We asked lotteries for highlights of their experiential prize offers. You’ll see a lot of common threads here, but also some unique perspectives and great ideas! As always, we thank those lotteries that provided their input, and their edited responses follow.
February 16, 2024
NASPL Insights Online
Arizona Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We award experiential prizes through our loyalty and social media platforms. As part of our Players Club promotions, we offer unique Arizona travel experiences and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like the Hawaii Dream Getaway featuring Darius Rucker, by requiring specific tickets to be entered to qualify for the promotion. We also offer experiential prizing through our Players Club Rewards, by allowing players to use their earned points to enter for chances to win mystery vacations, spa treatments, movie tickets and more. We also host social media giveaways for tickets to hyper-local events, concerts and festivals. We currently do not have experiential prizing within our games’ prize structures.
Most fun or popular experiences?
In August 2022, the Arizona Lottery launched Arizona Adventure, a ticket and promotion that offered players both a traditional and experiential way to enter the promotion. Players could enter their $5 Scratchers tickets, or they could check in at select Arizona State Parks to earn entries. The promotion also gave players a chance to win experiential prizes like Arizona staycations, and it was a great way to celebrate Arizona and encourage people to explore the state. In February 2024, we are launching another round of Arizona Adventure which will amplify the experiential prizing component, partnering with the Office of Tourism to create five unique travel prize packs to showcase the amazing experiences that Arizona has to offer. (For more details, see related content.)
The Hawaii Dream Getaway, in partnership with Atlas Experiences, offered our players a once-in-a-lifetime experience, featuring a private concert with Darius Rucker. Our winners and their guests raved about their time on Maui, and it was extremely special to have solely Arizona Lottery winners in attendance.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We look for money-can’t-buy experiences and best-in-class customer service when it comes to choosing experiential partners. When you engage a company to represent your brand and facilitate communications with your customers, you want to unequivocally trust that they are providing the same level of service as the Lottery would.
Any other thoughts?
A best practice at the Arizona Lottery is to combine experiential prizes with cash prizes. This widens the appeal to all players and offers something for everyone.
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Atlantic Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Atlantic Lottery has offered several experiential prizes in recent years, primarily in connection with community festivals and events that we have partnered with through our sponsorship program (rather than as prizes for traditional games or lottery products). We offer them two ways: 1) on social media, where we ask participants to like and comment for a chance to win, or 2) via a contest microsite that is promoted on social media and requires participants to fill out an entry form.
Over the last few years, we’ve also offered a Cavendish Beach Music Festival prize as part of an exclusive 2Chance promotion and as part of our December to Remember contest. We have also offered some experiential prizes as part of our monthly 2Chance draws, with players able to win such prizes as ski equipment and lift passes, or cash prizes towards a backyard makeover, a spring getaway or a Caribbean cruise.
Most fun or popular experiences?
The Cavendish Beach Music Festival prize package is the most popular each year because we have included tickets, accommodations, swag and cash for the winner to spend at this hugely popular country music festival in our region, which often sells out quickly. Typically, any prize package that includes both tickets and accommodations is very successful. We often see a decline in participation when we only offer tickets to an event.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Our only expectation is that they engage with and/or share our posts. For example, we will do an Instagram collaboration with the sponsored event partner so we can reach a larger and more targeted audience with the contest.
Any other thoughts?
This approach provides people in our region with a different way to engage with Atlantic Lottery that is outside of the traditional means of purchasing or playing our products. It helps us introduce our brand to a wider audience without attaching the product component directly to the campaign.
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British Columbia Lottery Corp.
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Second-chance contests: We run second-chance contests for certain products, which are experiential by nature, since they require players to engage with our product to enter. Our most popular second-chance contest is “Tech the Halls;” while prizes are primarily tech items and cash, players do have the opportunity to win instant prizes via a spin wheel, adding to the winning experience. We also look for second-chance contests in partnership with our retailer partners. One example that included an experiential prize is a promotion we ran with a grocery retailer (Save-On-Foods) in the summer of 2023. If a player purchased a lottery pack and was a store rewards member, they would be entered to win a dream getaway to Nimmo Bay Resort – a luxury wilderness resort located in Mackenzie Sound, British Columbia.
No purchase necessary opportunities: In 2019, as part of the relaunch of Lotto Max, we ran a contest called the “Lotto Max Dream Studio.” Players entered in-person via a mall activation to tell our dream coaches what their BIG DREAM would be should they win the new Lotto Max jackpot. Five winners were chosen, and we surprised them in-person with a portion of their dream come true and a camera crew to deliver the prize. The prizes we awarded were: A family trip for three to Vietnam; school tuition, new computer and animation mentor at Sony for an aspiring animation artist; a family trip for five to Disney World; additional home care support for a friend; and a honeymoon for two to the Galapagos.
In 2020/2021, we launched “Lotto Max Dream Studio 2.0.” This time, due to the pandemic, players entered by submitting a video explaining their Lotto Max dream. Five winners were chosen, and we again surprised them in person with a camera crew. The prizes we awarded were: Funds to support a new smile; an overdue trip back home to Kenya; a donation to support hungry students in a dreamer’s community; school tuition for an aspiring nurse; and a hiking trip to Mt. Denali (the tallest North American peak).
Most fun or popular experiences?
