THE LOTTERY: BIG BUSINESS, BIG FUN!

The Lottery: Big Business, Big Fun!: Do you play the lottery?  Today could be the day!  Margaret Requa DeFrancisco, President & CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corporation, came to educate the audience at Terry Third Thursday to show how the lottery proceeds go to good causes such as sports facilities, art, senior citizens, environment, and education.  The lottery gives back $13.5 billion to education with more than $1.4 million to HOPE and more than $1.1 million to pre-K.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZIm-jV7iGI&w=640&h=480]

The entertainment business has human behavior and random occurrences.  The Lottery in Georgia has been successful by focusing itself on having a Sales and Marketing driven mindset.  Its advertising has also been highly successful with the help of BBDO and setting a world breaking record of $656 million mega millions.  Just take a look at some of their commercials:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_hSKaOTUP4&w=640&h=360]

The Georgia lottery serves as a traditional lottery for a public beneficiary and is self-sustained.  Scratch-offs with the different colors, price points, and jumbo box have always been the most successful.  The drawing on WSBTV, Powerball and mega millions are the only national lotteries.  The lottery also includes daily games, Cash 3, Cash 4, Fantasy 5, and decades of dollars for winners receiving $250,000 a year for 3o years.

The first state lottery was introduced in 1530, at Geneva, Italy.  Keynote was introduced in China, the very early colleges such as Yale and Harvard were established by lotteries, and even George Washington used the lottery in his day for the Revolutionary army.  The old Georgia lottery used its money for public works and bridges.  In 1895, the lottery was outlawed because of corruption in Louisiana.  However, it would return back to the United States in the 1960′s with New Hampshire being the first modern state lottery of many in 1964 specifically for generating lottery.  There are now 44 lotteries in the United States.  The only states that don’t have a lottery are Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Mississippi, and Alabama.  200 of the lotteries in the world are government or privately owned.  There are in-state lotto games only in California and Florida.

The average player is a male in his 40′s; college educated and has a $50,000 income.  70% of all propositions for the lottery are in sales.  Women play scratch offs more than men and right from the start they get them.  The success of the Georgia lottery can be traced to governor Zell Miller with his focus on education.  The GI bill, Supreme merit scholarship, helped Zell to finish his education.  When he was running for Senator, it was James Caravelle who urged him to run a lottery.

There are $262 billion lotteries in the world and the Georgia lottery is top 10 US lotteries in total sales.  The best part of Margaret’s job has been her meeting the winners.  The main sales channels have been 8,500 Retailers such as Publix, Kroger, Quick Trip, etc.  The largest retailer is the airport and kiosk.  Massive distribution has seen $230 million in revenue and 83% of business comes from small businesses.  There have been 21 billion in prizes since inceptions.

Scientific games brand and Scrata print are 1 of 3 in the entire world.  The lottery has been found in broadcast, and sports such as the Braves, Hawks, and Falcons.  The Georgia lottery hosts 200 community events to engage with people and get involved in the local community.  One of the most successful campaigns was the Powerball Flash mob dance that they had at the airport.

Insert Lottery image here

The lottery has used creative marketing ideas that include an all-access music search to appeal to young folks, using Facebook and Twitter for promotions, and even being nominated for an Emmy.

With the Department of Justice of 1961 Wire Wager Act, bookies making nets using telephones, the act made the Internet illegal for buying lottery tickets online.  As an industry, the lottery is very conservative and has a cross-section of funders and colleagues for determining prices of tickets.  Many people suffer from “jackpot fatigue” by buying lottery tickets.  Public policy makers will decide if Class 2 type slots will be executed for the future.  Maybe you should play the lottery to give back and understand that history is what has grown Georgia publicly.

Final Thought: “It’s all about the children.”

Related articles

• • $3M lottery ticket bought in Bolton Landing (poststar.com)

• • Georgia Lottery board member felt pressure to make a hire (onlineathens.com)

• • Georgia Lottery board member felt pressure to make a hire (m.onlineathens.com)

• • A jilted young man with two jobs wins $30.5m in the lottery (boston.com)

• • $400,000 wedding gift courtesy of the Georgia Lottery (mysouthwestga.com)

• • Albany man wins big lottery prize (mysouthwestga.com)

• • Lottery Board Member Felt Pressure To Make Hire (atlanta.cbslocal.com)

• • Evansville Woman Claims $1M Lottery Prize In Iowa (nbc15.com)

• • Judsonia Woman Wins $10,000 with Lottery Scratch-off Ticket (arkansasmatters.com)

• Illinois to Sell Powerball Lottery Tickets Online (stlouis.cbslocal.com)