The Forum concluded with a panel on the big takeaways from the conference that examined key trends, lottery challenges and solutions, consumer marketing and retail innovation.
“If we really want to be great at doing business then we have got to be one of the 3% of successful organizations that can be ambidextrous. What I mean by that is we need to be great at exploiting our current business . . . At the same time we’ve got to be great at exploring and doing things different,” BCLC’s Lightbody said.
“I think one of the most important things we can do is to learn to fail smartly so you can have a viable products. Failures have taught our organization so much,” ALC’s Scrimshaw said. “Willingness to take risks has to be demonstrated in our core businesses.”
“We need to have a timeline. We need to figure out what we’re going to do on API and on cashless (payments). Those are issues that are really presenting themselves to all the lotteries,” Missouri Lottery’s Scheve Reardon said.
“Unless we have an action plan with identifiable timelines and goals as a united collaborated group of states working together, we just can’t get there,” Texas Lottery’s Grief said.
“There’s more commonality between us than differences. I’ve worked around the world and I’ve seen it in different businesses where people focus on the differences and we have got to focus on the commonalities because I can tell you, there’s more about our customers and about our markets that’s similar than different,” OLG’s Montgomery said. “If we really want to transform this business and make a difference, that’s what we need to do. It’s the power of all of us working on solving. We all have the same problem.”
“To me the big takeaway is that as an industry, we all have the same challenges. I think when you look at the kinds of trends that are impacting our business and impacting the marketplace, the solutions are going to be—if not identical—very, very similar,” BCLC’s Gass concluded.