Tech the Halls is likely our most popular experiential promotion. The most enjoyable experience was the Lotto Max Dream Studio, which gained media coverage.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
There’s a need for meticulous planning in developing a contest, especially with an experiential component. A partner that outlines a workback plan and details project milestones is highly beneficial. A partner willing to contribute campaign ideas is valuable, as after all, marketing is an ideas business. Every campaign is approached with openness to new perspectives and recommendations.
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Colorado Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We don’t typically offer these via an instant ticket prize. The entry mechanism for a chance to win one of the sponsorship experiential prizes may, however, be tied to a specific game. For example, in partnership with the Denver Broncos, players who enter a selected non-winning scratch ticket have a chance to win a trip to a pre-determined Denver Broncos away game with one guest. The prize pack includes the winner being notified by a Ring of Famer player, airfare for two, hotel accommodation at the team hotel, ground transportation/meal per diem, two Broncos jerseys (player selected by winner), Broncos gift bag in their room upon arrival, and pre-game field passes.
We also have a partnership with the Colorado Avalanche, and offer a variety of promotions during home games. A recent “Fan Up” promotion offered random instant-win prizes (an autographed jersey, two tickets to a home game, a Zamboni ride or a Lottery ticket gift pack), and participants not winning instantly were entered into a grand prize drawing for a trip for two to see the Avalanche play the Vegas Golden Knights this April. The prize pack includes airfare for two, a two-night hotel stay, tickets to the game, food/transportation per diem, and team merchandise.
We also offer upgrades during selected performances of the National Western Stock Show. For example, players are randomly selected to ride in the arena on a hitched wagon; to receive seat upgrades to the front row box seats; and to be behind the chutes during the bull riding events.
Most fun or popular experiences?
The trips we offer in partnership with the sports teams are the most popular; they resonate with fans of the teams we work with.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We expect unique, unbuyable experiences.
Florida Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Florida offers experiential prizes through Bonus Play promotions, many of which are designed with multiple eligible products to engage a larger audience, promote cross-play and maximize advertising and marketing budgets. For example, we have a new experiential promotion launching soon that incorporates two of Florida’s biggest products, Florida Lotto and the latest of our popular Gold Rush-branded family of instant tickets. In Cash Castle Bonus Play, 50 players will each win a trip to Ireland to stay in a castle, where they’ll get to play in a game show to win cash prizes of up to $1,000,000.
Most fun or popular experiences?
All-expense-paid trips are always popular! It’s no surprise that Florida players love cruises and beach vacations.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Options, flexibility and delivering on execution. Our vendors do a great job of coming up with fun, unique proposals that we vet through research to determine the most appealing options. Sometimes those findings also justify modifying or combining prize elements, which requires cooperative vendors, as they’re also heavily relied upon for fulfillment services with many of these programs.
Any other thoughts?
We’ve found that experiential prize winners are much more open to share about their lottery prize experience compared to a substantial cash prize, whether it’s sharing the story with the Lottery or on their own to friends and family, social media, etc.
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Georgia Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
The GLC has offered many experiential prizes over the years. These promotions have had various structures, including:
Second-chance promotions with a draw game, where the prize is funded through the Marketing department.
Second-chance promotions with a scratcher, where the prize is included in the game’s prize structure.
Second-chance promotions with a scratcher, where the prize is funded through Marketing.
Social media promotions, register-to-win experiences, and media promotions, each funded through Marketing.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Luckily, we’ve had many successes. For example, our Cash 3 CASH CLUTCH, a second-chance promotion where Cash 3 players had a chance to grab as much cash as possible from a pool filled with $3,000,000 in faux bills. And our Keno! Kick for $1,000,000, a second-chance promotion where a player was selected to attend an Atlanta Falcons football game and to kick a field goal for the chance to win $1,000,000.
We weren’t so lucky back in 2006, with an Atlanta Braves scratcher with experiential prizes included in the prize structure. Players wanted money, not tickets to a game, merchandise, etc.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We expect our vendors to research and develop experiential prizes that will meet the needs and interests of today’s players.
Any other thoughts?
In our experience, lottery players prefer cash; however, the experiential prize does provide fun opportunities to market/advertise new games with appealing commercials and POS.
Hoosier Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Our myLOTTERY player program offers a variety of promotional experiences from cash prizes to experiential trips, merchandise and memorabilia, concerts and sporting event tickets. The entry mechanism for these promotions varies from 2nd Chance entries from non-winning scratch-off, draw or Fast Play game tickets to no-purchase-necessary offers. We have focused on ensuring players have a variety of prizes and entry methods to choose from.
Through exclusive myLOTTERY member no-purchase-necessary promotions, we have offered trips to a WNBA game to see the Indiana Fever play in Las Vegas, NASCAR and New Year’s Eve experiences through Powerball, a chance to go anywhere in the USA to see a Live Nation event of the player’s choice, and most recently a trip to Nashville with other Luke Combs fans. Locally in Indiana, players have had the chance to attend Colts, Pacers and Fever games, as well as concerts at the State Fair and The Mill concert venue in Terre Haute.
