Across the lottery industry, game designers, operators, and marketers are keenly focused on the evolving needs of players. In addition, a deep understanding of non-regular players (an aggregation of light-, lapsed-, and non-player segments) can provide a complementary view on how to rethink or refresh aspects of the lottery proposition to help engage wider audiences and ensure the continued health of the lottery industry.
IGT commissioned the 2018 international Attracting New Players study with research firm KS&R to share with lotteries any findings that have the potential to inform approaches to attracting new and particularly younger players to lottery through game design, branding, and more. The study, involving 4,300 participants in five nations, took an extensive look at non-regular players’ behaviors, beliefs, and needs, pointing the way to augmenting lottery offers with different models of game-play, reward, and communication than those that appeal to today’s core players.
A Different Perspective
A three-part white paper series, available for free download at IGT.com/LotteryWhitePapers, highlights data and insights from the study on how the barriers to lottery might become breakthroughs to reaching non-regular player groups.
Part One shares the perspective of non-regular players in their own words through a five-minute video animation, created to ensure the anonymity of the subjects. These sample responses were collected via video diaries that participants recorded on their mobile devices, allowing them to speak directly to researchers from within their own environment and on their own schedule, a qualitative research method that tends to elicit deep and honest feedback.
Part Two of the series examines what non-regular players want from the lottery experience in relation to game-play mechanics and rewards, and what role optimism and good causes play in their attitude toward lottery.
A key finding of Part Two is the existence of a sizable group of non-regular players—estimated to be as high as 249 million globally today—who say they may be willing to consider lottery, but who generally do not rely on luck to accomplish their goals. They can be described as Optimistic Realists. Part Two details many opportunities that lotteries can consider in relation to game-play experiences and rewards to better engage members of this group. It also reveals that one of the most significant barriers for non-regular players is that lottery simply isn’t top of mind for them.
Branding & Communications Challenge
How can lotteries reach these potentially willing, non-regular players with new game experiences, when lottery isn’t in their usual frame of reference? This question is the focus of the recently released Part Three in the series: “Branding and Communications to Reach New Audiences.”
Among the key findings of the study is that nearly half of total respondents (47%) were neutral in their perception of their local lottery brand—neither strongly favorable nor unfavorable. This means there is a valuable opportunity for lotteries to provide non-regular players with reasons to reappraise their relationship with lottery. As the industry knows, generating broader awareness is a major challenge, and yet communicating new game propositions is essential to adoption.
Part Three considers how lotteries might overcome the barriers and speak to non-regular players in a meaningful and motivational way. One approach is to expose new audiences directly to lottery within environments or activities where they naturally spend time. For example, the Texas Lottery sponsors an open-air music event where local bands perform every weekend, reaching a wide mix of demographics and increasing lottery-brand awareness within the attendees’ chosen environment. What’s more, the “Texas Lottery Plaza” outdoor stage is situated within a larger entertainment and lifestyle complex that attracts thousands of additional attendees to enjoy food, movies, and other entertainments, putting lottery into this wider mix.
Among the Action Points outlined in Part Three is for lotteries to collaborate with third-party brands in categories that have particularly strong appeal for non-regular players—such as technology brands—while remaining authentic to the lottery’s purpose.
“By linking up with another brand that non-players already connect with strongly, lotteries have an opportunity to form creative new collaborations or associations that increase non-players’ exposure to lottery and positively influence their perceptions,” explained IGT’s Alisa McKnight, Senior Director, Customer Understanding and Player Insights.
What other opportunities do lotteries have to meet non-regular players in their world and encourage reappraisal? To get the full picture, download your copy of the white paper at IGT.com/LotteryWhitePapers.