iGB North America magazine IGBNA Aug/Sep | Page 32

Lottery Focus 2015

BALANCING RETAIL AND ONLINE
Antonis Dimos of INTRALOT looks at mobile’s potential to bridge the gap
between the retail and digital environments, creating a more interactive and
entertaining experience for lottery players.
These are evolving times, with the gaming
industry shifting and adapting to a new
context of operations and re-evaluating the
current business models. No section of this
industry, from casinos to state lotteries and
racetracks, will stay unaffected. Gaming
operators recognize that in order to remain
important for their players, they need to
become relevant to them, by further engaging
both current and potential players in the
digital world.
Technology supports the increasing
consumer demand for services and
applications, offered through the available
mobile devices. Numerous reports, but also
real life, prove the fact that contemporary
life is heavily dependent on smartphone
applications that cover the full spectrum of
human activity.
It is a fact that smartphone, tablet and
mobile device penetration is increasing
on a global level, with the corresponding
applications increasing much faster. It is
worth mentioning that evolution in the
e-commerce industry is now driven mainly by
mCommerce in most parts of the word.
This business model lends the ability to
create value through the acquisition of new
customers, as well as deepen relationships
with existing ones, much faster than
traditional retail is able to do.
Although real-life shopping is still a
dominant consumer activity, the retail
industry now struggles to keep pace with
the above evolution, especially in particular
market segments.
According to an MIT report, it is estimated
that 80% of store shoppers check prices
online before making their purchases. Also
67% of online shoppers made a purchase

that involved multiple channels. Additionally,
access to technology is becoming easier and
cheaper year after year.
Recognizing this market reality, retailers are
turning to omni-channel marketing strategies
to bridge the gap between offline and online
stores. Not surprisingly, this means reaching
consumers wherever they are, on whatever
device they may be using, complementing the
traditional retail shop.
Retailers now invest in developing platforms
that can incorporate all their products and
services in one easy to use, “end- to- end”
proposal, in an effort to offer a seamless
purchasing path to consumers, both through
the internet or brick-and-mortar stores.
On the other hand, the gaming industry is
not only heavily dependent on deploying landbased selling networks, but also lags behind
others in adopting alternative selling channels.
In jurisdictions where alternative selling
channels have been introduced, retailers were
sceptical that there would be a severe negative
effect on their traditional retail gaming
revenue. In fact, the opposite has proven to be
the case, with interactive channels supporting
sales increases on the land-based side as
well. The flexibility of mobile and web-based
networks gives the opportunity to lotteries
to grow their player base. Technology has
contributed to enhancing players’ loyalty and
engagement by making it feasible to utilize the
full spectrum of offered services, from 24-7
availability to single wallet access, not only for
the online channels but also for the landbased ones.
Lottery operators can also profit from a
single player view. The complete visibility on
each player account enables the selection,
monitoring and analysis of data on their

32 | iGamingBusiness North America | Issue 20 | August/September 2015

gaming behavior and purchase habits in
real-time, enabling the delivery of tailormade product solutions from the full range
of games and services. Industry leaders opt
to adopt state-of-the-art algorithms and
patterns in order to provide the best and
most customizable solution to their players,
enhancing their overall experience.
Operators and content providers that are at
the forefront of technological advancements
and contemporary solutions are shifting
towards offering mobile lottery applications. An
innovative, independent end-to-end solution
has been developed by INTRALOT with the
goal to offer the native lottery experience across
all mobile and tablet devices and operating
systems. The Mobile Lottery Application allows
players to participate in all available games
anytime, anywhere.
Touch and gesture-based controls allow
players to easily navigate to the games of
their choice, view earlier results, manage
their e-wallets, be kept informed regarding
promotions etc. Additionally, customization
features allow for multilevel personalization,
better meeting the different needs of each
individual user.
Undoubtedly, mobile can deliver a blend
of retail content with enhancements and
features, bridging the space among those two
worlds and eventually creating an even more
interactive and entertaining player experience.

Antonis Dimos is Group Director
Lotteries of INTRALOT and a Member
of the Board of Directors in numerous
subsidiaries of INTRALOT in Eastern
Europe, positioning him to manage
the Lotteries Products and Services of the
INTRALOT Group across the world. In the past, he
held senior management positions in the gaming and
telecommunications industries.