Evoplay Says It Will Expand Its iLottery Game Library ‘In The Coming Months’

Evoplay, catalyzed by a 39% increase in its partner network that included a deal with gambling behemoth Light & Wonder, reported its “best-ever” results during H1 of 2024. 

The up-and-coming online slots and casino games provider enjoyed a 26% revenue jump during the first half of the year, as well as a 37% boost in bet sum. Beyond the Light & Wonder deal, perhaps the hallmark of Evoplay’s H1 was its release of Adrenaline Rush, a 3D skills-based game built around a Need for Speed-like street racing theme. That was among the company’s 20 new releases in the first half of the year.

Now, on the back of its successful H1, Evoplay plans to expand its games library to include more bingo and iLottery options.

“Innovation remains at the core of Evoplay and has allowed us to stand out in a crowded gaming space,” Evoplay CEO Ivan Kravchuk said in a statement. “These results are a testament to that philosophy whilst highlighting the continued strength of our offering.

“Looking ahead, we’ll be using these positive results to drive our ambitions of becoming a leading multi-product global supplier. We have even more planned for the second half of the year as Evoplay enters new territory in the bingo and lottery sector, which we look forward to bringing to the market in the coming months.”

Building upon current limited iLottery library

Evoplay, whose partners include Relax Gaming, Entain, Betsson, Every Matrix, and Rivalry, already offers a handful of lottery games in its portfolio.

Scratch Match, released in December 2019, Lucky Card, from March 2022, and Football Match, unveiled in November 2022, are basic instant win games following the mechanics of a scratch ticket. 

Jhana of God: Scratch, released in November 2023, looks and feels a bit more like an online slot while still being a lottery game. 

Evoplay also offers keno games, including Xmas Cat Keno and Book of Keno.

But it’s clear from Kravchuk’s public statement that Evoplay will build upon this already-existing offering to have a stronger position in the online lottery market.

It makes sense why.

Over $22 billion in revenue by 2029?

According to Statista’s worldwide online lottery forecasts, the industry will reach $16.85 billion by the end of 2024. Then revenue will see an annual growth rate of 5.52%, becoming a market with $22.04 billion in revenue by 2029. Statista also projects the industry will have 42.1 million users by 2029.

In the U.S. alone, 10 markets (including Washington, D.C.) currently offer instant online lottery games. Kansas will become the 11th market when its iLottery platform launches in early 2025, and Massachusetts will become the 12th market around December 2025.

Online lottery is a distant third behind online sports betting ($45.18 billion worldwide by end of 2024, per Statista) and online casinos ($35.13 billion by end of 2023), but it’s still a massive market. There’s a reason DraftKings paid $750 million to buy Jackpocket, the leading lottery app in the U.S., back in February.

So there is a lot to gain from building a strong arsenal of online lottery games.

And it sounds like Evoplay has been preparing for this iLottery push for some time now.

Targeting the Fortnite crowd

Back in June, Frank Cecchini, Evoplay’s head of lottery, wrote a piece for lottery trade publication La Fleur’s titled, “The Next Frontier of Online Lotteries.”

Cecchini talked about game providers needing to “monitor emerging trends and develop products to capture the younger audience’s interest” rather than assume the same traditional style of lottery games will work with younger generations. 

“Despite the recent online transformation, which has made more lottery games available online,” he wrote, “they still fall short in attracting Gen Z players who are used to far more dynamic online gaming, social media, and the more collaborative iGaming landscape.

“Companies with innovative ideas can potentially reverse this trend, but they must be prepared to compete in an oligopolistic lottery market, exploited by a small number of dominant players with a distinct lack of innovation.”

Some of the current players in the iLottery space include IGT, Intralot, and NeoGames.

Cecchini pointed to existing Evoplay games — it has more than 250 in its catalog and works with partners in 41 countries — to show it can create the type of game that will make younger audiences pay attention to iLottery products. 

“There’s no point in offering Gen Z a scratch 9 match 3 instant when they would rather be playing Fortnite,” he wrote. “This is why Evoplay invested heavily in developing its flagship titles, such as Adrenaline Rush and Star Guardians, and instant games like Ethan Grand: Mayan Diaries. Here, Evoplay is deploying 3D, high-quality graphics that require a level of player involvement never seen before in online gambling.

“The company’s flagship products … have no equivalents on the market and were created to offer a fresh iGaming experience that will attract players even more.”

Kravchuk didn’t provide a specific timeline or further details on Evoplay’s online lottery and bingo future. But “in the coming months” from his statement suggests we’ll see some sort of development by the end of 2024.