Using Intelligence to Keep Lottery Relevant

Expert insights on AI, analytics and the future of lottery from outside the industry

By Scientific Games

Published July 21, 2026

As lotteries embrace artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and data-driven decision-making, Scientific Games has a new leader bringing a fresh perspective from other industries.

Ovie Doro joined the company earlier this year as Senior Vice President of Data, Analytics & AI after building enterprise analytics capabilities for some of the world's largest consumer organizations. Most recently, he led global data science and machine learning engineering for AB InBev's B2B e-commerce business, following leadership roles at Walmart and Jet.com, where he developed analytics, personalization and experimentation platforms that drove customer growth and engagement.

With a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Doro combines deep technical expertise with a passion for applying AI to real-world business challenges.

In this conversation, he shares why analytics is becoming essential to lottery's future, how AI can help lotteries compete in a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape, and why relevance—not technology—should remain the industry's ultimate goal.

You've built analytics organizations in industries where consumer expectations change rapidly. What parallels do you see in today's lottery business?

Doro: Every industry I've worked in has experienced the same fundamental shift: consumers increasingly engage, make decisions and transact through digital channels. That didn't eliminate physical relationships—it changed how organizations earn attention and loyalty.

Lottery is at a similar inflection point. The lesson from retail, e-commerce and consumer goods is that loyalty is never permanent. Organizations have to re-earn loyalty continuously, and the winners recognize changing consumer behavior before it shows up in declining performance.

Lottery leaders often say their greatest challenge is remaining relevant. How can data and analytics help?

Doro: Relevance isn't a marketing concept—it's about remaining useful in people's everyday lives.

Analytics allows lotteries to understand what creates value for their players, retailers and the lottery itself instead of relying on assumptions. It reveals which players remain engaged, which ones are drifting toward other forms of entertainment and where retailers see the strongest opportunity.

Equally important, data helps answer a harder question: why people choose not to play. Understanding existing players is valuable, but understanding the consumers who consistently choose sports betting, mobile gaming or other entertainment is often even more important.

By combining survey research with transaction data, point-of-sale information and broader market intelligence, AI can identify where consumer preferences are shifting and why. That creates a much more complete understanding of the market than any single data source can provide.

Ultimately, intelligence helps lotteries make decisions based on evidence rather than intuition.

How has consumer decision-making changed, particularly among younger adults?

Doro: One misconception is that younger adults consciously rejected lottery. I don't believe that's true.

This generation simply grew up with unprecedented competition for its attention. Time has become just as valuable as money, and every entertainment choice has to earn a place in people's lives.

That changes the question for lottery. Instead of asking how to convince people to play, we should ask where lottery naturally fits into moments people already value.

Lottery already participates in meaningful experiences—office pools, family celebrations and community traditions—but often by coincidence rather than design. Analytics can help identify those moments and guide products, content and experiences that feel authentic instead of generic.

The opportunity isn't to imitate other forms of entertainment. It's to become more intentional about where lottery belongs.

As lotteries compete with sports betting, streaming and other digital experiences, how should AI help them remain relevant?

Doro: Lottery is no longer competing only with other lotteries or casinos. It's competing for consumers' attention alongside virtually every form of digital entertainment.

That doesn't mean lottery should imitate sports betting or social media.

Instead, AI should help lotteries better understand where attention is shifting and how their existing strengths can create differentiated experiences.

Lottery possesses advantages many competitors don't have: trusted brands, deep retailer relationships and a true omnichannel presence combining physical retail with digital engagement.

Those strengths become even more valuable when supported by intelligence.

Understanding where lottery is gaining or losing relevance—and why—allows organizations to respond deliberately instead of reactively. The goal isn't to become something different; it's to use lottery's existing advantages more effectively.

Many organizations have more data than ever. How do they move from reporting data to making better decisions?

Doro: Technology is rarely the hardest part. Changing how decisions are made is.

