Novelty and freshness are top-of-mind at the start of a new year—qualities that are also vital to keep lottery relevant and engage new audiences.
“Lotteries are interested in ways to advance the game experience for players, knowing that even enduringly popular segments like instant games must keep evolving in the face of competition from other forms of entertainment,” says Giancarlo Perrotta, IGT Vice President Global Instant Ticket Innovation.
For this reason, creating all-new play styles and game mechanics has been a particular focus for IGT. One of the unique benefits of the company’s Infinity Instants™ game category, introduced in 2021, is that the printing technology enables never-before-seen play styles and mechanics for instant games. Now, the latest Infinity Instants™ mechanic has entered the market: Linked Wins. These games apply the powerful impact of color and pattern to give players additional ways to win:
- The vivid colors and easily identifiable patterns on the play area simulate features such as progressions, levels, and achievements, which are difficult to execute using traditional imaging.
- Features such as bonuses and multipliers can be awarded when a player matches their numbers to numbers that are part of linked segments hidden beneath the scratch-off coating.
- These “surprises” beneath the coating are revealed as the game is played, creating a novel sense of anticipation and excitement for players.
- The location of the links on the tickets can be randomly distributed across the tickets within a pack, or they can occupy the same location on all tickets.
“The unique flexibility of this mechanic means it can be incorporated into many themes and price points. This gives lotteries the ability to offer a wide range of player experiences for specific player segments,” notes Perrotta. “We are also developing variants of this mechanic that will provide lotteries with even more ways to engage players.”
The Multiplier Effect
In May 2024, Hoosier Lottery became one of the first U.S. lotteries to launch a Linked Wins game, offering it at the $5 price point with a top prize of $100,000.
In addition to winning the prizes shown for matching the player’s numbers to any of the winning numbers, players had the opportunity to multiply their prizes with Linked Wins: When players match both of the numbers in the same colored Linked Section, their prizes are multiplied for that Linked Section according to the game’s legend, printed on the ticket.
“When we were presented with this visual multiplier mechanic, we thought it was an interesting concept that could appeal to Hoosier players looking for a different kind of play experience,” says Jackie Koenig, IGT Indiana Scratch-off Product Manager. “Because the visual multiplier is so unique, we developed a prize structure with a higher percentage of multiplied wins than what we would typically do on the $5 price point—because we wanted players to have the fun of experiencing this aspect of the game,” adds Robert Tharp, IGT Indiana Senior Director, Products & Analytics.
The $5 Linked Wins game launched by Indiana’s Hoosier Lottery in the U.S. attracted the best first week’s single week sales of any $5 game launched since start of Fiscal Year 2024. Additionally, Linked Wins had the highest 10-week total sales in Calendar Year 24.
“Hoosier Lottery players love playing new and exciting games,” says Sarah M. Taylor, Hoosier Lottery Executive Director. “Linked Wins offers a unique play style which allows players to multiply their prizes.”
To add the newness factor to your instant game portfolio with Linked Wins, contact your IGT representative.