The world is moving away from physical gaming locations and bringing the action to the internet. The trend is true even for lotteries. Many lotteries are closing or recording much smaller queues at their physical outlets as people buy tickets online.
For the ardent lottery player, the changes have been gradual and may not seem so obvious. However, one who has stuck to physical outlets may find the differences very stark. We look at what the online platforms have changed and what the future of online lottery looks like.
Online lotteries are the most practical way to advance the eco-friendly agenda among millions of players worldwide. Playing with virtual cards means that no tree needs to be cut for any lottery to take place. While a single player or just one lottery may not see the effects of tickets on trees, the cumulative number of daily tickets across different lotteries makes a difference. In the US, for instance, around 8.5 billion tickets are sold each year for a single lottery. In the UK, one draw can sell anywhere between 15 and 45 million tickets.
Turning all these into online tickets is a significant contribution to saving trees across the globe. Players only need to perform a few clicks on their devices to get in on the action.
Traditionally, lottery players had to wait for specific days for draws to happen. However, a new form of future gaming is coming up where lotto players can receive instant results like casino players. The efficiency of the internet has made it possible for many new casinos to come up, making it possible to have draws almost round the clock.
Like with online casinos, the number of lotteries that players can participate in is much larger on the internet. Players can stake low and expect to win big given the global pool of players who are contributing to the jackpot.
The versatility of the internet has made it possible for an online lottery to have more features than its physical counterpart. Some of these include:
With an online lottery account, it is easy to store a player's data and award points depending on their performance in specific draws and frequency of playing. While this option was still viable in the traditional lottery, keeping records of the massive volume of players manually was almost impossible. Players can then receive rewards such as free tickets once specific points' conditions are met.
Lotteries can use codes to ascertain that new players have been referred to the site by specific individuals. This would have been too difficult in the manual ticket lottery model.
Rather than buying a single ticket, online lottery players can buy bundles to play for extended periods. These offer advantages to both players and the lottery houses. The lotteries are able to sell more in a bundled approach. Players, on the other hand, can enjoy better price offers for buying in bulk.
Lotteries can also organize competitions to boost play. For instance, they may decide that players who hit a certain number of loyalty points first will win tickets to the actual draw or paid vacations.
Online lotteries are bringing players closer to the action in the actual recording studio. Players can respond in real-time to the action as lotteries are moving away from the TV and adopting live streaming of draws. On 12 May 2022, for instance, there was an online furor after Mega Millions host John Crow read out a wrong number during the draw. John announced a 9 instead of a 6, prompting many people to comment immediately. The lottery corrected the error soon after, but that personal touch is what people will love in lotteries going into the future.
