As more lotteries consider launching IGT’s Cash Pop™ draw-based game, often the first thing they want to know is the profile and habits of potential players. With the game now live in 10 U.S. markets—in many cases for a year or longer—and launches upcoming this year in Washington and Maine, IGT invested in a multistate attitude and usage study of more than 1,750 Cash Pop players across six jurisdictions, fielded with partner Russell Research, to share the findings with the industry. Here are some key insights about Cash Pop enthusiasts to support new-launch strategies or inform refinements where the game is already in-market:
Pop Profile
Cash Pop players’ demographic profile reveals a notable finding: The average age of all players surveyed is 43—and closer to 40 years old for Frequent Players (denoted with parentheses in the Profile graphic below). By contrast, the average age of draw-based game players is typically closer to 50. “Cash Pop’s appeal to those 10 years younger than the average is something we were interested to see because it counters the perception that lottery is attractive only to older players,” said Gerard Caro, IGT Senior Director, Global Lottery Marketing Insights.
Cash Pop players tend to be male, Caucasian, college educated, and with higher average household incomes. Frequent Players—the largest player segment—skew even higher for the latter two demographic segments, and also tend to live in urban communities and have the largest families.
Impact on Lottery Spend
Among all respondents who have tried the game, 46% indicated that they have increased their overall lottery spend, and nearly three-fifths (58%) of Frequent Cash Pop Players said they increased their overall lottery spend.
When respondents in the six states were surveyed about the impact of Cash Pop on other lottery games, “most of the stated decrease in lottery play was with games such as keno and annuity games, which younger-adult players tend to choose,” said Sarah Walker, IGT Senior Director Draw-Based Games Portfolio Strategy. A smaller net decrease in frequency of play was observed on fast play and numbers games, while there was a positive net impact on scratch and jackpot games (both multistate and in-state), and iLottery.
Pop Star Qualities
- Keeping in mind that states offer different frequencies of Cash Pop drawings: On average, consumers play the game approximately 2.4 times per day, with Frequent Players closer to three times per day. This supports IGT’s recommendation to offer the game with a draw frequency of two to five times per day.
- The average stated “pops” (numbers) played per drawing is 4.1—and 4.7 among Frequent Players. One-quarter of players exclusively played a single number per drawing, with “not wanting to spend more money” representing the primary driver for limiting their pops played.
- However, another breakout finding is that, among players who only play one number, 37% of respondents “didn’t know they could play more than one number—or how to ask for more than one number.”
“These findings point to the importance of educating players and retailers that consumers can play more numbers to improve their odds and winnability,” said Walker. “Those who play only one number likely aren’t getting the best experience, and it’s no wonder that Lapsed Players, more than any other group, reported playing only one number most often.” After the launch and trial period, lotteries have an opportunity to pivot player messaging to instruct on more strategic play opportunities and provide for better odds, prizes, and frequency of win, as the lotteries in South Carolina and New Jersey have done.
- 45% of players track the winning Cash Pop numbers, increasing to 59% among Frequent Players.
- 45% of Cash Pop players always choose their own number, with 42% of respondents consistently changing the number(s) that they play. Fewer than one-fourth of players (23%) consistently play the same number.
“While the fact that Cash Pop players primarily choose their own numbers is very similar to numbers and keno games, the behavior of continuously changing up the number(s) played is very different from what is typically seen with those games,” noted Walker. “When you look at how players engage with Cash Pop and how they pay attention to it—it’s not a passive activity. It’s providing them with a new aspect of draw-game engagement.”
Value Pop-osition
The study asked players how they’d explain Cash Pop to a friend, giving them selling points to rank. “It’s not surprising that ‘only needing to match one pop to win’ represents the most motivating value proposition for Cash Pop,” said Walker. “The game is easy to understand.” When describing the game to a friend, players also cited frequency of draw/multiple opportunities to win.
But when players were asked a slightly different question—“What motivates you to play”—and given the same options, the response “the prizes I win in this game are better than other lottery games” moved up to third place from fifth. “We were happy to see this finding,” said Walker, “because a key consideration in our design of the game was to provide a satisfying winning experience by having minimum wins be 5X your wager and allocating a lot of the prize money to more winnable prize tiers, as opposed to the top prize.”
Game Enhancements
Adding a $20 price point, an instant-win feature, and a hot-and-cold numbers feature all tested fairly well among respondents, with an instant-win feature testing the best. “These are some potential evolutions of the game that IGT could make happen relatively quickly for customers,” said Walker.
The study also tested two new IGT patent-pending game options—not add-ons to Cash Pop, but complementary games: Add ‘em Up and Gimme 5. “Both resulted in very positive feedback and nearly identical performance, with Gimme 5 just edging out Add ‘em Up among the Frequent Player group,” said Caro. “It was good to see that there’s appetite for these new games,” said Walker, noting that both are now available to interested lotteries.
Add some Pop to your portfolio! Contact your IGT account representative. To learn more about the research, contact Gerard.Caro@IGT.com.
States included in the survey: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Virginia. Data for the study was collected via an online survey methodology, with respondents drawn from third-party consumer panels. Data was collected from May 5 to May 23, 2023. Respondents were categorized within the following three Cash Pop player segments: Frequent Players, who play Cash Pop at least once or twice per week; Occasional Players, who play Cash Pop one to four times per month; and Lapsed Players, who have played Cash Pop at least once, but not monthly.