The Best of Times for iLottery
- Insights Online
- Jun 17
- 13 min read
The launch of Connecticut’s iLottery program a year ago began a flurry of online developments among American lotteries.
By Patricia McQueen
Published June 17, 2025
It has been more than 13 years since the first American lottery launched an iLottery program – Illinois in March 2012. Yet there was a gap of about 3½ years, from December 2020 to June 2024, without a single new launch. That has changed in a big way. By the end of this month, four lotteries will have gone live over the past year: Connecticut, West Virginia, Kansas and Delaware. Still others are either working on development or have increased legislative interest.
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Offering only draw games are Illinois (March 2012), North Dakota (July 2014) and Connecticut (June 2024). Tennessee introduced Anytime Powerball on its mobile app in January, while the New York Lottery has offered online subscriptions for certain draw games since November 2005.
And in just a few weeks, the Delaware Lottery will begin its iLottery journey with eInstants; draw games will be added later.
There’s even more! The Maryland Lottery recently received approval for online subscription sales, and while the planning process is ongoing with details still being worked out, the new system could launch around the end of the calendar year or shortly thereafter. Maryland already offers subscriptions to its My Lottery Rewards members, but players have to mail a printed form with a check or money order. Once launched online, subscribers will be able to make online payments via debit or ACH transfer; credit cards are not allowed. There is also a retailer component – the current plan enables people to buy vouchers at retail that can be redeemed for online subscription purchases. That will make it feasible to give a subscription as a gift, which is not possible with the current mail-in system.
In about a year’s time, the Massachusetts Lottery expects to go live with its iLottery platform, which will include both eInstants and draw games. The Lottery issued a Request for Response for a full-service iLottery platform and related services on April 25, and bidder submissions were due June 13. “The review and evaluation process is expected to be completed sometime in August, when we anticipate announcing the selected bidder,” says Chief iLottery Officer Christian Teja. “We continue to work toward launching our iLottery platform in the summer of 2026.”
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eInstant Growth in North Carolina
The North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) is completing its first full year with eInstants. They joined draw games in the iLottery portfolio in November 2023, and have quickly become a significant revenue producer. They may become the Lottery’s most popular product by sales in FY26; more than 45 games are now active.
NCEL’s first multi-state progressive eInstant game, Monopoly, connects play with lotteries in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Monopoly quickly produced a record jackpot when a North Carolina player won $6.7 million in April. Another first was Quick 6 Extra, the Lottery’s first on-demand draw-style game, continuing the diversification of digital game types.
Also of note, an expanded responsible gambling toolkit adds a cool off tool, where players can take a break for 24 hours, 3, 7 or 15 days, or up to 30 days. And a new Customer Data Experience Platform will provide more relevant and timely marketing messaging to players.
“The main focus at this time is building our game portfolio and diversifying the types of digital instant games that can be played in an effort to grow our base of players,” explains Chief Product Officer Randy Spielman. “That’s the key to building on the success the Lottery has seen so far with this product line.”
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Connecticut’s First Year
The Connecticut Lottery just celebrated the one-year anniversary of iLottery, as its system launched last June. All of the Lottery’s draw games, except Fast Play instant win games, are available on the platform: Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky for Life, Lotto, Cash5, Play3, Play4 and Keno; eInstants are not allowed due to the current regulatory environment in Connecticut. The Lottery soft-launched its system on June 10, 2024, with an initial cap of 5,000 registered users. The system opened to everyone on June 28, 2024.
That soft launch helped ease the way to iLottery on the heels of a major system-wide conversion (completed in 2023 with new vendor IGT). After a competitive bidding process, IGT was also selected for Connecticut’s iLottery platform. Using the same technology provider for both certainly wasn’t a necessity, but it was a factor that helped get iLottery up and running as quickly as possible.
The only real issue that surfaced at the beginning was related to email. Some providers would sporadically flag email communications from the Lottery as spam or suspicious, so players occasionally had problems completing their registrations. IGT and the Lottery’s team worked around the clock to address the issue, even switching temporarily to a different email domain. “It was really the only thing during the soft launch that gave us any pause,” notes Chief Operating Officer Lauren Perrotti.
