Over the past few years, digital products of all kinds have rapidly entered the market. Lotteries should be no exception to this trend. As countries all over the world get better wireless connections and 3G data access, customers with cell phones will look for a quicker, easier way to play lottery games.
Wireless connection in the emerging world has also rapidly expanded. Rapid technological developments for an otherwise young industry mean that improvements will be constant.
Many emerging markets happen to be experiencing a boom in Internet access, often boasting better connectivity than major developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Many markets similarly have players who enjoy lotteries not just for the sake of playing, but also for the importance of sharing lottery results with friends. In many ways, lotteries are a social, communal event and therein lies the importance of tapping into this market. By providing a platform that connects more customers than ever before, increases ease of playing and makes it simpler for managers to operate, LocusPlay can help with expansion into emerging markets.
But a key worry about going digital is security – fraud can be rampant in lotteries and manual operations and written tickets only increase this. Hence an e-ticket and receipt system is necessary to prevent this. Digital lotteries will decrease security concerns and let operators focus on customers instead.
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| LocusPlay Mobile Lottery |
The only bridge needed to connect this gap between lotteries and the digital world is a secure platform over which players can easily access. Digital lotteries increase access while also providing a more secure method of managing your lotteries. LocusPlay, in particular, uses e-tickets and receipts so all transactions are logged, greatly increasing the difficulty of fraud. Lastly, the increase in players looking to go digital is a noticeable trend. Over the past few years, revenue from online gaming has increased several hundred million dollars [1] and is only expected to increase as countries begin to deregulate gambling markets. There is already a push in France, South Korea, and Japan to introduce deregulation of online betting. Many researchers are priming Latin America, India, and other emerging countries as the markets to watch. Any trend-conscious lottery operator would be looking to shed manual and hand-written lottery tickets as soon as possible.
The trends are all quite obvious – the world of lotteries is going digital. The time could not be better to convert from manual operations to a digital lottery. Expanding consumer bases and better security are just two of many reasons to go digital, and more reasons are being discovered every day. Don’t get left behind!
[1] http://www.viaden.com/products/gambling-industry-facts.html