Through 2nd Chance promotions, we have offered players the opportunity to travel to paradise through Paradise Payout scratch-offs or to Los Angeles to visit the set of Wheel of Fortune by entering non-winning Wheel of Fortune Fast Play tickets and scratch-offs.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Our players have expressed how wonderful their experiences have been, especially those who have participated in VIP once-in-a-lifetime promotions involving trips, music or sports-related prizes. Offering a variety of promotional prizes and entry methods in our player program throughout the year has helped provide myLOTTERY members with opportunities to enter promotions that are most relevant to their interests.
Our most successful no-purchase-necessary promotion was the Living Lucky with Luke Combs promotion. This received the most unique entries (19,300) of all our promotions in 2023. In fact, the grand prize winner became a myLOTTERY member after seeing advertising for this promotion, and has since continued to engage with the Hoosier Lottery.
Our Indiana Fever no-purchase-necessary promotion didn’t resonate as well as other promotions with our players (6,000 entries). However, this was the first year offering a trip with the Indiana Fever promotion, and there was a shortened entry period due to WNBA scheduling, which may have affected the number of entries. This was also the first time our winning players had flown on an airplane or visited Las Vegas. They were ecstatic to win the experience.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
These promotions not only offer unique experiences for players, they also provide a unique opportunity for the lottery and the vendor to come together to build a partnership in every sense of the word. From elevating creative and marketing opportunities to the development and execution of the player experience, it’s exciting to work together to create an experience that players will love.
Any other thoughts?
One struggle we’ve encountered with experiential prizes is that occasionally it is apparent that the player entered the promotion with no interest in the experience. They may have entered to win the accompanying prize items or the secondary prizes, not the experience itself. Our experiential prizes are transferable should the winner want or need to send a proxy. Another struggle is that many players don’t understand that they are sometimes responsible for taxes on these experiences. Though some of these experiences are once-in-a-lifetime, they may discourage some winners from claiming their prize.
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Illinois Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
In relation to our instant ticket portfolio, experiential prizes are typically part of a larger linked event, which include cash prize elements, e.g., The Price is Right and Willy Wonka Golden Ticket. However, we leverage other promotions to offer experiential prizes, such as game tickets or VIP sport experiences through our sports partners. For example, we offer sweepstakes that require a non-purchased digital entry.
Most fun or popular experiences?
From a sweepstakes perspective we have seen good engagement across all sweepstakes. Generally, sports sweepstakes resonate with a more niche audience, while those with more general prizing (e.g. gift cards) align with all players. From an experience standpoint, we’ve received positive feedback from winners.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We typically expect the vendor to be able to handle the entire fulfillment process. Additionally, due to the intricacies of experiences based on things like liability, information security including personally identifiable information, etc., we expect the vendor partner to have proper security practices in place and have a full understanding of how to fulfill experiences due to the extended liability.
Any other thoughts?
Experiential prizing is a great way to engage players in a different way and potentially help elevate an important campaign or activation. However, in a recent research study, we asked our players to provide feedback (i.e., overall appeal and motivating factors) on a variety of promotional offerings. Cash prizes dominated players' perceptions on motivating engagement, with 96% choosing cash as their first or second choice.
Kentucky Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Traditionally Kentucky offers these as a second chance or as a reward in our Fun Club for iLottery players making a qualified purchase. For second-chance offers, the eligible games change in each promotion.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Historically, these have been a mixed bag in Kentucky. One that always resonates is our Derby City Fanatic, and we complete it annually with various draw games as qualifiers (this year the games are Pick 3 and Kentucky 5). Our vendor partner for this is the Kentucky Derby Festival, and they provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can’t really be purchased by players. For example, the opportunity to push the button that starts Thunder Over Louisville, the largest fireworks display in North America; special seating at Day at the Downs; VIP seating for the Great Steamboat Race; and many other unique experiences here in Kentucky for the two weeks leading up to the fastest two minutes in sports! An important part of this event’s success is its ties to our state and community. Our players enjoy how special it is to get these exclusive experiences in a festival they may have enjoyed or been a part of their entire life.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Fulfillment. Part of an experiential prize is for winners to feel special and not have to worry. The Kentucky Lottery isn’t really set up to be “hosts” at these type of events (we believe tickets and money can be better spent elsewhere), so a concierge for the experience is very helpful and should be provided by vendor partner.
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Loto-Québec
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We have done several products with experiential prizes under different mechanics. On some tickets the experiential prize is in the prize structure (sometimes as the top prize, other times as a mid-range prize), while on others it is a second-chance promotion or a draw. We have also done these through a social media promotion linked to the ticket.
Most fun or popular experiences?
One of the most popular was on our Montreal Canadiens (our local NHL team) ticket. It is a popular brand in Québec and reaches a wide range of consumers from different demographics. The top experiential prize was an “Ultimate Experience” that offered a parking space in the players' private parking lot; two jerseys autographed by the player of their choice; a meal for two at a private restaurant before the game; two platinum-level tickets for the game; two passes to a private lounge during intermissions; a visit to the journalists’ lounge; a visit to the press gallery; access to the area close to the players’ locker room after the game; and access to the coach’s post-game press conference.
Another experience that was much appreciated by our players was a fishing trip that was the top prize of our Voyage de pêche ticket. It was a trip to a high end fishing outfitter located in one of most beautiful spots in the province.
All experience prizes related to trips are always appreciated, or prizes with exclusive experiences like we had with the Canadiens ticket.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We usually build our own experiences and contact multiple vendors, but sometimes if a vendor offers a turnkey service, we will buy their package and make sure that their customer services reaches our standards.