Ever since, it has been full speed ahead. As its first year comes to completion, iLottery sales and profits are on track to hit the targets for both sales ($10 million) and profits ($2 million). From that perspective, the results have been very good, and player acquisition has been a success as well. “Part of the intention of iLottery was to meet players where they are – and we found them!” exclaims Perrotti. “They are enjoying the platform.”
Players are also encouraged to play responsibly. Responsible gambling has always been a high priority for the Connecticut Lottery, so it’s no surprise that the iLottery platform has a number of RG tools available for players. Four in particular are baked into the system architecture, explains Manager of Vendor Compliance Bryan Figueroa. They include timeout (cooling-off) options from 72 hours to 90 days; on-screen reminders with elapsed play counters; an RG button on every page linking to a wealth of information and resources about responsible play; and voluntary self-exclusion. “We’re very proud of our commitment to RG, and it’s really part of the fabric here. We insisted that it be in every part of the app and in our online portal,” he explains.
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Default limits for purchases are $5,000 daily, $35,000 weekly and $150,000 monthly; while default deposit limits are $1,000, $5,000 and $20,000, respectively. Players have the option to change their limits at any time.
With the first year under its belt, the team is evaluating a number of things. “First on our to-do list is to really refine our promotions now that we have data about what players like, and may not like,” says Perrotti. More personalization is in the works, and player feedback is being incorporated to improve various components of the system.
She has one big piece of advice for others going down this path: make sure you have plenty of time in the schedule! Not just to make sure the technology is running smoothly, but also to get a lottery's entire staff behind the project. “There needs to be enough time for everyone to learn about what the new platform brings, and how it affects them and their processes and procedures. Having all employees be part of the experience is a best practice that keeps you from feeling the pressure of time as you make critical decisions along the way. In the end, I think that makes your product better.”
Her other recommendation? Have a full-time project manager who can focus entirely on the project’s impact on lottery operations and marketing, separate from the vendor’s project team. “It allows for better collaboration between teams, efficient deadline management, and encourages accountability among peers.”
Without the natural growth path other lotteries may have through eInstants, Connecticut hopes to keep moving the needle by providing a great player experience, an enjoyable app, and exciting and interesting sponsorships and promotions, including cross-promotions with the Lottery’s retail products. Perrotti is quite happy with the sales generated to date, especially considering that no additional Lottery resources were brought to bear to get the system launched. “We’re bringing a new revenue stream to the state and providing players with a modern experience. We want to keep moving forward.”
Reaching for the Peaks in West Virginia
The West Virginia Lottery’s introduction of iLottery just in time for Halloween last October was done in a big way worthy of the Mountain State. It came with new lottery branding and a completely new website, mobile app and loyalty program – the ultimate goal was to treat players with a totally new digital experience and provide a 360-degree view of the player.
As the Lottery planned its iLottery program together with NeoPollard Interactive, extensive research was conducted by Leger, identifying both barriers and motivators. The top barriers included concerns about security and privacy, while motivators that could be leveraged included rewards and incentives, multiple ways to play, and the strength of government regulation. These served as the basis for the new brand promise (iPlay) and comprehensive loyalty program (PlayOn). PlayOn and iPlay work in sync, with all iLottery players automatically enrolled in the loyalty program. Of course, retail players can also sign up to enjoy the rewards; there’s no “retail” vs. “digital” with PlayOn. “We needed to ensure that iLottery became a part of the well-known and trusted West Virginia Lottery brand,” explains Danielle Snidow, Deputy Director, Marketing.
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The launch took an innovative approach, as everything happened at once. The iLottery platform wasn’t simply an addition to the Lottery’s existing website – it was a full integration that meant some website downtime. “Although we prepared messaging in advance, it still caused some disruption for players.” There was a bit of a learning curve as players navigated the new site and its connections to iPlay and PlayOn, but that’s typically the case with any significant website relaunch.
