Atlantic Lottery’s sports betting brand ProLine has been shattering sales records all winter long, culminating with this year’s Super Bowl.
Super Bowl Sunday saw bettors place $861,000 in wagers, a 48% increase over ProLine’s previous single-day sales record of $583,000. For that seven-day reporting period, ProLine achieved its first $2-million sales week, along with its first $1-million internet sales week. The $2-million sales week was a 54% increase over the previous record of $1.3 million in sales attained during the week of the 2020 Super Bowl.
While the Super Bowl was a major betting event that contributed to the record sales week, the real driver of success was the modernization of the ProLine experience both online and at retail locations just over two years ago.
Prior to the launch of ProLine’s new mobile responsive website, digital sales made up only 16% of all sports betting revenue. Thanks to a player-friendly online interface designed around player feedback, matched with QR capability for easier transactions at retail, nearly 70% of all sales are now digital. In just over two years, ProLine nearly doubled an online customer base that had taken 14 years to build to that point. Per capita, Atlantic Lottery ranks first for active online sports bettors in Canada.
ProLine was also integrated into Atlantic Lottery’s new mobile app experience in December 2020, contributing to an even larger sales lift moving into 2021.
“We eliminated many competitive gaps with our offerings to complement the changes to our site, making sure that players had an attractive, legal and regulated alternative to unlicensed offshore operators,” said Scott Eagles, Sports Betting Manager, Atlantic Lottery. “Some players still lacked awareness of how much we’ve evolved, so we also launched what has been a highly effective ad campaign to reimage our brand.”
Projections suggest ProLine will set a new fiscal sales record, with a 70% lift in online revenue over the previous year—a particularly impressive accomplishment considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sporting schedule for large portions of the past 12 months.
“We listened to our players about what’s important to them and created our own sports betting experience with highly skilled resources right here at Atlantic Lottery,” Eagles said. “Our success shows no signs of slowing anytime soon, but that won’t stop us from making more improvements and striving to please our player base even further.”
Atlantic Lottery is also running a new ProLine advertising campaign which promotes digital and mobile app play for its sports betting product line.
The Maryland Lottery’s new Play Responsibly campaign launched on March 8 to coincide with Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM).
In the past, the lottery used straightforward messaging that reminds people to play responsibly. This year the lottery embraced a refreshingly upbeat tone which it believes will encourage those who think they may have a gambling problem to seek resources available to Marylanders at no cost.
The new Play Responsibly campaign remains true to Maryland Lottery’s core branding by showcasing a variety of lottery games with images of people enjoying them.
But the consistent message throughout the campaign is that even with all of these options, there is still only one way to play—responsibly. Each ad clearly displays website and helpline phone number information, encouraging people to seek assistance if they need it.
“This campaign reinforces the responsible play message without losing sight of the Maryland Lottery brand, which is about having fun,” said Leo Mamorsky, Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer, Maryland Lottery.
While previous Maryland Lottery PGAM campaigns used pre-produced content from local and national responsible play sources, this year the Maryland Lottery worked with its creative agency, Baltimore-based GKV, to create original content in order to shift to positive, more relatable messaging.
The current campaign includes a 15-second television commercial, a 30-second radio commercial, digital billboards, social media posts and the Lottery’s website.
Creative assets use familiar elements like Maryland Lottery’s draw game tickets and scratch-offs, as well as its new Play Responsibly logo, which incorporates the Lottery’s trademark “L” starburst logo.
“We are really excited about this approach,” said Jill Baer, Director of Creative Services. “I love the positive play messaging. It’s a complete departure from past responsible gaming campaigns.”
The Play Responsibly campaign was a collaborative effort, with participation from a number of departments, including Creative Services, Communications and Sales. Members of these departments continue to work together to develop new ways to improve its responsible gaming efforts.
The Play Responsibly campaign will continue beyond Problem Gambling Awareness Month, becoming an integral part of Maryland Lottery’s commitment to responsible gaming and a culture of corporate social responsibility.