The WLA and the European Lotteries (EL) Marketing Seminar got under way in Barcelona, Spain, with the theme: Breaking Boundaries: Innovative approaches to traditional marketing challenges.
Moderated by WLA Executive Director Luca Esposito and EL Communications Officer Lucy Lenaers-Mathieson, the event was opened with welcome addresses from WLA President Andreas Kötter and EL President Romana Girandon.
Kötter noted that in an increasingly digitalized world, WLA members face similar challenges around the world that they must overcome, while balancing turnover versus Responsible Gaming, and digitalization versus people in retail outlets. It is therefore of paramount importance that we “maintain our values, our positive social impact and our relevance towards the customer”. He added:
“Success only happens, if we learn from each other, something WLA strongly values, and with events we organize together with our Regional Lottery Association partners, such as this one, we provide our members and the broader lottery and sports betting community the opportunity to do just this.”
The two-day event will look at the trends and technologies that impact the regulated lottery and sports betting industry. Lottery and industry supplier experts will discuss their products, services as well as their different marketing strategies and channels.
Lottery CEO Panel discusses adapting to the shifting landscape
With the topic: Setting the scene: Adapting to a shifting landscape – How to meet market and consumer evolution?, the first lottery CEO panel, moderated by Philippe Vlaemminck, EL Legal Advisor, Vlaemminck law (Belgium), provided interesting insights and perspectives from their markets:
US
Rebecca Paul, President and CEO, Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (US): “Raising funds for good causes and the integrity of our games are things we need to protect as we move into the new age of advertising and different ways to reach our players. We must keep true to our core beliefs and why we are here, which is to raise funds for good causes.”
Europe - Switzerland
Jean-Luc Monet Banet President, CEO Loterie Romande (Switzerland): “… the first thing to take into consideration when marketing a product is the context. This has changed greatly over the past three decades. Now we must consider the ever-evolving legal context, CSR, RG and underage gaming, integrity, money laundering, innovation, digitalization, and AI, to name a few. Understanding the context is essential, the moving context, but we must talk about what we do for good causes.”
Europe - Slovenia
Romana Girandon President/CEO, Loterija Slovenije (Slovenia): “We are digitalizing our PoS. Quite a few are still done physically, but this will make the process simple, faster and more convenient. We have started with lottery products in Lidl (supermarket) at checkouts with their personnel, and without our equipment. We are also looking at how to develop personal ID.”
Africa - Ghana
Samuel Awuku, former Director-General, National Lottery Authority, Ghana and Member of Parliament, Akuapem-North Constituency (Ghana): “On how we meet the market, it is not about what the lottery body or company wants to sell to the public, it is about what they (the public) want to see.”
Expanding on his previous experience at the NLA, Awuku emphasized the need to dig deeper on what was meant by society, explaining that the players should know, that whether they win or lose they benefit, which means ultimately, something was done in their locality.
“We need to define what lottery means. In Europe and North America and around the world, the focus of lotteries is not on profit, but the charter of good causes and the benefits to society, humanity and the players.”
He added that during his time at the NLA, there was a shift away from the general advertising of the lottery, to the concept of communities in their different forms around the country.
WLA
Rebecca Paul, former WLA President, underscored the importance of global meetings and exchange within the global community of regulated lottery and sports betting industry: “… organizations like the WLA and EL, provide the opportunity to share what we do on a global level and the impact on society and each jurisdiction reaches differently to their public about their good causes. Some places it (monies raised) go to a general revenue fund, other times it goes to a specific cause, such as Education in Tennessee. What’s important, is to learn from one another and look at the global impact we have, like the USD 90 billion that has made a difference in every part of the world.”
Regarding digitalization of the industry, including influencers and their impact on minors, and the reach of personal advertising, as well as upcoming discussion in Brussel at the EU Parliament about protecting minors, the question was asked: Is protecting minors in the digital environment, a matter for the WLA and something that requires more focus?
Rebecca Paul: “Lynne Roiter was President of Loto Québec at the time that the WLA CSR Committee was established, and the first campaign that is now global for not giving lotto tickets as Christmas presents to children, which was just the start. That is one of the ways that WLA has been a leader in CSR and trying to protect minors.”