In the beginning, iPlay games included a slate of eInstants, plus Powerball, Mega Millions and Lotto America; Daily 3, Daily 4 and Cash 25 were added in February. That’s all of the Lottery’s products except the monitor games Keno and Cash Pop. There are no current plans to bring those to iPlay, but anything’s possible. “We’re always listening to player feedback and keeping an eye on what resonates – so we’ll continue to evaluate and evolve our offerings over time,” says Snidow. “Right now, our focus is on optimizing the player experience with our existing draw games and eInstants, enhancing loyalty features, and continuing to build out robust responsible gaming tools.”
Those tools include default deposit limits of $2,000 daily/weekly and $4,000 monthly; players can set a lifetime deposit limit as well. Self-exclusion, either for one year or lifetime, has been an option since startup. Play and loss limits are a more recent addition. Players have the option to change their limits at any time; reductions take effect immediately, while there is a 48-hour wait for any increase to these numbers. Among other RG tools are cooling-off periods from 24 hours to 30 days and timed pop-ups that alert players to time spent.
PlayOn has quickly become a player favorite, notes Snidow. “It’s helping us connect retail and digital in a meaningful way, and we’re planning to expand it with more exclusive promotions, gamified challenges, and second-chance draws. All designed to keep players engaged across platforms.”
West Virginia naturally learned from those lotteries that have gone down this path before. Some of the best practices adopted include a mobile-first design; collaboration of compliance and legal teams to stay ahead of potential issues with Know Your Customer considerations; and clear player communication. Where West Virginia deviated in some ways from other lotteries were to not over-emphasize large jackpots (a conscious decision to promote the full value of the iPlay experience to encourage long-term engagement) and to be well-prepared for onboarding challenges (lotteries can underestimate how tricky the registration process can be for new users).
“Overall, our goal was to learn from others, but tailor our rollout to fit West Virginia’s players and priorities,” says Snidow. That meant keeping things player-first, mobile-friendly, and focused on building trust from day one.”
West Virginia’s key takeaways to share with others?
Invest in player support with 24/7 availability.
Over-communicate the “why” – specifically when players are asked for things like Social Security numbers or address verification. “Their first reaction is often hesitation; clearly explaining why we need certain information helped build trust and reduce drop-off.”
Player education (about RG, game rules and odds) doesn’t stop after launch and requires constant reinforcement.
Bridge digital and retail from the start. This has been one of the most important lessons. PlayOn helped unify the two, rewarding players whether they play online or in-store.
Stay flexible and listen. "We took players’ feedback seriously and made real improvements early on that helped with adoption and engagement."
In short: treat retail and digital as one connected experience, support your players well, and never stop listening!
Takeoff in Kansas
The Kansas Lottery made its iLottery debut in February, offering eInstants, Powerball and Mega Millions. Ultimately, more draw games will be added to the mix.
All of the Lottery’s major vendor contracts have enhancement options, so the Kansas team heard what each of them had to offer. They chose Pollard Banknote to develop the platform; the company already provides Kansas’ PlayOn loyalty program. “We selected Pollard because we really like their back-office tools, we thought they were the best fit for what we wanted for the player experience, and thought they might be able to come to market a little faster than our other options,” explains Deputy Director Craig Paschang.
And indeed, it was only six months from the time the contract was signed last August until launch, although Pollard had already been doing pre-planning legwork going back to February 2024. Programming started after the contract was signed, and the platform entered user acceptance testing just two months later. “It was full speed ahead; we were probably ready to launch in January, but we wanted to make sure we were super ready so we waited until February. It was an extraordinarily fast turnaround.”
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Kansas had some very specific game design requirements – in particular, slower game play (five- to ten-second reveal times) and themes that didn’t look anything like casino games. Casinos in Kansas are actually owned by the Kansas Lottery, with private operators managing them. “We wanted to make it very clear that our iLottery platform is not iCasino. We are protecting our casino partners and what they have the legal ability to offer,” adds Paschang.
Launching with only Powerball and Mega Millions on the draw game side certainly helped with speed to market. But there was another important consideration – letting retailers adjust to the concept. The Lottery also provided retailers with dedicated QR codes for iLottery registration. The thinking was that it would allow retailers to participate and potentially even receive a commission, but those QR codes were hardly used anywhere. “Still, it was nice to have them available to show our retail partners that we are interested in their concerns about the potential impact of iLottery.”
