distribution. That can blur brand loyalty across consumer-facing industries. Gambling has been de-stigmatized. Now, casino gambling and sports betting are a mainstream entertainment commodity. That shift doesn’t just create new customers for new operators; it changes the baseline of consumer expectations for all of us. Lotteries are revisiting some of the old assumptions. Like “some people are lottery people and don’t go to casinos or bet on sports and everyone pretty much stays in their lanes” may be less true than it once was. As lanes get blurrier, the rate of change gets faster through social channels, media, and technology platforms. So yes, the competitive landscape is different now. It just means we need to be realistic about the threats to our bond with the largest customer base in the gamesof-chance industry. We will need to be bolder and more strategic in defending our business against these mounting competitive threats. Every brand, every business, every consumerfacing enterprise lives or dies on remaining relevant to the lives and preferences of its customers. The lottery has a strong foundation because our relevance is real and visible, and our product has enduring appeal. Beneficiaries are all around us; retailers and players are all around us; our impact is measurable and public. But we also know that history isn’t destiny. Relevance has to be refreshed to be maintained. And it has to be communicated in ways that land with the modern audience and next generation of players. We should also recognize that our competitors are highly capable. Sports betting operators, digital gaming platforms, and new forms of gray-market competition are extremely sophisticated in player acquisition, data science, personalization and nurturing a digital relationship, and delivering a satisfying user experience. We need to act now to avoid losing players at the margins and raise our own standards of player acquisition and retention. That’s why the “Oldsmobile” analogy matters to me. The point of that campaign wasn’t that the company stopped making cars. The point was perception: this isn’t the product you assume it is based on outmoded impressions. It’s fresh. It’s current. It fits your identity and how you want to be perceived now. That is the challenge for lotteries, especially with younger audiences. When you look at lottery’s competitors in the games-of-chance sector, what are they doing especially well, and what could lotteries learn from them? B. Rockey: Notice how other gaming and entertainment businesses diversified their value proposition. The modern casino is an experience beyond gaming that includes shows, restaurants, architecture, destination travel, luxury, climate, nightlife, “exotic fun.” You can walk into a casino and be entertained and feel the energy even if you never gamble. Sports evolved similarly. The modern NFL game experience is not what it was thirty years ago, or even ten years ago. Stadiums are multi-billion-dollar entertainment complexes because the product is not merely the game. It’s the event, the identity, the culture. And sports betting, for better or worse, has added another big layer of engagement. It changed fandom by adding stakes, micro-moments, prop bets, social gaming and a feeling of participation with the in-crowd. The lesson isn’t “lotteries should copy casinos” or “lotteries should copy sports betting.” The lesson is that consumers increasingly buy experiences and identity, not merely transactions or even the chance to win a life-changing event. They buy a feeling. They buy a story. They buy membership and the sense of belonging and participating in a community of likeminded enthusiasts. That’s true in everyday consumer categories, too. Soft drink marketers don’t just sell sugar water. They sell symbolism and emotion. Coffee companies don’t sell caffeine; they sell ritual: “five minutes of me time,” an escape, a vibe. Fast food brands create scarcity moments and cultural buzz around products that everyone knows are essentially the same category. None of that happens by accident. It’s research, strategy, messaging, and the vision to think bigger than the literal product you’re selling. Lotteries have a major advantage here: we have a decades-old relationship with our customers. We know our players in ways that most competitors don’t. Our retail network is a formidable competitive advantage. Lottery websites have an extraordinary level of visibility and engagement. Our loyalty programs and responsible gaming practices set us apart as well. And we have the most unique and proprietary “why.” We exist to create beneficiary impact. Our very reason for being is to return material value to the public. That could be the foundation of how we think about modernizing lottery: focusing as much on brand meaning and story as on product. There’s always a balancing act between customer acquisition and customer retention: “We also know that history isn’t destiny. Relevance has to be communicated in ways that land with the modern audience and next generation of players.”
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