The New Hampshire Lottery has been authorized to sell over the internet. The authorization for selling online came with the new state budget for fiscal years 2018-2019, but it was quite a surprise for the lottery.
“It was a shock! Each year we are asked how we can increase sales and thus the net profit earmarked for public education here in New Hampshire and there are always a number of concepts, ideas, suggestions on our radar,” Charlie McIntyre, Executive Director, New Hampshire Lottery said.
The plan is to begin selling online in early 2018. “We do expect to have all of our current products on sale,” he added.
With online gaming comes the hope of new players. “We do expect the iGaming product to shift the demographic of overall lottery play younger—not a seismic shift by any means but we will see movement. And we do expect that younger demo to try iGaming since they are so heavily and well versed in gaming on their mobile devices,” McIntyre said.
While the lottery isn’t expecting a huge shift, having the ability to sell online with new types of games is necessary. “We’ve really been selling the same type of ticket since 1964. We have sold that product well in over five decades and we expect, through our retail base of about 1,300 businesses throughout New Hampshire, that our traditional products will continue to sell well. It’s time we move ahead and we are looking forward to the technology that accompanies iGaming and prospect of offering an entertaining product online.”
The New Hampshire Lottery wants to remind their retailers though that they are not being forgotten. Even though the lottery sells online subscriptions, Ninety-five percent of their business comes through retailers. “The last thing on earth I want to do is hurt those folks,” he said in the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The past few months have been quite kind to the New Hampshire Lottery in terms of new tools. Not only will New Hampshire Lottery will be able to sell online, but they will also start selling Keno in 2018 as well. Keno is expected to launch first. “As you know, we are also launching Keno in pouring establishments here in FY 18 and that won’t be a part of the online portfolio,” McIntyre said.