2016 saw the lottery industry pull in an impressive $80 billion in revenue, in recent times, however, and on the backdrop of a seemingly disengaged target audience, this revenue base looks set to plunge. The problem is quite straightforward – younger generations particularly millennials (aged 20- 25) are not spending as much time on lotteries as their parents did. Recent statistics put it that only one in ever every three millennial purchased a lottery ticket last year. This prevailing reality where the former target audience (baby boomers) age out and millennials shy out has put the lottery business in a precarious situation. It’s now a case of getting innovative real fast or get booted out and as you would expect most lottery agencies have opted for the former.
Technology as the primary driving force
In a bold and proactive move to reach out to the millennials, most lottery agencies the likes of Multilotto have opted to develop mobile app solutions that allow users the opportunity to partake in vetted lotteries from their smartphones. It’s no longer news that millennials are the smartphone generation, and this is exactly what these companies plan to exploit. Coupled with a tacitly woven marketing campaign the goal is to incorporate several in-app rewards and bonuses that attract more millennials to the lottery scene. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing though. Apart from the numerous hurdles faced in developing efficient app solutions, these companies also have to surmount problems with state licensing and countless other legislation. So far, however, they’ve managed to surpass these limitations.
Providing Engaging and interactive content
Away from technology, one other critical aspect the lottery scene that needs some tending to is that of content development. Millennials are by default more demanding than their baby boomer counterparts, and as a result, companies looking to make significant headway must first invest in the development of quality content. Newer lottery products and games that capture the imagination of millennials must be introduced into the lottery scene. Measure to disperse this content to the new audience adequately must also be concurrently implemented. It’s of no use developing content that fails to reach the target audience, and speaking of reaching the target audience:
The industry has to commit more resources to marketing
The importance of marketing in not just the lottery scene, but every other industry cannot be overemphasized. Like was stated earlier, its one thing to develop attractive content but delivering this said content to the end user is a different ball game altogether. Effective marketing strategies that assure content exposure and assimilation must be put in place else companies run the risk of making waste of what is otherwise quality content. To this regard, most lottery agencies like multilotto are already recruiting newer styled content and advertising managers to better connect with millennials.
Provided these companies stick to this newer blueprint they stand a high chance of overturning the doomsday-isque revenue drop predictions and hopefully with time the industry should get back on the front foot.