Louisiana Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Lotteries are in a unique position to offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences as prizes through their games and partnerships to draw attention to and create added value for their brand and products. At the Louisiana Lottery, we use experiential prizes for two basic strategies. The first is to increase consumer affinity with our brand through “no purchase necessary” giveaways in social media and on our website. Through our community sponsorships of fairs and festivals, professional and college sports teams, rodeo events and concerts, we receive ticket media and other coveted merchandise. We turn around and use these sponsorship assets to create meaningful prize package experiences that we give away in online promotions. As examples, our Pelicans Pick Facebook Promotion in which Facebook fans guess the number of points the Pels will score in an upcoming game, or our Fans Choice VIP website promotion where fans vote for their favorite Louisiana college sports team, allow us to give away VIP game day experiences without any additional costs. We find that many local brands see the benefits of a win-win partnership with the Lottery and we have been able to customize promotional experiences as part of those, such as having the opportunity to tour a king cake factory and bake your own, or riding on a float in a Mardi Gras parade! These promotional drawings allow the Lottery to offer players surprise “extras” by engaging with us on our website and social media, which not only serves to highlight our commitment to other local Louisiana brands but also reinforces the Lottery’s brand of FUN.
Our other strategy is using experiential prizes as second-chance opportunities, which add value to a player’s purchase and provide the Lottery with exciting and engaging content. Over the last couple of years, we have dramatically increased the number of games offering second chances. One particularly popular game is our $2 Powerball branded scratch-off, which offered second-chance drawings for cash and VIP experiences, such as a chance to be the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year or to be a NASCAR Powerball Playoff semifinalist through MUSL. Others include Atlas Experiences’ Living Lucky with Luke Combs $5 scratch-off, where we provided drawings for two VIP trips to Nashville for a private concert with Luke Combs at the Ryman Auditorium. This year we will launch Alchemy3’s Golden Nugget brand as a family of scratch-off games. Second-chance drawings will include the chance to win VIP casino getaways to the Golden Nugget in Louisiana, where the winners will compete for a chance to win $1 million as well as other cash prizes. Also on the horizon is a Louisiana Music $5 scratch-off game, where we hope to partner with the Louisiana Office of Tourism in their Year of Music campaign that will include drawings for VIP access to music festivals throughout the state.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Lottery players are not a homogenous group. There isn’t necessarily a “one size fits all” prize that is most popular, but market research does indicate a behavioral correlation between playing the lottery and attending a live sporting event, so sports is a big component of our experiential offerings. We offer a New Orleans Saints branded game every season that has a been a very popular staple for us over the last 15 years; the tickets can be entered into second-chance drawings for unique gameday experiences and autographed merchandise prizes. We believe it is important to offer a wide variety of experiences to appeal to diverse groups and to understand your market’s interests.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Obviously, price and value play a role in deciding on partnerships, along with making sure the brand aligns with our players’ interests. When it comes to expectations, communication is extremely important, especially if the vendor is managing prize fulfillment. In this role, they are acting on behalf of our brand and we don’t take that lightly. We expect our winners to receive “Disney-like” treatment with communication, customer service and attention to detail in the design and execution of each element of the experiences. We also appreciate when the partnering brand executes their own promotion of our brand/game to amplify our efforts in conjunction with us.
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Maryland Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We offer a variety of experiential prizes in second-chance and Points for Drawings promotions we run through our My Lottery Rewards platform. Some experiential prizes are part of promotions that are connected to specific tickets. For example, as part of our partnership with the Baltimore Ravens, we have Ravens scratch-offs and second-chance drawings each year. There are several prizes awarded through the promotion, including two different experiential prizes, and non-winning Ravens scratch-offs are the entry mechanism for those drawings. In 2023, for each Ravens home game, we drew two Pass For Cash winners who got to go on the field at halftime for a chance to win cash prizes. We also have an away trip with the team, where winners and their guests get to fly on the team plane and receive game tickets and hotel accommodations for a Ravens away game. The Ravens promotion culminates each year with six finalists who each win $10,000, and one of those six also wins the grand prize of Ravens season tickets for 20 years. We invite all six finalists to an event at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, where they get a tour of the stadium, and a former Ravens player announces the grand prize winner.
In addition, we award travel packages through the Points for Drawings portion of My Lottery Rewards. Players earn points by entering tickets into the program, and they can then use those points to enter a wide variety of prize drawings, including vacations or trips to events. We have given away trips to places like Las Vegas, Vancouver, Alaska and Hawaii. One unique experience we recently awarded was a “Choose Your Awards Show” prize. The winner received their choice of traveling to the ESPYs, the Emmys or the American Music Awards.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Players always seem to be big fans of warm-weather vacations. We also have noticed that they enjoy any trip that makes them feel like a VIP, like the Ravens prize, where the winners travel with the team and get to interact with Ravens players as part of the experience.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We want our winners to have the best possible experience, so we look at what vendors are offering as part of the prize package. It helps us to feel like the winners are in good hands when the vendors have a background with experiential prizes.
