Matthew Butcher of prize insurance provider PIMS-SCA considers the growing popularity of lotteries.
IT seems to me that the online gaming industry may have been bitten by the lottery bug.
If I had a pound for every time I had spoken with someone in the gaming industry in the last 12 months 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, which have launched within the six-month period between September 2012 and March 2013. These have been launched by a very established and popular UK gaming brand and the other by 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 these new launches are just the tip of the iceberg.
So why lottery, and why now? My theory is that the established brands see lottery as not only an additional revenue stream, but also as a way to improve player loyalty and make their site and brand stickier. The main reason being that lottery players tend to be creatures of habit.
A high percentage of lottery players will pick a set of numbers to play for each draw and then stick with them forever. So once they start playing a 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 do come up.
Read the full article in issue 3 of iNTERGAMINGi.
