Future of Lottery
in the Modern Tech Age

Lottery has been around for several centuries as the first known record of the industry’s history dating back to 200 BC. Yet, lottery became incredibly popular after the 18th century as it started becoming more prevalent in European and North American countries.
Just when it seemed that the path was going to be rosy from here on, the slow rise of the casinos and betting opportunities began to put a concern upon the lottery industry.

Rapid Growth

Lottery games came under immense stress during the early part of the 20th century when traditional casinos and sports betting was on the rise.
People also seemed to have more funds to spend after the post-war period, but there were equally plenty of concerns about fraudulent activities.
This led to the rise in regulations to ensure that fraudulent activities in the industry were curbed.
On the right: We love the view of the bingo and lottery balls.

All these increased the customer confidence in lotteries and it was starting to take shape in the form of rising global sales, which had surpassed more than $200 billion at the turn of the century. Incidentally, this was a figure that went even beyond music or movie industries.
Even with multiple casinos around, lottery was becoming increasingly popular in Europe and America. This rapid growth has been key behind the rising Powerball jackpot figures.

Changing Times

Yet, the rosy period was not meant to stay for long. Casinos started appearing in a mainstream manner with several towns being created exclusively for the purpose.
Las Vegas is probably one of the names that instantly comes to mind when thinking about casinos, but they did not have the necessary spread in order to overcome the popularity of lotteries.
On the left picture: Interior of famous traditional Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco, Europe.

The pressure started to come through the form of online casinos, which were becoming increasingly popular at the start of the century. The lottery industry clearly felt that things were not going as planned.

Even though sales continued to hit new heights, the industry was getting stagnant in the developed markets. The developed markets like North America and Europe were key to lotteries success and revenue stream, but the millennials appeared to go with alternative options.
Rather than focus just on one segment, these alternative options managed to bring in several other facets so as to enhance the appeal.
Today, a gamer has a lot more casino options in the form of slots and table games.
Lottery appears stale in comparison with casino game providers who offer a vaster range of products such as roulette, blackjack and slots. With social gaming products. Furthermore, there are sports betting opportunities through brands like SBTech who offer an omni-channel approach to betting in the online world.

Reasons for Declining Lottery Popularity

The traditional big markets for lottery have been the places where the biggest drop in popularity has been experienced. One of the primary reasons for this dip is the growth of alternate avenues like online casinos and sports betting options.
They have been able to embrace modern technology much sooner than lotteries. Rather than provide just the traditional brick-and-mortar casinos and betting shops, the industry has been able to go mobile with the presence of online support.
On the right picture: Variety of slots machines at traditional casino.

The 24 x 7 access to casino and betting related content has been a major factor behind the decline in popularity of lotteries.

Ironically, this used to be the way in which lotteries like Euromillions managed to take out a number of UK betting shops out of business when it was established itself firmly in the European regions. The betting industry is now getting back at lottery in the same manner.

Future of Lottery

There is no doubt that lottery will come under further pressure in the next few decades. Even though the industry has taken a sizeable step towards adopting modern technology, they are already lagging heavily behind betting and casino segments.
There are still lottery options that depend on offline sales for 90% of the revenue, and this simply does away with the business provided by the millennials.
Casinos and betting options have been able to take advantage of this market and have grown exponentially over the last two decades. There have also been several start-ups in the casino and betting segments compared to the lottery industry.

Even though lottery still commands a huge interest, there is little doubt that the industry is close to falling on its knees with rivals like online casinos ready to take over.