Massachusetts Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Experiential prizes are offered almost entirely through second-chance drawings on licensed instant tickets.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Some of the most memorable experiences have been live events in which players had the chance to win big cash prizes. In 2013, as part of our World Poker Tour ticket, we hosted a simulated poker tournament at TD Garden with over 500 second chance drawing winners. At the end of the night, one lucky player walked away with a $10 million prize. The next year, as the Patriots were on their way to a championship, one second chance winner had the opportunity to participate in a “Million Dollar Drive” on the field at halftime. Twenty-four oversized tickets were placed on the field, each concealing a cash prize ranging from $100,000 to $1 million. The contestant selected ticket number 12, for Tom Brady, and sure enough he scored the $1 million prize.
Other highlights have included trips to Las Vegas for chances to win multi-million-dollar grand prizes as part of James Bond, Willy Wonka and The Price is Right licensed tickets.
Our Ultimate Garden Party ticket featured the unprecedented opportunity to win exclusive access to every single ticketed event held at the TD Garden for an entire year. This included all regular season and playoff games for the Bruins and Celtics, college sporting events, major concerts, circus and skating shows, plus a premium parking space. This was the top prize in each of four second chance drawings, but all four winners chose a cash option instead. While it was an amazing prize, it may have been unreasonable to expect a winner to attend so many events or manage the distribution of tickets to family and friends.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We challenge our vendor partners to provide creative, unique experiences that are otherwise unavailable and can create lasting memories for the participants. The added experience of including chances to win massive grand prizes is also a significant component.
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Mississippi Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We do not normally offer them. However, we have participated in the Powerball New Year’s Rockin’ Eve promotion and the Powerball NASCAR Playoff where a Mississippi player made it to the finals, resulting in the trip.
When our Wheel of Fortune scratch-off launched in February 2022, we offered six mini drawings where five winners in each were randomly selected to win a $5,000 prize, a Carnival Cruise or a trip to Los Angeles, Biloxi or Las Vegas. Out of the 30 winners, 29 chose cash, and one chose the Biloxi trip.
Most fun or popular experiences?
The Powerball NASCAR Playoff has been the most fun by far, as our player went all the way and won the $1 million prize! Following her on the journey was fun for Lottery team members and all Mississippi Lottery players. Everyone was cheering for her! Based on the Wheel of Fortune mini drawing selections, though, we believe our players prefer cash over trips as prizes.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
It is helpful when vendor partners have all the details of trips (and leading up to them) completely planned. Additionally, having helpful, easily accessible third-party team members to guide a player is really appreciated.
Missouri Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We regularly offer experiential prizes through second-chance promotions. Entry requirements range from multiple games to a single ticket. We typically include multiple games unless the experiential prize is directly related to a single game, such as a licensed property ticket.
Most fun or popular experiences?
After years of offering once-in-a-lifetime trips, the most popular experiences and destinations seem to be beach/costal destinations. Hawaii and the island experience is always a favorite with our players.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We need them to have a strong understanding that our winners’ experiences must be amazing. They must be committed to what we call “white-glove” service. From the very beginning, and throughout the entire process, the vendor is expected to treat our winners like VIP royalty. The goal is for our winners to have a 100% stress-free experience in all aspects of their once-in-a-lifetime trip. We have recently used Maritz, a Missouri-based third-party vendor specializing in experience design and fulfillment.
Any other thoughts?
Experiential prizing is a powerful component of our marketing mix. It allows us to bring to life the dreams players have of winning the lottery, while also offering benefits to the Missouri Lottery. For example, experiential prizes appeal to younger demographics, they link our brand more closely with players/winners, and they provide memories that grow in value as time passes. They also allow for exciting marketing opportunities with potential for word-of-mouth communication.
The flip side is that, along with the potential for more in-depth engagement and increased value, there is the possibility that poor service or bad experiences could derail everything. By necessity, the act of offering experiences and experiential prizes requires more interaction and customization. If that process is not easy, it can result in frustrations for the winner. It is very important not to overextend beyond what your organization and your vendors can accommodate. A bad experience associated with your brand is a powerful thing that social media can amplify.
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Montana Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
The only experiential prize we’ve offered recently was the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year promotion in 2022. We accepted entries and performed a drawing through our Player’s Club (entries were in the form of codes printed on all Powerball tickets). Before that, you’d have to go back several years. In the past, we’ve done them with scratch games – things like Royal Caribbean cruises or a trip to Las Vegas to attend a UFC event. These were a combination of top prizes within the prize structure and second chance promotions. We have discussed doing experiential prizes again, but there is currently nothing specifically in the works.
Most fun or popular experiences?
The winner of the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year promotion spoke very highly of his experience! For the older examples, it was uncommon for us to hear from the winner after the prize was awarded, and generally winners would choose a cash option if it were available.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Nothing that should be out of the ordinary, just plenty of assistance with fulfillment to give the winner an easy and positive experience.
Any other thoughts?
In recent years, our players have been more enthusiastic about cash and merchandise prizes, although the possibility of an all-inclusive vacation performed well in the survey we did last year, so it’s still something our instant product team is kicking around.
