iGB Affiliate 65 Oct/Nov | Page 75

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