Too often organizations make decisions first and then search for data to justify them afterward. The real opportunity is integrating intelligence into the decision itself before action is taken.

That requires more than analytics platforms. It requires accountability.

If leaders are measured by commercial outcomes—revenue growth, player retention or retailer performance—they naturally begin using intelligence to improve those results. If data isn't connected to real business objectives, it becomes interesting information rather than something that changes behavior.

Analytics creates value when it influences decisions, not when it simply produces reports.

Where do predictive analytics and AI create the most immediate value for lotteries?

Doro: The greatest near-term value comes from helping organizations make better decisions.

Predictive analytics can identify when products are beginning to decline before revenue falls, allowing lotteries to refresh portfolios proactively instead of reacting after performance drops.

Marketing becomes more efficient by focusing investment on the players and moments most likely to respond. Retail performance improves through better forecasting, inventory management and store-level recommendations. Analytics also helps lotteries understand how players move between retail and digital channels, enabling smarter investment across both.

AI extends those capabilities even further.

One immediate opportunity is supply chain optimization. Better forecasting reduces inventory waste, stock shortages and unnecessary returns. AI can also improve revenue forecasting, allowing lotteries and beneficiaries to plan with greater confidence.

Another promising application is game and content development. AI won't replace creativity, but it can help identify themes, experiences and moments that are more likely to resonate with players.

These aren't futuristic ideas. They're practical applications capable of delivering measurable value today.

Retail remains one of lottery's greatest strengths. How can analytics strengthen that advantage while connecting retail and digital experiences?

Doro: Many industries facing digital disruption assumed physical locations were becoming liabilities. The organizations that succeeded treated them as strategic assets supported by better data.

Lottery is in a unique position because very few entertainment businesses have a retail network as extensive or as trusted.

Analytics connects players, retailers and digital engagement into one ecosystem. Where player identities are known through loyalty programs or apps, personalization can occur at the individual level. Where transactions remain anonymous, store-level intelligence can still identify purchasing patterns and community preferences.

That allows lotteries to tailor product assortment, merchandising and promotions to individual retailers while also identifying stores that are underperforming relative to similar locations.

Supporting retailers more effectively also improves the player experience. Better forecasting, replenishment and product recommendations mean the right games are available in the right places, reducing stockouts and creating a stronger experience for everyone involved.

Retail and digital shouldn't compete with each other—they should reinforce each other.

Some lotteries are highly digital, while others are just beginning. How do you build analytics capabilities across such different environments?

Every lottery starts in a different place, but the objective is the same: understand where you're underperforming relative to your potential.

Organizations early in their analytics journey can generate meaningful insights using retail transaction data alone. More mature lotteries can incorporate loyalty programs, digital engagement and individualized player intelligence.

Over time those capabilities connect into a unified view of players, retailers, products and channels.

That's the destination—not simply having more data, but building intelligence that continuously guides commercial decisions across the organization.

How can lotteries continue innovating while operating within legislative and regulatory constraints?

Doro: Innovation doesn't always require new legislation.

Most lotteries already have opportunities to improve retailer performance, optimize product portfolios and better understand player behavior using the data available today.

Regulations may influence which products can be offered, but they don't limit an organization's ability to make smarter decisions.

Innovation often begins with asking better questions, understanding the business more deeply and acting on insights that already exist.

If every lottery director could receive one new dashboard tomorrow morning, what would you want it to show?

Doro: It would answer one simple question: Where are we creating the least value today, and where is our greatest opportunity tomorrow?

Not hundreds of metrics.

Just the opportunities that matter most, their potential business impact and the next recommended action.

The purpose of analytics isn't to overwhelm leaders with information. It's to help them make better decisions with greater confidence.

Ultimately, that's what AI and analytics should deliver—not technology for its own sake, but intelligence that helps lotteries remain relevant, strengthen retailer partnerships and create more value for the players and communities they serve.

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