INSIGHT
SELLING THE DREAM:
LOTTERY PROVIDERS
CASH IN ON JACKPOTS
Secondary lottery providers and lottery messengers are providing people from all over the world access
to huge draws such as the US Powerball and so far these are proving very valuable acquisition tools,
writes Joanne Christie
BIG LOTTERY JACKPOTS have long
been the stuff of dreams for people of
all walks of life, whether they consider
themselves ‘gamblers’ or not.
But in the past, players would typically
not have had the opportunity to play in
one all that often – a huge local draw only
comes around every now and again and
historically, location and/or regulation
restricted wannabe millionaires to playing
in their own state or country.
However, with the new wave of online
lottery providers that’s all changed.
Secondary lottery providers and lottery
messenger services are now offering players
from all over the world the chance to get
in on all the action, and it’s proving a very
valuable acquisition and retention tool.
For example, the US Powerball jackpot
of $650m in late August resulted in an
impressive uplift in sales at messenger
service theLotter.com, which reported a
740% rise in sales for the draw.
“Especially the Powerball but also the
MegaMillions, once they pass a certain
threshold, which is roughly around $300
or $400m, then we start seeing a massive
surge especially in places like Canada
but also in Europe as well,” says Remco
Yizhak-Cooremans, media consultant
at theLotter.com.
“Players from Canada are especially
enamoured with the Powerball as it is a
bordering country.”
It was in fact a huge US Powerball draw
that helped Lottoland launch its business in
Australia in January 2016 after securing a
licence in late 2015.
“At the time, the American Powerball
was at a staggering $US1.5 billion and
in a two-day period more than 250,000
customers joined Lottoland in Australia
with the dream of winning the world’s
largest ever jackpot.
“That’s 1.5% of the adult internet
population of Australia signing up in
But it’s not only mega US draws that
pull in the players, says James Oakes,
director at Zeal Network. Zeal’s
MyLotto24 is set to launch US Powerball
next week and MegaMillions a couple
of weeks afterwards, but Oakes says
more modest European jackpots also
result in a big uplift to the site.
“We see it with our existing products
such as the German lottery, which is
our biggest revenue generator. That one
only goes up to €35m but the level of
play when it hits €35m can be three
or four times more than when it is a
lower level,” says Oakes.
“In a two-day period more than 250,000 customers
joined Lottoland in Australia with the dream of winning
the world’s largest ever jackpot. That’s 1.5% of the adult
internet population signing up within 48 hours of launch”
Nigel Birrell, Lottoland
48 hours after launch,” says Lottoland
CEO Nigel Birrell.
This August’s draw pulled in more than
100,000 bets for Lottoland and resulted in
the second highest traffic level since the
“online stampede” of January 2016,
says Birrell.
An acquisition tool for the
wider industry?
In an industry famed for its high cost
of acquisition and with one of its most
popular methods of acquiring new players,
the affiliate channel, coming under intense
regulatory scrutiny at present, could big
iGB Affiliate Issue 65 OCT/NOV 2017
71