Director of Communications and Public Relations, Kentucky Lottery
By NASPL Headquarters
Published November 19, 2024
In this day and age, it is increasingly important for any business to have a strong communications program, sensitive to the public’s need for transparency regardless of the industry. Lotteries in particular have such a good story to tell, and it is the goal of people like Terry Sebastian to ensure that the word gets out.
“The most fun part about tapping Terry for this honor was knowing that he is THE LAST PERSON to want any attention directed toward himself,” says Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Mary Harville. “We have been so fortunate to have Terry on our team. He brought us the whole package: an experienced communications professional, creative, innovative, and importantly for us here at the KY Lottery, very collaborative. He’s been with us less than a year, but because his learning curve was so short, he’s been able to accomplish many things. He’s already undertaken a number of impactful initiatives, and in particular, he’s contributed to significantly moving the needle on beneficiary awareness and also has completely owned and revitalized our responsible gambling program – now called “Positive Play” – and is taking it to a new level.”
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A career communications professional, Sebastian came to the Kentucky Lottery last December after a three-year stint with the Kentucky Department of Vehicle Regulation; that marked the end of his 30 years of service in Kentucky state government including the Governor’s office, the Attorney General’s office, and the Kentucky Justice Cabinet. Of course, the quasi-governmental Kentucky Lottery Corp. is not that far removed from being a state agency, so he had an advantage going in.
He feels fortunate to have joined an organization that already had great working relationships with reporters. “I attribute that to the hard work and talent of our marketing and communications teams here over the years, and I walked into my role at the Lottery with that benefit. And having worked with the media myself for 30 years, there is a level of trust and respect on both sides.”
That said, he still feels that among the general public, there is a lack of understanding about all the moving parts it takes to operate a lottery. “Through community engagement events and award nominations, we have tried to educate the business community here in Kentucky on the depth of talent and knowledge it takes to manage, at every level, a $2 billion corporation.”
Long ago, Sebastian learned the fun of playing lottery games from his mom, who passed away in 2013. She was particularly fond of Powerball, while he initially gravitated towards licensed-brand scratch tickets. When he joined the Kentucky Lottery, that necessarily ended his Kentucky play, but he still enjoys some exercise when biking across the Ohio River to purchase lottery tickets in Indiana from time to time. “It’s healthy wagering when I’m burning calories [it’s a 12-mile bike ride] and getting my Powerball tickets,” he says with a smile, choosing Powerball in memory of his mom.
On the home front, he and his husband Ryan have been married for more than 10 years. “We are very active and play a lot of tennis.” In fact, Sebastian has been playing tennis since he was eight years old. “There wasn’t a lot of money growing up, so I taught myself to play hitting acorns against the barn.” As he got older, he started playing in competitions and tournaments. More recently, he taught Ryan to play.
Sebastian also spends time with an extended family – a sister, four nieces and eight grand grand-nieces and nephews. It’s a close family, especially after his mom passed away.
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Biking and tennis are joined by hot yoga as ways to help keep stress levels down, and two 160-pound Great Danes (Carl and Colt) also help with that. They expect long walks every morning at 5:30am, and again when Sebastian gets home from work. “It’s our time together.” He’s also fond of reading, with a preference towards mystery and detective fiction, and the audio book format is great for dog walking and other activities. “I like to stay busy, no matter what it is.”
Sebastian has a bachelor’s degree in journalism (with a minor in political science) from Eastern Kentucky University, where he was named Outstanding Journalism Graduate. He is also a graduate of the Duke University Governors Center on Strategic Leadership, a Brazil Rotary Fellow, and currently serves as a United Way of Kentucky board member.
What brought you to the Kentucky Lottery?
I was in the process of retiring from state government after 30 years, as it was time to do something different. A colleague and mentor, Ellen Hesen, with whom I worked for years in government, reached out about an opportunity to join the Lottery. She had retired from state government herself and took a job at the Lottery as Chief of Staff. I had worked with the Lottery team previously in my government days, but I still did my homework. I was blown away by the level of talent and innovation. When I met with President and CEO Mary Harville, I knew the Lottery would be a great fit for me.
Does your extensive background in various state government positions give you an advantage in your Kentucky Lottery position?
Absolutely. In my previous communications and policy roles in government, I worked to ensure Kentuckians knew that government was working for them. I had the privilege to work and lead high-performance teams on statewide projects like rolling out the Affordable Care Act in 2013, holding the bad actors in Big Pharma accountable for their role in causing Kentucky’s opioid epidemic, and even launching the state’s move from a county to statewide model of driver licensing under the federal REAL ID requirement.
