Operators Want to Digitize the US National and State Lottery

By Jessica Whitehouse,
Editor at online-gambling.com

Jessica Whitehouse Editor at online-gambling.com

Jessica Whitehouse is a content expert and editor from Santa Monica, California. At online-gambling.com, she focuses on roulette, blackjack reviews, lottery, and casino payments. Whitehouse is also our leading go-to expert in online gambling in South Africa. In addition, she provides the photo materials for most articles on the site.

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Last updated: September 16, 2020

Lottery operators in the United States are asking state officials to digitize the sale of lottery tickets.

Just a few states have been able to deliver automated batch transactions lawfully in their respective lock-ups in recent months: Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Virginia. Several of these states have announced their online ticket sales have risen, with New Hampshire recording a first-time online leap of 38%.

All the other states need players to buy a lottery ticket in person at a store location, and the pandemic has led both prices and profits to plunge.

While a number of leading lottery figures in the US are now ready to move online, government administrators will need regulatory reforms before the transition is made. Without these policy reforms, the US economy will be lagging behind the rest of the world since LATAM, Africa, Asia, and Australia are now technically capable of online trading.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, state lottery operators are now more interested in new technologies than ever because the pandemic has obviously illustrated the extreme constraints on traditional lottery business models.

Retailers in Oregon Lost 70% of Their Customers Due to Lockdown

According to the director of the Oregon State Lottery, Barry Pack retailers in Oregon lost 70% of their customers as a result of the lockdown. He believes that the recovery of the pandemic is going to force the industry to undergo a digital transformation more quickly than people are expecting. He also added that there will be less resistance in the industry and that the opinion about mobile gaming will change.

“We’ve been pushing a digital transformation and online selling ever since I’ve been in this industry over the past 10 to 15 years,” he said. “In Maryland, they passed a law three years ago banning sales on the internet. I think we’ll see a dramatic change, and I’m looking forward to it,” – concluded Gordon Medenica, director of the Maryland Lottery.

Moreover, Executive Director Michael Sweeney stated that their lottery faced a prominent threat of becoming obsolete. He added that the extreme drop in lottery sales due to COVID-19 was the main reason the majority of the participants of the SBC Digital Summit’s lottery discussion titled, “State of Play – US Lotteries During the Coronavirus.”

State Lottery Veterans Believe That the Pandemic Is a Wake-Up Call for Lottery Officials

All state lottery veterans concluded that the pandemic is a wake-up call for lottery officials and state legislators. One participant claimed that the pandemic reveals the outdated retail business model of the State lottery, which will not suffice with the current standard.

“Retail operators need to take a look at the post-Covid19 world and its impact on player needs and expectations and think about what it means for the future of lotteries. Digital is the way forward and is set to play a huge part in our industry over the coming years.– said Ade Repcenko, Spinola Gaming CEO.

He and his company contributed to the digitalization of many domestic lots worldwide over the last couple of months, providing them a steady stream of revenue to fund their pandemic activities.