A little weekend research of ELOT reveals their strategy is to partner with lotto machine makers, like Autotote, rather than competing. This seems smart. Of course if their stock goes up, they can use it as currency to buy Gtech or Autotote.
And it occurred to me that the multistate Powerball and Big Game already circumvent a ban on interstate lotto wagering. Also ELOT's FAQ mentions an internet lotto company that sends runners down to the corner 7-11 to buy lotto tickets for their online customers.
Now this from today's WSJ. Note specifically the third to last paragraph...
<<Maryland Lottery Is Promoted
Successfully as Entertainment
By J.C. CONKLIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
BALTIMORE -- Buddy Roogow, Maryland's lottery director, grabs the mike on WOCT 104.3 FM, and begins his familiar bellow: "I have not $20, not $30 but $50 worth of scratch-off tickets to give away," he says, and the switchboard lights up -- just as it does every time he touts tickets, at least once a week on local radio or TV.
Since he took over the ailing operation two years ago, the effusive Mr. Roogow has gotten Maryland excited about the state lottery again, bucking a national trend. Many states have let their own lotteries languish in favor of multistate Powerball contests. States that don't participate in Powerball saw their lottery take decrease an average of 5% last year. But Maryland's 1998 sales increased 3% to $1.07 billion.
Much of the credit goes to a strategy Mr. Roogow cooked up: pitching the lottery as entertainment, not as a way to win a big payoff. He did away with ads featuring lottery winners wrapped in mink coats and dripping in diamonds. He replaced them with commercials of people talking about how uplifted they felt and how entertained they were after playing the lottery and winning just five dollars -- or nothing at all.
He even added an unofficial phrase to the state's Lotto motto: "It could be you ... but it probably won't."
'Fun of Playing'
"It's not fair to give the implication that it's easy to win $1 million," Mr. Roogow explains. "There's a one in seven million chance to win the jackpot in the Lotto game. That's why we emphasize the fun of playing. A government body has to be socially responsible."
In a state bordered by Delaware, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, all Powerball participants, Mr. Roogow, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Parris N. Glendening, is keenly aware that his lottery is competing against very high stakes. But he figures he can counter with new games, clever promotions and a playful public image.
In particular, he has worked to revive scratch-off tickets, which typically appeal to a younger and more affluent audience than other lottery games. He introduced a series of nostalgia games featuring the Three Stooges, Lucille Ball and Harley-Davidson, as well as a Legends of Baseball game with tickets featuring former Baltimore Orioles, including Eddie Murray and Brooks Robinson. State sales for scratch-off tickets have jumped 8.7%, to $153.8 million, since July, when the program started.
Mr. Roogow, 49 years old, is also revamping Keno, a closed-circuit-TV game that runs every five minutes. Players choose up to 10 numbers out of 80 and can bet as much as $20 on each game. Last month, he added Keno Bonus, which lets players double their Keno bets for a chance to multiply their winnings. In the six weeks it has been in place, Keno Bonus generated $12 million in sales. Keno sales in general are up 10%, to $246.7 million, in the last year.
Some of the experiments Mr. Roogow supported haven't worked out so well. The lottery started two programs for senior citizens, Walk-to-Win, where seniors won prizes if they wore the lottery logo while they took exercise walks through malls, and Lottery on Wheels, which brought lottery-like games to nursing homes. Critics blasted them as encouraging gambling among people with limited incomes. Mr. Roogow dropped the programs.
As a promotion, Mr. Roogow persuaded local divisions of Pizza Hut, Jiffy Lube International Inc. and Blockbuster Inc. to put coupons on Lotto tickets. The lottery picked up distribution, advertising and printing costs. Eventually, he hopes to build the relationship so that businesses pay for access to the lottery's customer base.
'Road to Nowhere'
For that reason, Mr. Roogow also has embraced a form of Powerball. Two years ago, Maryland joined with Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois and Georgia, in a multistate lottery called the Big Game, which now contributes 3.2% of Maryland's lottery revenue. "I hate the Big Game. They're a road to nowhere." But, he concedes, "It's what people want."
Aware that the Internet will play a growing role in lottery sales in coming years, Mr. Roogow is considering offering Maryland's lottery on the Internet. But that's "a tricky issue," he says, since he has to be sure minors don't have access.
Recently, at the urging of staff members, Mr. Roogow turned down an invitation from an eighth-grade teacher to present a statistics lesson based on the lottery.
"Too bad," Mr. Roogow said with a sigh. "We could tell them how nearly impossible it is to win the lottery.">>
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