It’s no different at the Lottery. The Kentucky Lottery is a quasi-government agency created by a constitutional amendment in 1988. In 1999, the legislature directed Lottery proceeds to fund scholarships and grants for Kentucky students and families. We have a clear mission: transfer a portion of our revenues to state government to fund educational opportunities that are life-changing for so many Kentuckians. One of my favorite parts of this job is telling the stories of our beneficiaries. I love the team mentality on all of our projects. It’s just like my days in state government.
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How do you handle beneficiary awareness?
Again, the Lottery has done an amazing job over the years to highlight our beneficiaries. I mentioned earlier about doing my homework ahead of working here. I didn’t realize that Kentucky Lottery proceeds helped fund seven scholarships and grants. One of my first thoughts was to broaden our messaging to show the students and families benefiting from all our scholarships and grants. And I say families because it’s the parents of students who are at their computers every night with their spreadsheets calculating how they are going to pay for their family’s education.
With the help of the Lottery team, especially our Content Producer and Strategist (who just happens to have 10 Emmy Awards from his television reporting days), we are creating content that shows the students, families and educational institutions benefiting from all seven scholarships and grants that our proceeds fund. I’m especially proud of what we have done so far in highlighting the Work Ready Scholarship and the Dual Credit Scholarship. We are currently working on similar videos for the National Guard Scholarship and the Teacher Scholarship.
In 2025, my communications team will be working with our marketing team to roll out another creative beneficiary awareness campaign on further awareness to our players, retailers and stakeholders.
With responsible gambling also under your umbrella, what are the keys to the Lottery’s RG program, and how does iLottery fit into the mix?
The Kentucky Lottery has a Responsible Gambling Committee composed of members from our communications, marketing, sales, legal and products teams. We meet several times throughout the year to gauge where we are and where we can improve.
The Communications Department helps fund our 1-800-GAMBLER hotline through a sponsorship with the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling. While we support those players who may need assistance through the hotline, 1-800-GAMBLER is not a responsible gambling message but rather an information callout for treatment support. We do have an outstanding program here at the Lottery called Positive Play that educates our players with tips and tools for their play. We are broadening this Positive Play message because the vast majority of lottery players do not perceive themselves as gamblers.
With iLottery, we just received our fifth Internet Compliance Assessment Program (ICAP) certification through our membership with the National Council on Problem Gambling. iCAP’s objective is consumer protection, ensuring safe gambling practices for players on our iLottery platform. Our ICAP recertification was one of the first projects I worked on when I arrived at the Lottery in late 2023. It was a team effort from our President and CEO and our Responsible Gambling Committee. We all learned so much from this assessment and are using key pieces of it to further improve our responsible gambling program.
Additionally, we just submitted our recertification application for the NASPL-NCPG responsible gambling verification program, and we look forward to all the ideas and suggestions we garner from the group of RG experts reviewing our program.
Is there anything that really surprised you about the lottery industry?
I didn’t realize how complex the lottery industry was until I took this position. Attending industry conferences and managing strategic communications really opened my eyes about what goes into selling every single lottery ticket. Although lotteries are governmental or quasi-governmental entities, they are so different than other state government operations. There is so much creativity and innovation that goes into producing record revenues year after year. That includes game development but also marketing programs, especially when some lotteries, including Kentucky, are increasingly competing with other forms of gambling. At the same time, I’ve learned first-hand about the integrity of drawings, which is so critical for all lotteries. I truly had no idea how successful the lottery industry is in the face of all that.
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Is there anything you wish the Kentucky Lottery, or even the lottery industry in general, could do differently?
This is a tough question because every lottery is composed differently depending on how they were established in their states. Depending on the structure, each lottery has its own set of challenges. I will say that given the revenues lotteries produced in the last fiscal year, each seems to be really thriving. But given increased competition from myriad forms of expanded gaming, I think lotteries need to continue to lean into innovation whether that’s through vendors or partnerships with other lotteries on projects.
What do you enjoy the most about working for the Lottery? The least?
I really enjoy working with the amazing team we have here at the Kentucky Lottery. I learn something from them every day, and I could work here 20 or 30 years and still never have time to tell everyone’s story and just how talented they are – and how that all translates into sending profits to scholarships and grants.
What I like the least? When a Kentuckian doesn’t win a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot!
