14 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 From Advocacy to Action: The European Lotteries’ Strategic Renewal Romana Girandon Chief Executive Officer, Loterija Slovenije President, The European Lotteries Paul Jason: During your first term, you placed great emphasis on the positive societal impact of lotteries and the importance for lotteries to demonstrate this. This remains a key focus under your leadership. How can The European Lotteries go even further to assist its members in emphasizing that lotteries are different compared to other operators and other forms of gambling? Romana Girandon: In today’s fast-paced world, where attention spans are short and nuances are often lost, lotteries cannot assume their societal role is understood. The difference must be clearly demonstrated, and integrated into their brand messaging. Lotteries create value through lower-risk products, high responsibility standards and by reinvesting revenues into good causes. Our task is to show this clearly and consistently. A recent communication by EL during the Winter Olympics, underscoring the essential role national lotteries play in sustaining the Olympic movement, is one such example. That is why The European Lotteries, together with the World Lottery Association, will invest more in shared data and transparency, giving our members solid evidence when engaging with regulators, policymakers and the public. This supports advocacy at European level while also strengthening national discussions. But facts and data alone are not enough. We must also tell our story better and show what these figures mean in real life. Lotteries have helped build fairer, more just, and more caring societies, and have become part of everyday life across Europe, woven into our culture, leisure and shared moments of communities and families. The marketing seminar in Barcelona focused on exactly this – the importance of storytelling and why lotteries need to invest in it. You also commented on the initiatives you have undertaken in Slovenia to inform stakeholders and the wider public about the social contributions of the lotteries. How can these experiences help European lotteries connect more effectively with stakeholders across Europe? R. Girandon: I shared this story because it was an important lesson for me personally. Lotteries have such a rich history, yet much of it remains surprisingly unknown. In Slovenia, no institution had ever systematically recorded or researched this history, not even the lottery itself. So Loterija Slovenije decided to fund this research as a gift to the community for our organization’s 50th anniversary. We found clear evidence that the lottery in our region has existed to support the common good for at least 300 years. Whenever society faced a major challenge, the lottery helped address it. Today you can actually read Slovenian history through lottery tickets: wars, social crises, earthquakes, community and religious needs, patriotic initiatives, and more. This led to an exhibition with a clear message: without the lottery, our towns, streets and lives would not look the way they do today. Sharing these stories publicly changed the tone of many of our relationships, from beneficiaries and employees to regulators, shareholders, players and the wider public. One key stakeholder even checked our claims about the Ljubljana Cathedral and was amazed to discover that our connection goes far beyond the funds we provide for good causes today. Taken together, stories like these across Europe show that lotteries are much more than just games. They are an important social mechanism that has helped co-create European culture as a long-term societal partner. That is why we should seek broader recognition of this legacy - why not even be recognized by UNESCO. Positive societal impact is not just about returning money to society, but also about minimizing harm. Regulators and governments are increasingly sensitive to this, especially in markets with multiple gambling providers competing with each other. Governments impose additional requirements not only on high-risk gambling, but also on lotteries, some of which impair PGRI INTERVIEWS
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