In the growing landscape of Fast Play lottery sales, Vermont appears to be setting the pace.
Similar to instant win games, Fast Play is essentially a scratcher that is already scratched off. You just need to look at the ticket and follow the rules to see if it’s a winner.
More than half of the states in the US offer these Fast Play games under varied titles.
However, of the states, Vermont is leading the way in the growth of the product.
Vermont Fast Play sales up nearly 89%
According to a report from La Fleur’s, the Fast Play game category generated $1.4 billion in sales for 2023. That accounted for 3.8% of all terminal-generated games.
In the case of Vermont, it had $15.3 million in sales of the product last year. That was an 88.7% increase from the $8.1 million in sales for 2022.
Breaking it down further, the per capita Fast Play sales were $23 in Vermont. No other state had a higher per capita average in retail Fast Play purchases.
According to La Fleur’s, the second-closest state to Vermont was still more than $9 behind.
Scientific Games propels Vermont Lottery Fast Play
Vermont was able to catapult its Fast Play sales in 2022 when the state shifted to using Scientific Games as its provider.
With the aid of the new lottery operator, Vermont went to completely different games in its Fast Play library. That included adding progressive jackpots to some of the options. It also started to include doublers and multipliers in select games.
Perhaps the biggest change was including Fast Plays in self-service terminals. In 2023, 50% of sales of the format came from the terminals.
Vice President of Lottery Content for Scientific Games, Leslie Badger, told La Fleur’s that these changes helped make Vermont’s Fast Play market what it is now:
“Some of the changes were small tweaks, and others were slightly bigger. Interestingly, we accomplished this while still maintaining payouts. We wanted to responsibly grow the category.”
Fast Play growing quickly, connecting with millennials
According to Scientific Games data, the five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of Fast Play games is 19%. That makes it the fastest-growing of the terminal-generated options.
Like most lottery games, Fast Play has built on its available price points. In 2014, Fast Play was limited to a max of $5 tickets. Now, the category includes price points of $10, $20, $30, and $40 in some instances.
Over that same period of 10 years, US sales have jumped from $164 million in 2014 to the $1.4 billion it saw in 2023. That’s over 750% growth in the 10-year span.
Fast Play should see continued growth moving ahead. A $50 option is expected to come within the next year in select states.
Scientific Games notes that Fast Play games tend to skew more male (70%) and slightly younger than the average lottery player. More than half (51%) are millennials ages 18-39.
Being able to connect with millennials and those in Gen Z is key for lotteries around the world going forward.
Photo by PlayiLottery
About the Author
