After Record U.S. Lottery Revenues in 2019, What’s Next?

The Harris Poll Lottery and Gaming Research is examining the changes taking place in the gaming and lottery industries due to COVID-19 and helping to determine how the industry might best recover.  To this end, our article “After Record U.S. Lottery Revenues in 2019, What Next?” was recently featured in the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries’ (NASPL) Insights Magazine.

Highlights from our research and this article include:

• Due to COVID-19, the gaming and lottery industry will be changed significantly for the foreseeable future.  The question now is how best the industry can recover and perhaps grow.
• iLottery can make a major contribution to the recovery of gaming in the post-COVID-19 era, with Millennials and Gen X being the most likely to adopt iLottery and Gen Z not far behind.
• Over time, as Baby Boomers are replaced by younger gaming participants, draw games will not substantially be affected by generational change, however, Keno, scratch-off, and casino-based games will experience reduced activity and revenue. Millennials and Gen-z will seek sports betting opportunities.
• Lottery and casino operators may want to develop programs for tracking new and changing preferences in gaming as a way to guide efforts to recover from COVID-19.

Our research also takes a deeper look into crucial gaming and lottery questions such as:

• What factors will influence current and future consumer gaming behaviors?
• Do we understand player versus non-player segments, demographics, attitudes and behaviors?
• Are we optimizing touchpoints, prioritizing issues and investments, ensuring resources are maximized?
• Is our message resonating with the intended populations or do we need new messaging?
• What are the perceptions of lottery and gaming in the context of COVID-19?