In her La Fleur’s Magazine interview about FY23 developments, Kelly T. Gee, Director of Virginia Lottery, said the agency’s structure is being transformed.
“As we planned for a new fiscal year, we put a strategic focus on combining our three revenue-driving departments together. Sales, Marketing and Digital now operate under one umbrella led by Deputy Executive Director of the Lottery Rob Wesley. This structural adjustment allows us to align priorities more closely and put a sharp focus on front-end planning. A consolidation like this also allows us to look at roles and responsibilities, making sure each employee is focusing on the ‘right’ things, and provides for the opportunity to both promote and hire for some key management roles,” said Gee.
On the retail front, Virginia Lottery’s goal is to leverage its partnerships in the best way. “After all, if our focus is with the intent to create win-win, profitable relationships, we have the potential for 5,300+ advocates!” she stressed.
In FY23, Virginia Lottery will continue to test digital menu boards and digital playcenters. “As with any new investment, we’ll be closely monitoring which retail style will have the most positive ROI. We’re also looking to expand draw game-only vending machines in an effort to support Keno-focused retail expansion into non-traditional retail and entertainment destinations. Virginia launched Keno in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic so, not surprisingly, there were some obstacles to bringing those retail styles on board. We all know that there continue to be challenges in the marketplace with hiring and retaining staff, so vending solutions may be more appealing and support our strategic goal of recruiting 300 new retailers this next year,” said Gee.
A major marketing development is the lottery’s launch of its first $50 scratcher—$326,000,000 Fortune— on October 4, 2022. “We will have a heightened focus on overall Scratcher playership. While the industry saw an increase in playership during the pandemic, Virginia experienced a decrease in monthly and past 12-month play. Our goal is to return to pre-COVID playership levels by the end of FY23. We don’t want our overall growth to rely solely on the small percentage of our core players who we know will almost always buy at higher price points. Instead, we look to balance the strong growth we’ve seen at higher price points with the broader customer appeal and play at lower price points. These activities do not need to be mutually exclusive of one another, rather these are goals we can align in parallel,” said Gee.
* The Lottery’s first $50 Scratcher, $326,000,000 Fortune, launched on October 4, 2022. The entire game is loaded with prizes ranging from $100 to $600 and features over $326,000,000 in total cash prizes.