Nebraska Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We offer experiences as second-chance prizes for specific scratch or lotto games.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Trip packages are always popular with Nebraska Lottery players, and we’ve had success with second-chance promotions where players can choose between multiple trips for their prize. In 2022, our Wheel of Fortune You Choose Second-Chance Promotion offered players the chance to win a trip to Los Angeles, a Carnival cruise or a trip to Las Vegas. Players entered non-winning $5 Wheel of Fortune scratch tickets at nelottery.com and could choose from the three trips for each ticket entered. They could enter their tickets all for one trip or split them among the trips. A total of 22,041 tickets were entered, and the Las Vegas trip package generated the most entries. Many of the winners sent us photos from their trips that we shared on social media.
More recently, the Living Lucky with Luke Combs promotion was also popular, with a total of 11,626 entries received last summer. There was a lot of excitement about the once-in-a-lifetime trip to Nashville, and the two winners really looked forward to the trip in February.
Another experience prize players really enjoy is the Huskers Weekend Experience provided by Huskers Athletic Partners. This package includes tickets to a Nebraska football game and a Nebraska volleyball game, a two-night hotel stay, autographed merchandise and cash. It’s a great prize for Huskers fans, and we offer the Weekend Experience in our yearly lotto promotion along with other football ticket prizes.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Because of our limited staff, we expect our vendors to handle all aspects of fulfilling an experiential prize once we have verified the winners.
Any other thoughts?
Experiential prizes offer a great opportunity for user-generated content. We reach out to contest winners shortly before their experience to let them know how to share their photos and videos with us, which gives us some great content for social media. Winners get a swag bag from us as a thank you for sharing.
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New Hampshire Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
When you live in New England, the opportunities are local for experiential prizes. For example, New England Patriots tickets and the chance to watch a game from a private super suite and more. For a lot of folks, those tickets are a bit too rich for their wallets so it’s great to give them the chance. We’ve also worked with the Boston Red Sox as well as the Boston Bruins. And right in our own backyard, we’ve got NASCAR and NH Motor Speedway, where we’ve brought in teachers (our net profit is earmarked for education) and players alike for the chance to go “behind the scenes” (the infield of the track) to be up close and personnel with drivers, crew chiefs and cars. Then there are the licensed properties that our vendors present to us – events in Las Vegas are very popular. With all of this, it gives us the opportunity to advertise and market the games at a different level, with the added value of such prizes.
Most fun or popular experiences?
New England sports fans are serious, so tickets to games with any of our local professional teams are super popular. Other opportunities have been presented to us and we’ve passed on them. We really think about who our player is, what they would be comfortable doing, where they would be comfortable going, etc. Price to be borne by the lottery of course comes into play. It’s every lottery’s hope that such a property sells really well. As we look back at these games, sometimes they don’t meet that expectation.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
The expectation is that they have tested the opportunity thoroughly and that the brand that they are presenting resonates with a large demographic – and a demographic that matches our own. And we like it when they bring us the whole package, including the game and the advertising assets. With some products, the approval process for your creative is time consuming!
New Jersey Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We offer these prizes (mostly) directly to lottery players at live Field Promotions events. They are given away on our promotional prize wheel and/or by raffle. We also occasionally offer them on social media.
Most fun or popular experiences?
By far, the most well-received experiential prizing is with our NFL partners. We host “Fantasy Flag Football” events under the lights at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. – home of the NY Giants and the NY Jets. Lucky lottery players are invited with guests to play a game of flag football with alumni from each team. Attendees have the opportunity to take pictures, get autographs and have dinner with the alumni as well.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
The New Jersey Lottery tagline is “Anything can happen in Jersey.” When we have contractual conversations with our partners, we like to come up with fun ideas that align with this sentiment. We look for truly unique experiences that (ideally) money cannot buy, or that are not easily accessible by the general public.
Any other thoughts?
Other experiential opportunities are to test drive luxury cars at a local motorsports park, hot air balloon rides at a large festival in the state, and other experiences with our sports partners (game tickets with perks like field access and private tours). We are currently working on a private practice session and lunch with current pro soccer players (NY Red Bulls), and we continue to explore other concepts with local establishments. We regularly look at research and survey our players to learn more about what experiences most interest them.
New Mexico Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
The New Mexico Lottery has a unique partnership with KRQE TV (CBS). Each year, the station includes three trip prizes for our players as part of the added value in our annual media buy. The Lottery determines the entry mechanism, which has been through second-chance promotions. Initially, the trips were to destinations that we determined, such as a music festival in Louisiana, a trip to San Francisco, etc. However, when COVID hit, players became wary of travel, and the trips that were pending were delayed. Meanwhile, we discovered that each winner is unique and wants to customize, extend or add on to their experience. So, we pivoted and began to offer “Build Your Own Trip” packages. The station works with the player to build a trip they would like to take. One winner even customized their prize into a road trip across the country.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Of course, cash is always the preferred player prize. However, allowing flexibility and giving our players the ability to take a trip anywhere THEY want (within the prize budget) has really made these prizes unique for each winner.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
Cost is always paramount. But most of all, just be reasonable. Don’t make it so complicated that the player is overwhelmed. Make sure that if there are out-of-pocket costs (like taxis or meals), they also receive cash in the bundle to help them cover the other expenses. And finally, think about the impact of taxes on players for these prizes.
Any other thoughts?
Flexibility and customization are key to any experience. The New Mexico Lottery was thrilled to send one of three finalists to the NASCAR Powerball Playoff event in Phoenix last fall. Our winner, Peter Schmitz, was delighted (he is a NASCAR fan) and came in for an interview.
