It seems to me that the online gaming industry may well have been bitten by the lottery bug.
If I had £1 for every time in the last 12 months I’ve spoken with someone in the gaming industry about their plans to create a new lottery-style product, well, I would still need to play the lottery to get rich! But the number of lottery related enquiries is definitely on the increase.
PIMS-SCA has provided jackpot insurance for two brand new lottery products that have launched within a six-month period between September 2012 and March 2013.
These lottery products have been launched by a very established and popular UK gaming brand and the other a new gaming start-up.
Based on the number of lottery-related enquiries that I have received since last summer from both big brands and start ups, I would say that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
So why lottery and why now?
My theory is that the established brands see this not only as an additional revenue stream, but also as a way to improve player loyalty and make their site and brand more sticky; the reason being that lottery players tend to be creatures of habit.
A good percentage of lottery players will pick a set of numbers to play for each draw and then stick with them. Once they start playing that set of numbers, they want to make sure that they have those numbers entered into each draw. The player does not want to miss out, just in case their numbers come up!
So launching a lottery product is potentially another great way to keep players coming back to your site and spending money.
Another reason that I believe lotteries are growing in popularity among online gaming brands is the size of the jackpots. Big jackpots tend to attract players, therefore a site offering a lottery game that has a jackpot in excess of say €10m has an easy hook with which to attract people.
Carry out a Google search for lottery and there are hundreds of sites that seem to offer you the opportunity to buy an entry into the big global state and national lotteries, such as Euromillions, Mega Millions, Superenalotto, German 6/49 and so on.
But the majority of these sites do not have much brand presence or knowledge within the mass market. They don’t seem to be running big advertising campaigns or making a lot of noise. To most players there may be a lack of trust with these small lottery brands and brokers. So the players stick to what they know; they play their local country lottery.
This is where the opportunity lies for established and trusted gaming brands. If they launch a lottery product, they have an existing player base and the potential to attract more customers with the big jackpots that a lottery could provide.
Matt Butcher, director of leading prize insurance provider PIMS-SCA, has successfully developed the gaming and promotional marketing areas of the business. His main focus is to create new and long-standing relationships in the gaming industry while tailoring unique risk management solutions to clients’ individual needs.
