EUROPEAN STATE LOTTERIES AND TOTO ASSOCIATION

Instant Lotteries
Italy
We started managing instant tickets in
2004. We first offered low price tickets:
in 2005 we had just 1,00 – 2,00 and 3,00
euros games. In the following years we’ve
started a strong product innovation process:
in 2007 only, our scratch-off game mix
was three 1,00 euro games, seven 2,00 euros
games, four 3,00 euros games, two 5,00
euros game and one 10,00 euros game. In
2008, we have launched on the market two
2,00 euros games, one 3,00 euros game and
one 1,00 euros game. In January 2007, we
decided to enter a different price category
for instant lotteries and we launched the
first high price-point ticket of 10e “Mega
Miliardario”. After almost one year, in February
2008 we launched the second 10e
scratch-off ticket: “Colpo Vincente”.
These latest tickets are targeted to a different
customer segment and they are
developed on different themes which are
relevant to the target. One of these games,
“Mega Miliardario” is a key number match
game based on a money theme, the other
one “Colpo Vincente” is a multi-game (2
games) based on a gambling theme. First
of its kind, the high cost “Mega Miliardario”
has performed very well, selling over 730
millions euros during the first 3 months of
sales (35% of the total sales).
Before presenting these games to players,
we conducted several market researches
focused on the product and on the specific
target. In order to match customer
expectations on such high price point, we
developed innovative product features: we
introduced the highest jackpot (1 million
Performance of scratch-off is key
Euros) in the history of instant tickets in
Italy, along with a huge number of lower
prizes. Also, the payout percentage of the
first 10,00 euros game is 75%, while the
average payout of the rest of the games is
around 65%.
Although we have had great success with
these 10,00 euros games, this is as far as
we are willing to go for 2008: we do not
think today our market is ready for games
in an even higher price point but we are
thoroughly studying and testing product
solutions which would be potentially accepted
by our customers even at higher
price points. As a matter of fact, our lowprice
tickets are doing really good and we
are going to continue presenting more low
and mid-price scratch-off games. Our market
researches show that the typical player,
interested in these high price-point games
are mainly males (72%), in the 25-54 years
category (74%). They also play other games
(mainly betting and slot machines). More
than half of them (54%) live in the south
of Italy. They have a higher level of education
than the players of lower price points.
Therefore, we think these players will most
likely be loyal - a fact that is confirmed by
our Customer Satisfaction Surveys which
are telling us that they are very happy with
this kind of games, because of their high
level of suspense and high payout.
Due to the fact that we only offer 2 games
in the high price point range, we do not
expect losing large number of players who
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P AN RAMA
otherwise would not be able to afford these
high-price games. We have on the market
18 games in the lower price-point range, so
players have wide choice when it comes to
their level of spending.
In order to keep the whole experience a
safe enjoyment, we have meticulously designed
these tickets, their prize structure
and their payout to avoid any excessive
gambling. Also we are considering having a
limited edition of high price points in order
to reduce the product availability on the
shelf. Finally, we are preparing a special
information campaign to discourage excessive
gambling (part of our corporate social
responsibility program) and we have introduced
a dedicated text message on back of
all our new tickets.
Since we started to manage instant lotteries,
we have come to realize that this market
needs continuous innovation. So even if
we build our products to satisfy our players’
needs as longer as possible, we periodically
introduce new tickets to offer to our customer
as much amusement as possible (on
the other side, we eliminate the less performing
tickets). Middle price points tickets
(2-3 euros) need a new launch every 2-
4 months, higher price points (5-10 euros)
need a new launch once a year.
To introduce even more variety in our game
mix, we are currently evaluating new formulas
like “win for life” prizes and combined
games (instants and deferred lotteries).