In his La Fleur’s Magazine interview about FY23 developments, Matt Strawn, CEO of Iowa Lottery Authority, talked about retail expansion, new players promotions, and evolving price points .
“Leading the way in FY23 is an effort to broaden our retailer base through licensing of major national retailers, including over 50 statewide Walmart supercenters. Iowa Lottery sales began mid-July in Walmart stores, with full installation of debit-card enabled lottery vending machines across all Walmart locations completed by the end of August,” said Strawn.
The lottery is also focused on increasing distribution channels in existing Iowa Lottery retail location. “The Iowa Lottery is working with Abacus Solutions, Scientific Games, and a number of our retail partners to enable in-lane lottery sales of select draw games. We anticipate initial in-lane sales offerings to include receipt-print Powerball and MegaMillions tickets,” explained Strawn.
Strawn also stressed the importance of balancing Iowa Lottery’s cash prizes with experiential opportunities. “This Fall, for example, University of Iowa Hawkeye football fans can win opportunities to enjoy now sold-out games from the comfort of the Lottery’s exclusive Ironmen Suite at historic Kinnick Stadium. We didn’t forget Iowa State Cyclone football fans either, as we recently launched ‘Fly with Cy,’ a promotion that includes private air travel to Austin, Texas and other first-class amenities for the Cyclones’ October game with the University of Texas. At the risk of revealing too many details, other major FY23 promotions will include VIP suite opportunities in March for the NCAA Men’s Basketball 1st and 2nd round tournament games in Des Moines and offering our players the chance to ‘Live Lucky with Luke Combs,’” he said.
Price points will also evolve for multiple games in FY23. The lottery will launch a $30 progressive jackpot InstaPlay game. “The Iowa Lottery was among the earliest to bring a ‘fastplay’ style terminal game to market, branded as ‘InstaPlay’ and launched in our jurisdiction during FY17. As the product category has matured, so too have player expectations. Accordingly, the Iowa Lottery will introduce a $30 price point in the game during FY23,” said Strawn.