At Pollard Banknote, we love a good Crossword game. Our history in the category dates back to 1994, when our Innovations team developed the industry’s first translucent marking system—and we haven’t slowed down since. Over the last 15 years, we’ve produced approximately half of all Crossword games launched in North America, underscoring our longstanding leadership and deep expertise in creating outstanding games in this space.
As Crossword continues to evolve as a category, we are laser-focused on providing innovative, collaborative solutions to our lottery partners to help elevate their current portfolio mix and create new opportunities to add value to the player experience. From concept to launch, we work closely with our lottery partners to ensure every ticket is purpose built—reflecting clear goals and real market needs.
This partnership-driven approach becomes especially valuable when lotteries look to introduce a new price point within a well-established product category like Crossword. Familiar playstyles must be thoughtfully reimagined through collaboration, insights, and creativity to resonate with loyal players while attracting new ones.
Case Study: $30 Million Dollar Crossword
A strong example of this approach is Million Dollar Crossword launched by the Arizona Lottery in 2024. To explore the viability of increasing the price point from $25 to $30, we conducted a North American cross‑market review with the lottery to understand how premium Crossword offerings perform. The key question: Would loyal Arizona Crossword players support a premium tier ticket?
The solution involved a multi-layered product strategy:
- Expanded gameplay through Pollard Banknote’s Play Around™ innovation, which added an additional game grid on the ticket’s reverse side. This extra game grid offered more chances to win and elevated player value without expanding the ticket’s physical footprint.
- High impact visual appeal using Spectrum Scratch FX™, delivering a polished, premium presentation that aligned with the elevated price point.
- 1:1 player engagement through a summer Second Chance promotion, the $500K Giveaway, which drove both retail spending and participation. This initiative was fostered by the Arizona Lottery Players Club and resulted in $5.8M in retail spending over the three months.
- A strengthened prize structure, by increasing the top prize from $500,000 on the $25 ticket to a $1 million grand prize on the new $30 ticket.
Million Dollar Crossword gained traction quickly, reinforcing that players were eager for a premium Crossword experience when paired with thoughtful design and engaging promotional support. Million Dollar Crossword performed 25.8% greater in weekly average sales when compared to the former $25 Crossword scratcher game’s weekly average within its first year.
“Collaborating with the Arizona Lottery to bring their marquee Crossword price point to life was truly a treat. They understood that their loyal Crossword players would demand a premium experience that would ensure their new $30 Crossword game delivered a sustainable performance. Our Pollard Banknote team was privileged to provide insights and recommendations that would deliver on those goals to create a truly outstanding game,” Travis Priest, Director, Sales and Marketing, Pollard Banknote.
A New Core Game Price Point
Arizona’s success with the inaugural $30 Million Dollar Crossword firmly established this game as a staple in their annual strategy. With refreshed visuals rolled out for the 2025 edition and strong momentum behind the category, the foundation is set for continued innovative growth.
Looking ahead, the future is bright: the lottery is exploring new ways to innovate and refresh their premium Crossword offerings in the market. This includes value-adding innovations like EasyPack™—a Pollard Banknote proprietary greeting card-style format ticket that doubles gameplay while remaining fully compatible with standard ITVMs.
Elevating Crossword, Together
We believe that meaningful outcomes are built through partnership. By collaborating closely with our lottery partners, we continue to create instant games that perform in today’s markets while paving the way for future innovation. And while Crossword will always be Crossword, our shared commitment to purposeful design and category‑leading innovation ensures every new evolution—like Arizona’s marquee $30 price point—delivers an engaging, rewarding experience that keeps players coming back.