North Carolina Education Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
In addition to cash prizes, many of our games also offer second-chance drawings for incredible experiences. Players can enter tickets purchased on select games into the drawings for a chance to win. Our Lucke-Rewards drawings also offer experiential prizes including the NASCAR Pace Car Experience and tickets to the storied Cameron Indoor Stadium to watch popular basketball rivalries such as Duke vs. the Tar Heels.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Players who win a North Carolina Education Lottery experience have called it a once in a lifetime moment. Working with our vendors and partners, we focus on making each a quality event. Here are a few examples. In the NASCAR Pace Car Experience, Steve Francis of Raleigh won this experience during a NASCAR race sponsored by the NCEL. He sat in the passenger seat of a pace car as it sped around the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, trailed by the roar of all the racers behind him just moments away from competition.
In The Price is Right Vegas Experience, six second-chance drawing winners from North Carolina won a trip to Las Vegas. In addition to the vacation, players from North Carolina competed in games from the legendary gameshow, The Price is Right, with a chance to win up to $50 million. Though no one flew home with the top prize, the trip and the thrill of the show remained an unforgettable memory for participants.
North Carolina players are twice lucky in the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year experience. Players win a trip to New York to welcome in the New Year on the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest show. Just after midnight, they take part in a live drawing on national television for $1 million. In each of the last two years, a lottery player from North Carolina won the big prize.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We work with our vendors to bring us experiential promotion opportunities that fit our overall portfolio strategy in North Carolina. Whether it is an experience that is specific to North Carolina or one that resonates with lottery players in general, we want to make sure that the promotion fits in with the overall goals of our marketing and product programs. Experiential prizes play an important role in the overall strategy and success of the Lottery if they are executed at a high level. We depend on our vendors for that execution.
Any other thoughts?
North Carolina Education Lottery staff members occasionally travel with second-chance winners to document all the fun and excitement. Videos from the experiences are posted online and receive tens of thousands of views. They enable lottery players across the state to get a taste of what it would be like to win one of these incredible trips. Players often share their interest in entering to win the next experience.
Ohio Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Our experiential prizes are typically associated with a scratch-off game, which provides players with an opportunity to enter their non-winning tickets on MyLotto Rewards to gain entry into a second-chance drawing. On occasion, an EZPLAY game is also included as an entry ticket.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Our Living Lucky Second Chance Promotion gave our players a chance to win an exclusive experiential trip package to see Luke Combs in Nashville. This unique prize offered more than just monetary rewards and appeared to resonate well with our players, as we saw a strong ticket index for the eligible games. Additionally, we noticed that the promotion attracted a younger group of entrants, which is not always the case. Overall, it was great to see the promotion appeal to a younger audience.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We look for something exclusive that Ohioans will be drawn to. Generally, cash is the preferred incentive, so the experience must resonate with our audience to drive participation.
Any other thoughts?
We are constantly searching for fresh and creative prizes to add into MyLotto Rewards. Our goal is to provide our players with unique and unforgettable experiences that keep them engaged and excited. This helps us not only retain existing members, but also attract new ones.
Pennsylvania Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Experiential prizes have been offered throughout the Pennsylvania Lottery’s history. Their popularity rises and falls with cultural trends and the economy; we’re now seeing that interest is on the rise. We have, at times, awarded non-cash prizes as a high-tier or top instant-win in a scratch-off game. However, our most recent experiential prizes were won through second-chance drawings tied to families of games across product lines. For example, our Everlasting Million Second-Chance Drawing was tied to our Willy Wonka-themed games. Also, some are tied to select draw-based games, like the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year Second-Chance Drawing, or the NASCAR Powerball Playoff Online Prize Drawing.
We also obtain prizing opportunities through our sponsorships across the state, like ticket giveaways to professional and minor league sporting events and concerts. Giveaways are conducted through our VIP Players Club and on social media. Sporting events include extras such as VIP suites, autographed memorabilia, player appearances, throwing out the first pitch, pre-race pit passes and more. Concerts include early entry to the venue and VIP seating.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Our players often tell us they enjoy the experiences that come from experiential prizes. Two lucky players recently shared their experience after they won a PA Lottery-sponsored Penn State Football Ticket Instagram Giveaway. Each player received two tickets to attend a home game and the opportunity to meet a former Penn State linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jack Ham – a highlight for both players!
Additionally, Pennsylvania had a player who made it to the semi-finals of the NASCAR Powerball Playoff Online Prize Drawing. The semifinalist is a long-time Pennsylvania Lottery player and NASCAR fan, who shared her excitement with us for a winner awareness video that was shared across our social media platforms and website. This winner video not only highlighted the player’s experience, but also brought awareness to the Lottery’s mission of generating funding for programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
When considering experiential prizes, we often ask what experience we can offer players that they cannot buy with a cash prize. The answer can go in a few directions. Vendor partners can, of course, research and seek out unique experience packages, but they can also add value to any experiential prize. For example, they can craft exclusive add-ons that only lottery winners can get. Perhaps an exclusive, hosted event added to travel, or one-of-a-kind access at a sports game or concert. Another sometimes overlooked value add is a concierge service for our winners. Excellent prize fulfillment is a great benefit vendor partners can bring to a lottery. From the minute a claim is validated, knowing that someone is taking care and walking a winner through what can be an intimidating process makes all the difference. Winning a trip of a lifetime is fantastic. Making the process easy, hassle-free, clear, and simple to understand takes it to another level.
