Kansas Lottery Delivers Highly-engaging Player Experience

Since it was established in 1987, the Kansas State Lottery has been tasked with not only generating revenue for the State, but also ensuring the integrity of its games. That includes $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, and $30 scratch tickets, plus $1 and $2 instant “pull-tab” games. Kansas Lottery players enjoy Powerball, Mega Millions, Hot Lotto, Lucky for Life, Super Kansas Cash, Pick 3, 2by2, Keno, and Kansas Hold’Em draw games.

In 2016, with its 30th anniversary approaching, the Lottery was looking to update its Kansas Lottery Players Club, an email and web-based loyalty program, and seriously step up its player experience.

A need for broader appeal and stronger data relationships

Stuck with a legacy loyalty solution that no longer delivered the amount of data needed or the quality of experience players had come to expect, Kansas Lottery knew this milestone anniversary was the perfect opportunity to completely transform the Kansas Lottery Players Club into the PlayOn® Players Loyalty Program. The limitations of its current email and web-based program presented several challenges, highlighting the need for key capabilities:

Leverage member data to more effectively communicate with players
Because Kansas Lottery products are only sold in person by the 1,800 licensed Kansas State retailers, the Lottery had no direct relationship with its players. That meant it was lacking in member data and the ability to market to and reward its players.

Multi-channel options to drive retention, engagement, and revenue
With its current program lacking in engagement opportunities, Kansas Lottery recognized offering a modern player engagement and loyalty program with mobile-first design and conveniences would create opportunities for Kansas Lottery to engage and bond with its players.

Loyalty platform and strategy expertise for running the day-to-day program
Coming from a program that was simple in scope and management, the Kansas Lottery team knew it would need support in developing and implementing an ongoing loyalty strategy.

  • 28% increase in new members
  • 80% increase in engagement
  • 126% increase in average player spend

Driving retention, engagement, and revenue

The Kansas Lottery selected Marigold Loyalty, with its partner Pollard Banknote, to replace its legacy program with a modern loyalty solution to meet current and future needs. From initial strategy and program design, points economy development, and web and mobile design, the team created and launched the new PlayOn Players Loyalty program within three months.

On January 25, 2017, the PlayOn program officially replaced the Kansas Lottery Players Club, automatically and seamlessly transferring all existing members to the new program. In just its first nine months, PlayOn drove significant growth for the Kansas Lottery — membership grew 28%, player engagement reached its highest recorded levels, and average player spend was up 126% from pre-program results. From segmentation and tailored campaigns, to social engagement, communications, loyalty, and rewards offerings, PlayOn has demonstrated record results:

  • Sales growth of 44% through specific targeted campaign efforts.
  • Membership increase month/month higher than any previous run rate.
  • Purchase engagement (ticket scanning) nearly 5M tickets entered, not possible prior to mobile scanning.
  • Player market share on par with Lottery programs in market for years.
  • Program advocacy increases due to social media integrations, Refer-A-Friend, and marketing promotion codes.

We’ve seen a steady increase of members engaging in the new program and we really believe it adds fun and excitement via the many more ways it offers players to win prizes and big bucks.TERRY PRESTA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KANSAS LOTTERY

Marigold Loyalty delivers on a brand new, highly engaging player experience

With Marigold Loyalty, Kansas Lottery was able to quickly create an entirely new program and player experience, delivering on its 30th year deadline in short order. This multifaceted program launch for Kansas Lottery’s PlayOn loyalty program included:

  • New PlayOn Mobile App
  • Database Migration
  • Web and Mobile Geo-Fencing
  • Player Communication (News, Push, Emails, Offers)
  • Store Locator
  • Dashboards and Reports
  • Player Interaction Profile/My Draws
  • Offers, Free Plays, Challenges, Surveys
  • Submit Tickets (Manual and Scan)
  • Drawings and Rewards
  • New Player Acquisition (Referral and Promo Codes)
  • Ongoing Campaign/Content Strategy for Weekly, Relevant Engagement Opportunities

The ultimate goal was to improve customer experience, in order to increase engagement and retention. With the new and improved loyalty program, members can now:

  • Earn points by submitting tickets (winning and non-winning, instant and draw).
  • Win points by participating in fun activities, interactive games, surveys, referrals and more.
  • Use points to enter drawings for a chance to win cash and prizes (eg: sweepstakes).
  • Download the PlayOn app, scan tickets, and automatically enter them into a second chance drawing while adding to PlayOn points.

According to Kansas Lottery’s Executive Director, Terry Presta, “We’ve seen a steady increase of members engaging in the new program and we really believe it adds fun and excitement via the many more ways it offers players to WIN prizes and big bucks.”

In 2017, as it celebrated 30 years, Kansas Lottery delivered its second best year ever, transferring $75.2 million to the state with the launch of its market-leading, innovative

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