Pennsylvania’s iLottery program is officially the most commercially successful to date in North America with total sales of online/mobile games reaching $1 billion in just under two years.

Developed and powered by Las Vegas-based Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS), the Northeastern US state’s digital lottery program has easily eclipsed any previous iLottery launch in North America and is also on the way to surpassing $1 billion in annual sales.

Presenting online option:

Commenting on the success, Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Lottery, Drew Svitko, said in an official press release (pdf)…

“Our goal in offering our players the option for online/mobile play in May 2018 was simply to meet players where they are, which is online, and it has been exceptionally well-received.

“During this unprecedented time, we are reminding Lottery players that they have the option to take advantage of playing PA Lottery online games at pailottery.com. This is the only place where PA Lottery players can buy their Powerball® and Mega Millions® tickets without having to leave their homes. This is also another way people can support older Pennsylvanians during this challenging time.”

State programs benefit:

Svitko added that the iLottery program has helped to safeguard vital resources for state programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians. The state’s Lottery has since 1972 contributed nearly $28 billion to programs benefitting the demographic.

Powering the iLottery program is Scientific Games‘ premier content aggregation platform, OGS (Open Gaming System), and OpenPlatform (OPS), which offers top-tier player management solutions including responsible gaming tools and an affiliate program that benefits the state’s Lottery retailers.

Affiliate program:

According to the Nevada-based corporation, as part of the affiliate program, Pennsylvania’s iLottery currently partners with approximately 500 of its 9,800 retailers to “encourage players to sign up for online/mobile play.” Within the first full fiscal year of the program, lottery sales for traditional/brick-and-mortar retailers surpassed the prior fiscal year by 7.2 percent while sales for scratch-offs grew 5.9 percent.

Unprecedented sales:

The Pennsylvania Lottery continues to break records having witnessed an 80 percent swell in iLottery revenues (current weeks vs. pre-COVID weeks), as well a 200 percent increase in first-time players. iLottery sales in the state also recently realized record single day online/mobile sales of $4.2 million and are currently seeing an average of more than $3 million per day.

Also commenting on the record sales, Group Chief Executive, Lottery for Scientific Games, Pat McHugh, said…

“What’s encouraging to states looking to launch online/mobile lottery sales is that when the COVID crisis happened, Pennsylvania had a partnership and program in place to protect vital funding—including effective management of the combined retail and digital game portfolio, an iLottery platform and services to attract and retain players, integrated to support retailers while continuing the strategic management of traditional lottery products sold in stores.”

Range of product:

Presently, only 13 of 46 US lotteries allow for the online purchase of lottery games, while seven of those, including PA, offer eInstant games. Currently, the Keystone State’s lottery offers its players 70 distinctive eInstant games.

McHugh added…

“Many states will look to Pennsylvania’s program to modernize lottery products online and at retail. Pennsylvania has effectively managed high-performing retail and digital instant games creating benefits for players, retailers and the Commonwealth’s programs supporting older Pennsylvanians.”

Established relationship:

In addition to being its longtime retail instant game and systems technology provider, Scientific also provides the state’s Lottery with programs for player acquisition and retention, consumer research, and an omni-channel iLottery lottery platform, along with a team of experts in marketing who use bonusing programs and powerful customer relationship management (CRM) tools that “engage and retain” lottery players.

The US-based company that in 1974 launched the very first secure retail instant game, currently supplies services, games, or technology to over 150 lotteries in 50 countries across the globe.