By Byron LaFleur, CEO & Editor
Retail remains the lottery industry’s most important acquisition channel, but it is also one of the most crowded and contested categories in the store. Connecting with players at retail also means connecting with retailers in ways that feel practical, personal, and mutually beneficial. Arizona Lottery’s Chris Rogers noted that retailers are “facing some headwinds,” so Arizona focused on small operational touchpoints that show up where retailers live, on the counter and in the back room. During holiday distribution, for example, the Lottery added branded elements to shipment packaging and included a direct message to the clerk who would open the box.
Arizona’s research put the average age of a first-time lottery participant between 27 and 34, and Rogers said appealing to that audience “has to go just beyond games.” That insight helped shape the Arizona Lottery’s “Love the Play” platform, designed to carry a broader message for both players and stakeholders while keeping media spend efficient. The goal is to build awareness that is already in place when players walk into retail.
Once awareness exists, the next job is converting it into store trips and purchases that matter to retail partners. Rogers put it plainly, “driving our next gen players to purchase is critical for our relationships with our retail partners.” He also drew a clear contrast in what motivates different segments: “older players are more likely to purchase when the jackpots are higher, but younger players are more likely to be motivated by promotions and stories about people winning and social engagement.” Arizona’s Players Club became the engine for that approach, including a Cobblestone car wash promotion that generated more than 425,000 entries from 20,000 participants, plus partnerships like Circle K’s “free gas for a year,” positioned as a high-interest prize with obvious retail relevance.
The final lever is in-store influence, the moment of truth that turns a shopper into a player. Rogers described a deliberate shift “from awareness to more retail advertising,” with retail advertising slated to be “about 22% of our, of our holiday campaign buy.” Arizona is also testing digital signage and new display placements to catch shoppers at the right moment, including a push to “drive purchase from line of sight from the gas pump, into the c-store,” a tactic aimed at countering traffic declines as more EV drivers bypass the store. Results from one test were strong enough to justify expansion, with sales averaging a 27.4% lift during the test period versus 2.7% in control stores. For lotteries, the playbook is becoming clearer: build a brand platform that resonates with new players, then use loyalty, retail partnerships, and measurable in-store triggers to translate that resonance into retail performance.