Player Health as a Catalyst for Sustainable Lottery Operations

The Colorado Lottery’s recent Gift Responsibly Campaign, emphasizing player health, was a huge success.

By Amanda Quintana, Player Health Manager, Colorado Lottery

Published February 17, 2026

Player health was the best gift of the holidays for the Colorado Lottery. In 2025, the Lottery expanded its annual Gift Responsibly Campaign (GRC) by integrating player health messaging more deeply across the retail and promotional environment during the holiday season.

For the first time, the refreshed message discouraging the gifting of lottery tickets to children was seen at point of sale, extending across vending machines, terminals, and digital displays, meeting players where purchasing decisions are made while maintaining a positive, non-judgmental tone. The campaign also introduced a new placement within a general scratch ticket promotion, featuring an end-card message reminding players that lottery tickets make “great gifts for grown-ups.”

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Key elements of the Gift Responsibly Campaign included expanded POS messaging across terminals and vending machines; in-person retailer visits with sales and promotions staff; a digital pledge campaign for players with incentivized participation; cross-channel reinforcement through radio, digital, and online marketing; and new responsible gifting messaging integrated into a general scratch ticket promotion.

This campaign ran from December 1 - December 31, 2025, was supported by a $30,000 budget, and utilized a mix of channels including paid posts on Meta (Facebook, Instagram), pre-roll video, radio ads, and programmatic video, ultimately generating a total of 4,708,365 impressions across all digital platforms. The scratch ticket promotion broadcast numbers are unavailable at the time of this article release, but received over 9 million impressions across digital platforms.

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Direct Player Engagement

The Lottery complemented traditional awareness efforts with direct, player-facing engagement. Working alongside the promotions and sales teams, Colorado conducted four in-person visits at multiple retail locations across the state, where staff spoke directly with players about lottery products and responsible gifting. These conversations were intentionally lighthearted, cheerful, and educational, reinforcing the message that lottery products are intended for adults while preserving the fun and excitement of the season.

Players were incredibly receptive and supportive of the Lottery’s education and presence within the retail environment. Many reported seeing or hearing the campaign through radio and online advertising, reinforcing the value of consistent, cross-platform messaging.

This multi-channel approach was further supported by a digital pledge campaign, which invited players to commit to gifting responsibly. Nearly 4,000 pledges were signed, an increase from fewer than 1,000 the previous year, demonstrating strong message recognition and engagement.

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Constant Evolution

Colorado is consistently working to improve and evolve practices with each iteration of its campaigns. The intention of this round was to bring the familiar message of gifting responsibly closer to players and the point of sale, connecting the dots between responsible gambling messaging and lottery games. In addition to the standard tweaks to the in-house creative used the previous year, the Lottery increased the budget, added messaging to terminals, and embedded the digital pledge directly on the website. Previous years utilized a third-party site for the pledge. By bringing it onto the trusted Lottery website, the Lottery strengthened the validity of the offering and increased participation. The addition of the end card placement to the general scratch ticket promotion followed this same vein, working to further align the messages. The Lottery was intentional to not change the message of the ad, but instead, growing its impact with the end card message.

It’s important to note that these enhanced player health efforts did not come at the expense of product performance. In December 2025, the Lottery saw sales increase compared to the same period the year prior, despite the expanded presence of responsible gambling messaging. Together, these outcomes challenge the long-standing perception that player protection initiatives work in competition with revenue goals. Colorado is working to demonstrate the alternative: player health initiatives build brand trust, promote responsible usage, and enhance organizational sustainability.

Colorado’s experience illustrates that thoughtfully designed player health initiatives, especially those that are integrated, multi-channel, upbeat, and player-centered, can strengthen trust, engagement, and long-term sustainability. For lotteries across North America that are navigating evolving products and heightened public expectations, it’s important to note that embedding player health into core operations is not only responsible; it is a strategic advantage.

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