Any other thoughts?
We recently surveyed VIP players about a variety of potential offers, including experiential prizes. Sure enough, there were respondents that said, essentially, “cash please.” However, a significant number of players were eager for a chance to win something different! Some examples: “I would definitely play more if these were actual prizes you could win” (Female, 35-44); “Destination prizes are exciting. Good idea.” (Male, 45-54); “I would be thrilled to win any of them!!! (Female, 65+); “I like the smaller experiences… they would attract more individuals to play that game for a chance to win.” (Female, 35-44)
Rhode Island Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
We’ll offer experiential prizes as second-chance promotions. Typically, they’ll be specific to one draw game or instant game, or sometimes a family of instant games may be eligible.
Most fun or popular experiences?
We’ve been giving away New England Patriots game tickets for at least 10 years, and that has always been one of our most-entered promotions. This year we added a trip to the “Big Game” in Las Vegas as well, and we’re looking forward to hearing how that experience is. We also have a sponsorship agreement with the theater in Rhode Island where we’ll get show tickets that we give away throughout the year as a part of the second chance. That gets a consistent group of players entering.
On a smaller scale over the summer, we offered a second chance with our in-state jackpot game for players to choose the prize they wanted to enter to win – Red Sox tickets or tickets to the International Tennis Hall of Fame (a first time offering this prize). More than half of the participants entered to win the baseball tickets.
Another successful promotion was for our Premier VIP ticket, with a “Winner’s Choice” second chance prize. Winners could choose between seven different trip prizes or a cash prize. (This game was developed during the pandemic, so many of the trip options were more “staycations” in case people weren’t comfortable with flying yet.) This promotion generated a lot of chatter on social media and in some of the media coverage, as people discussed which they might choose. In the end, all eight winners chose the cash prize.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We prefer to have prizes that are hard for players to get on their own, or experiences that are above and beyond what they might have bought for themselves. We have also found that as much as we’d like to offer these one-of-a-kind trip experiences which might attract a younger demographic, we still have older players who are buying our tickets and entering. So, the ability to offer a cash option, or at least a decent spending cash amount alongside the trip, is the best.
Texas Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
The Texas Lottery typically offers experiential prizes on single scratch ticket games or on a family of scratch ticket games. Our single scratch ticket games with second-chance prizes are spread throughout our fiscal year, and families are launched in September, January and May. The prizes are always awarded through promotional second-chance drawings.
Most fun or popular experiences?
Our experiential prizes are as diverse as our player base and we have received positive feedback on all of them. Players have joined Jerry Jones in the Dallas Cowboys “War Room” on the NFL draft day, traveled to Las Vegas to play Scientific Games’ $5 Million Vegas Challenge, flown to Hawaii for a dream getaway with a private Darius Rucker concert, and partied with celebrities at Elton John’s exclusive Academy Awards viewing party. And this is just the short list! In February, players will attend a private Luke Combs concert in Nashville. Currently, players have the chance to win a trip to the edge of space on a Space Perspective flight. We partnered with Space Perspective on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and this promotion alone has garnered dozens of press stories and millions of impressions.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
We give our vendors the following guidance when pitching experiential prizes: Experiential appeal (we are looking to offer our players a unique experience that money cannot buy) and the marketing package (we look to our vendor partners to include marketing support in these packages due to our limited advertising budget.) Each prize also needs to be turn-key. The responsibilities of development, fulfillment and oversight of the promotions fall on the vendors with input from the Texas Lottery.
Any other thoughts?
Our players love fabulous trips, but we know the ultimate prize is always cash. That is why we always include cash giveaways throughout each experiential trip. For example, a lucky winner will win $100,000 cash on the Space Perspective flight!
We have core players who play scratch ticket games with second-chance prizes, and the number of drawing entries for these prizes has grown drastically over the years. The ability to enter the second-chance drawings through our mobile app has made entry even easier for players and has also increased traffic to our mobile app. The Texas Lottery is statutorily limited to offering traditional scratch tickets and draw games. By offering these experiential prizes, we keep our players engaged, maintain relevance and receive marketing support.
Wisconsin Lottery
How are your experiential prize offers structured?
Our experiential prizes are most commonly with our Green Bay Packers scratch tickets every year. These prizes are awarded via a bonus drawing tied to the three Green Bay Packers scratch tickets we offer. We have also occasionally offered experiential prizes on linked games, such as Living Lucky with Luke Combs.
Most fun or popular experiences?
With all of our experiential prizes, we try to give away things that can’t be purchased. We do the same with the Packers Bonus Drawing, which has always had a good response. In the last few years, the top prize has been season tickets to Packers home games, which can be very hard to come by; the current waitlist to buy season tickets has about 147,000 names, and is expected to take 30 years to get through. So we have found that these prizes, which are difficult to get on your own, tend to generate the most buzz.
What are your expectations from vendor partners?
There are two big factors for us. First, that the prize has to be an experiential prize that is hard to come by. We find that the prize is less exciting when it is something that anyone can buy. And the experience has to be cost-effective for the Lottery. A deal that seems to have a higher value, and can create more excitement for players at a lower cost to the Lottery, is key.
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