47 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025 National Games, Global Vision: How Collaboration Is Shaping the Future of Lottery — continued from page 22 draw, and the NFL is heavily involved. This isn’t a passive sponsorship—they’ve been engaged from the start. They see this as a major partnership opportunity. This game has huge potential. It aligns core NFL fans (over 225 million in the U.S.) with light lottery players—exactly the audience we want to grow. We’re finalizing the prize structure now and aim to get game specs to vendors by August— giving us a full year to prep for launch in September 2026. A robust second-chance program will also be a major component. We’re excited, and there’s more to come. Matt Strawn: A lot to unpack. But let’s take a moment to appreciate how far we’ve come. As David Barden said at our board meeting, none of this is by accident. It’s the result of years of strategic committee work—starting with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve promos, then NASCAR, and now the NFL. Having a global brand like the NFL want to work with us is a major achievement. It confirms the strength of our strategy and brand appeal. We’re creating life-changing experiences not just through jackpots but through brands people already love. And this initiative sets the stage for something even bigger: our national CRM system. This will be a powerful tool—for data, for promotions, for loyalty programs. It allows every lottery in the country to offer a consistent player experience while linking back to each state’s own systems. We’ve just approved a major CRM investment, a vision long in the making. It’s a testament to the foresight of our members—and the foundation laid by those who came before us. One of them is David Barden, our immediate past president. Bret mentioned earlier the sales peaks and valleys in Powerball. David likes to remind me that the peaks happened under his watch—and I may be in a valley. But in all seriousness, David is part of the international working group, and activity with potential overseas partners has really picked up lately. David, can you share your thoughts on protecting and growing the brand internationally? David Barden: Before we begin, I just want to give a quick shout-out to our colleagues. I see Gretchen (Corbin) and Mark (Bracken). Thank you and all the Mega Millions directors for your collaboration. Working with you on the Mega game has been a pleasure, and I feel the relationship between our two groups has never been better. Credit to you all. It might’ve happened sooner had you sent chocolate, but better late than never. We’re excited about your new game and the growing camaraderie between our teams. I think we have seen a shift over the past couple years. More than ever, directors are all thinking beyond our own states. We’re asking, “How can we improve the industry as a whole?” That broader mindset has brought fresh energy—people like Gretchen, Mark, and Josh (Johnston. It’s made our work more collaborative and more fun. When our teams get stronger, the whole industry follows. That’s no accident—it’s taken careful planning on both sides, and it's brought us closer. The same goes for the MUSL side. As a football guy, I’ll say: it’s always football season. Jay, I’m excited about the NFL game. Historically, we’ve always tried to expand the population of players or tweak the matrix to provide better value for players. Now we’ve done both successfully, and our next step— hopefully—will be the UK agreement. We’re 99% there. Thanks to Stephen, our legal chair, who’s shepherded the agreement. Adding the UK gives us access to a major population base and could lead to one, two, or three additional jackpots annually. That’s a huge win. We’ve been working weekly with our UK partners, sometimes with 7:30 a.m. calls. Thanks to Bret, Pat, and Mark—who has also done great work as a lawyer in the International Working Group. We also engaged with Australia, but their regulators have held things up. Hopefully, once the UK goes live, Australia will follow. Our international efforts help us protect the Powerball brand and trademarks worldwide. If you use it, you can protect it. Pat Lance deserves special recognition—she’s been relentless, especially with Ireland. We’ve made real progress, and I can’t wait to see where we go next. Matt Strawn: Thanks, David. When you talk about protecting the brand internationally, that ties right into our recent research. The Powerball brand has strong recognition—not just among players but the general public too. This is critical, especially as we develop the Powerball app. At our board meeting this week, we saw a slide on Powerball app store downloads. Powerball wasn’t even listed. Only California and Texas lotteries made the top downloads list. The rest were imposters, websites which are not even authorized to sell Powerball. So, creating a national app isn’t just about user experience; it’s about brand protection, globally. The research also showed how strongly we’re viewed as responsible operators. One of the global leaders in responsible gaming has been Sarah Taylor. As a former NASPL President and chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee for the World Lottery Association, Sarah has pushed us to keep RG front and center—even as we chase growth and brand partnerships. Sarah, could you share a few thoughts about how RG has stayed integral to our conversations, especially through the development committee this week? Sarah Taylor: Thanks, Matt. First, a few shout-outs. Gretchen (Corbin) has led NASPL’s RG efforts, and we’ve had strong support on the WLA side too—first under Rebecca Paul’s presidency and now President (Andreas) Kotter. Lynne Roiter has been an amazing mentor. RG has really become part of our DNA. We’re investing serious resources in it now. Just this week, a fellow director told me they’re hiring a full-time CSR/RG manager. We’re helping each other level up—through buddy systems with WLA, supplier groups, and NASPL. It’s great to see development committee members now asking RG questions during presentations. We’ve come a long way. The MUSL team is stretching to make sure their promotions align with the highest RG standards. Vendors such as Kroger are also trying to implement best practices for in-store messaging. Continued on page 48
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