Gambling might come in many shapes and sizes, but the way that most people get started on it is through the lottery. Monica Rangel, chief operating officer of the Global Lottery Corporation (GLC), joined CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero to talk about the industry advantages of lottery gambling and its future in emerging markets.
The advantage of lottery gaming is pretty simple: most people have had some experience with it. “You have to think of lottery as the basis of all gaming in the world,” Rangel explained. “That’s where it was born, that’s where it kicked off, and more people played the lottery than all the other casinos, sports betting, esports combined.”
Rangel joined GLC in June 2018, but it’s been around much longer. “Global Lottery Corporation has been around since ’94, so it’s a well-seasoned company,” she told us.
Even though they have that track record, they are still innovating. “We’re hoping to revolutionize the market with a singular new product we have, which is a digital scratch card, which is going to hopefully cross over from the offline to the online, and help our target population to understand a bit better how the online and mobile works,” she said.
Marketing lottery sites can be a bit tricky, as they don’t have the standard operating model that affiliates are used to. But they do offer something unique. “You cannot pair it with sports betting or casinos, the CPAs are just too low for comparison,” she noted. “But we do get one thing that the others don’t, is the share volume. And we pay CPAs [cost per acquisition], we pay [revenue] shares on the amount of tickets sold, which is also very important, for the operator or for the affiliate, the way that I see it.”
As new markets start to emerge, Rangel believes that operators who are willing to invest now will see explosive growth in the future. “Basically, these markets will allow them to learn less in the initial period, but as those markets grow, and get off of being the emergent marks, but being seasoned ones, they will also reap the benefit,” the COO said. “The fact that they are emerging markets today means that in two or three years, they’re going to be the top markets. Look at Scandinavia, they were the emergent markets of five years ago. And where are they now? They are the top paying markets in the gaming industry.”
The big pie of course will be the United States, and Rangel believes it’s unique as a new market. “It’s so funny to see the U.S. as an emergent market right now, when it’s probably the most seasoned gaming market of all time,” she laughed, and the concluded:
“Look at the U.S. example. You don’t have to put all your eggs into that basket, but it would be a good idea, and I would recommend all European affiliates to start looking at the U.S. as an opportunity. Leave aside the taboo, it’s not blacklisted anymore, and an affiliate can promote in certain territories and prepare your nest egg for two years from now.”
