Global lottery executives discussed the challenges ahead for the lottery industry in the afternoon panel. The panel included representatives from Australia, Europe and North America.
“Our biggest challenge is ourselves. If we sit by idly, we will be disrupted just like taxis with Uber or hotels with Airbnb. We do not have a burning fire under us so we have to light our on,” Lightbody said. “We have a great distribution channel. Now we need to deliver mobile content. We will have work with new suppliers. One came into my office and said the majority of mobile companies won’t be around in 18 months so if it takes six months to get an appointment and 12 months to implement we may not be around. We have to change the way we do business.”
“I worry about cybersecurity. I think that is a danger to the lottery industry,” Duncan said. “Also, with respect to cultural transformation, I believe there is a balance to be struck between traditional integrity and reliability and marry that with best practices for digital startup. It is about blending the best of both worlds.”
“We need to focus more on recruiting 18 to 35 year old players. The main challenge is balancing the speed of innovation in all the areas of the company. Some areas are moving rapidly. Other areas are not. We need to change the mindset to continuous improvement,” Blyau said.
“We are looking for ways to get into the digital channel. Most are in that space now. Why have ideas that we can do now that are not getting into the market because of resource and priority constraints? All of our five divisions are competing for innovations. The door is not wide enough to all the things that everybody wants to do. The lottery area is really suffering,” McKenzie said.
“We have to create enthusiasm from young players. We have increase the speed at which we innovate. We need a sense of urgency. Regulations are a barrier to that. In iGaming we have a quite flexible platform. Traditional games are more regulated. We need the capabilities to deliver content. We need a broader partnership platform than before,” Ringsvold said.
“For us, the biggest challenge is communications. Australia is a vast county with ‘black spots’ where (it is hard to access). We also have long distances which is a challenge to service retailers,” Andrew said.
