If sales don't start looking up soon for the New Zealand Lottery the government agency which runs it could seek permission to sell tickets through the Internet and other interactive channels.
That was New Zealand Lotteries Commission Chief Executive Ariane Burgess' main message when she went before a parliamentary select committee on Monday.
Burgess told the Commission it's going to have to consider any means possible to succeed in a highly competitive market for entertainment dollars.
She said the lotteries' competitors, both gaming and non-gaming, are already using alternative channels for distribution. To counteract waning enthusiasm for the Lotto the Commission may seek to implement interactive computer games with a built-in gambling element as well as "virtual" Lotto tickets that could be purchased through a mobile phone call, the Internet or electronic kiosks.
Burgess' ideas were met by skepticism by some on the committee. She was asked if using these additional distribution channels would increase the Lotto's accountability to consumers because minors would have easier access to tickets.
She assured the committee that any system the Commission decides to go with will have an ample amount of checks and balances in place to ensure that minors aren't accessing tickets.
"It could be a game on a PC; or you might get it off a server. . . . Buried in the game would be a lottery paradigm," she said. "You could set an age limit if you were doing this through selling scratch cards (to access the game) through shops."
Another previously discussed revenue-generating option is joining a "Lotto bloc" with other government run-lotteries. An ideal target for the New Zealand Lotto is the Melbourne-based Tattersall's. Burgess told the Commission, though, that talks between the two parties are in the very early stages, and they are "a long way from any firm proposal."
At the heart of the issue for the New Zealand Lotto Commission is lagging sales and decreasing jackpots. The Commission faces a challenging battle as it tries to increase both. The problem is that it's hard to increase jackpots without a measurable increase in sales, and visa versa.
Burgess said punters in New Zealand aren't tantalized by the average jackpots anymore.
"Five to $6 million to $8 million is not considered enough, but perhaps $15 to $20 million is enough," she said.
Sales of Lotto, Strike, Powerball, Daily Keno, Instant Kiwi and the recently canned Telebingo have fallen since 1999, mirroring a worldwide industry decline.
As part of efforts to deal with the decline, the commission introduced Powerball last February, restructured the organization and reined in costs.
Reserves have been used to maintain levels of community funding. The commission was on track to distribute its target figure of $119 million at the end of this financial year, Burgess said.
Burgess was out of the office for the rest of the week traveling and was unavailable to IGN for additional comment on the situation and how the Internet could be used to boost sales.