Anniversaries, Sports Deals Provide Opportunity For Localized Lottery Games

Photo showing the "Rise Up" lottery game provided by the Georgia Lottery for a story about several state lotteries creating localized lottery games through anniversaries and sports partnerships.

A chance to offer a localized lottery game isn’t always easily available.

So, when the opportunity arises, most state-run lotteries jump at it.

Localized games tend to connect better with the customer base and allow marketing teams to be more creative.

Over the last year, we’ve seen many retail lotteries and states with online lotteries capitalize on localized content.

Whether it be to mark a special occasion, or to work with a major sports team, multiple state lotteries have found a winning formula.

Lottery partnerships with sports teams drive up sales

One of the more common ways state lotteries have localized products is through sports teams.

In August 2023, IGT helped the Georgia Lottery introduce “Falcons Rise Up.” It is an instant win game online featuring the Atlanta Falcons symbol.

The multi-matchline game mechanics show players attempting to tackle targets in a QB bonus round or reveal jerseys in a Pick Bonus option.

“Falcons Rise Up” finished in the top five for percentage of sales and players for the Georgia online lottery.

The Maryland Lottery has been working in partnership with the Baltimore Ravens for years. That agreement has led to a pair of retail scratch tickets, “Ravens X2” and “Ravens X5.”

The most recent deal began on June 1 and will run for 2.5 years. Along with the scratch games, the Ravens logo will also be featured on a fast play game.

Second-chance opportunities for these titles include Ravens-related prizes.

The Iowa Lottery has managed to partner with a state-run university. It released a pair of scratch tickets highlighting the Iowa Hawkeye logo.

The Iowa “black ticket” had over $3 million in sales the last year, becoming a top-10 all-time selling ticket for the state lottery.

Iowa capitalized on that by releasing a “yellow ticket” during basketball season to help with the hype brought forth by Caitlin Clark’s final year with the Hawkeyes.

Anniversaries allow for localized lottery promotions, content

The year 2024 marks a milestone anniversary for a number of state lotteries.

The Rhode Island Lottery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and to honor the occasion, it partnered with IGT to create an omnichannel event.

A series of eInstant games from the Rhode Island online lottery were released to complement a group of retail scratch tickets.

On top of that, special deposit promotions and second-chance opportunities were presented to help drive sales.

The “50 Years” promo brought in the second-highest amount in player spend after four months and the third-highest player retention performance since 2022.

The Massachusetts Lottery celebrated the 50th anniversary of the world’s first lottery scratcher back in May.

On May 29, 1974, “The Instant Game” made its debut as a $1 ticket. The same game was repackaged 50 years later as a $2 instant to observe the anniversary.

Along with these 50th anniversaries, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, and Ohio are also marking 50 years of state-run lottery in 2024. West Virginia is celebrating its 40th anniversary, while North Dakota and Tennessee are marking their 20th.

 

Photo by the Georgia Lottery

About the Author

Drew Ellis

Drew Ellis

Lead Writer
A member of Catena Media since 2020, Drew Ellis is the Lead Writer at PlayiLottery, where he handles coverage of the online lottery industry in the US. He previously spearheaded news content at PlayMichigan, where he covered one of the most prominent online lottery industries in the US — among the many other aspects of Michigan's sprawling iGaming market. You can email him at [email protected].
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