Kansas is working on other ways to involve retailers, such as “iLottery cash” cards that can be purchased at retail for account funding. Importantly, the Lottery’s first omnichannel game will launch soon, Black Diamond Club. Every instant ticket will have a QR code for trial of the eInstant version, and in future omnichannel games there will be a mechanism through the eInstant prize tiers that will drive players to retail. “We are still working things out, and we’re excited to see how that works,” says Paschang.
Importantly, retailers will be the first to see progressive lottery games in Kansas, with Fast Play games offering growing jackpots beginning this summer. It won’t be until later that progressives will be added to the eInstant lineup. There are no plans to add Fast Play to the iLottery platform; such games would not meet the desired five- or ten-second minimum online game reveals.
The most popular in-state draw game, Super Kansas Cash, will be added to the iLottery lineup later this year. Lotto America and 2x2 could be next in line, but there is no definite timeline.
Responsible gambling is also a key part of the Kansas Lottery culture, and the iLottery platform has various player tools, such as deposit limits and a time clock on play. The default funding limits are $10,000 daily, $50,000 weekly and $100,000 monthly. At this writing, there have been 1,753 players who have set their own funding limits, out of about 82,000 Know-Your-Customer verified players.
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There is also an AI tool that can analyze typical player behavior over a period of time, and identify any outliers for specific communications. The goal is not to discourage play, but to hopefully catch people exhibiting problem gambling habits. “Responsible gambling for so long has been reactive, where you have to wait until someone says they have a problem,” explains Cory Thone, the Lottery’s Director of Social Media and Public Information. “With these new tools, it gives us a chance to be proactive with our players and keep their best interests at the forefront.”
The iLottery project in Kansas was led by Paschang as the project manager, but there were multiple levels of hierarchy so everyone involved knew where to get answers. Importantly, employees from across the lottery volunteered their time to test various stages of development. “It made the project more personal for everybody here, because we all worked on it,” says Thone.
It’s only been a few months, but the Kansas Lottery team is very happy with what they are seeing in terms of deposit rates and play, and of course they are thrilled with how fast everything came together.
On Deck: Delaware
Delaware’s iLottery app is set to launch by the end of this month, delivering a streamlined and enhanced experience for existing loyalty members while also attracting new iLottery players. “This initiative builds on the success of the Player’s Club loyalty program over the past two years, ensuring a seamless transition and broadening player engagement,” explains Roman Rubas, the Lottery’s Assistant Director, Gaming.
The platform, powered by Scientific Games, will debut with an exclusive lineup of eInstant games from the company’s proprietary studio. Within the first year, the portfolio will expand to include draw games, offering players a dynamic and evolving gaming experience.
Rubas emphasizes that retail partnerships will be integral to iLottery’s success, with strategic collaborations enhancing engagement across channels. Through co-branded promotions, in-store marketing materials, QR codes, and tailored initiatives with retailers, iLottery will serve as a valuable complement to traditional lottery sales.
As noted, the iLottery app will be fully integrated with the existing Player's Club, ensuring that all customer tools remain accessible in a unified platform. Players will continue to enjoy features such as ticket checking, second-chance entries, playslip creation, retailer locators, and real-time access to winning numbers and jackpot updates.
“With a thoughtful soft-launch strategy, a robust loyalty foundation, and a clear vision for growth, Delaware’s iLottery is positioned to elevate the digital gaming experience, driving innovation and engagement across our player base,” says Rubas.
More to Come
In addition to these new iLottery implementations, the early adopters are not resting on their laurels. Some are in the process of significantly upgrading their platforms and adding additional features to provide all-new player experiences using some of the latest and greatest tools. After all, things move much faster in the online environment than in the traditional products realm.
And with so much industry experience with the benefits of online sales, other decision-makers are taking notice. For example, a Louisiana legislator had introduced a bill authorizing iLottery this year, but deferred it until next year, first calling for work to study the best way to implement online sales to better provide additional revenues for education across the state.
Massachusetts may be the next scheduled iLottery launch, but it won't be the last.
