Michigan Lottery is committed to remaining a ticket for better education

Suzanna Shkreli enjoys an impulse-buy scratch-off ticket as much as the next Michigander in line at the convenience store. In her days in the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, the lawyer and her co-workers would dream out loud about how they'd spend their Mega Millions bounty if, this time, they finally defied the probabilities.

They never did. But they were entertained.

Shkreli's journey from prosecuting crimes against children to the commissionership of the Michigan Lottery initially seems like an odd one, but not to her.

The throughline, she said, is a career helping children. Now it's about making sure the Michigan Lottery keeps contributing billions to state schools.

Lottery USA spoke to Shkreli in an expansive conversation about the future of the lottery in Michigan and her part in it.

Q: What's it like competing with so many other forms of legal gambling in Michigan?

A: We are loaded. We've been described as having more gaming than Las Vegas. There have been some recent changes in the law within the last 10 years that have allowed for sports betting and online gaming, and we have a lot of competition. But we continue to remain a really strong option for players.

We focus on providing cutting-edge game offerings, both online and in-store. We also have 10,000 retailers across the state. So we have availability, at your local gas stations, convenience stores, bigger chains, as well, bars and restaurants and social establishments.

So, even with all this competition, we continue to post really strong numbers.

Our beneficiary here at the Michigan Lottery is the State School Aid Fund. We announced that we contributed more than $1.2 billion to the State School Aid Fund, and that was our sixth consecutive year of contributing a billion dollars or more. And we're headed towards our seventh year of contributing a billion dollars or more to the State School Aid. So, even with all the competition, we remain a great option for our players.

Q: Do you think there is an overlap between lottery players and other gamblers?

A: I think, like gaming, every person is different. I'm sure you have some people who dabble in sports betting and lottery, some people who only do online poker or poker tournaments.

That's what's fun and exciting about it; is that it just attracts people based on your personality or what kind of thing gets you going. Some people love slot machines; they love the bonus, and that's their thing.

With the Michigan Lottery, before I joined as commissioner, my thing was I loved scratch-offs. I loved sitting down with a ticket and getting my coin and scratching the ticket off. That was what was entertaining to me. So it really just depends on what floats your boat, so to speak.

Q: Were you one of those players who had a theory about what convenience store is hot and where you'd go hunt for winning tickets?

A: I didn't play the lottery that much, where I had a theory or developed a theory. I tell my team all the time when we're developing games … I want to love every ticket we issue.

I want people to kind of see the love in our tickets. And I think for me, when I was at a gas station, convenience store, when I picked up a ticket, it was because I was attracted to the art more so than the gaming experience.

We're super excited about some of the tickets that we're launching, especially at this holiday season, and we hope that our players will enjoy, you know, playing those as well.

Q: How does your team devise new scratch-offs and games?

A: Our team is obviously just dedicated to our mission here. And so we're always doing game development, both in the iLottery space, as well as instant tickets, pull tabs, and charity pull tabs. And so we have a very dedicated digital team and a very dedicated retail team.

Obviously, there's work that gets done before these tickets are recommended to me.

But I'm very, very much in the weeds with the team when we're going through games. And so it's something that I actually didn't know I was going to love as much before I took the job. It's one of my favorite parts.

Q: What was your biggest scratch-off win?

A: My gosh. Nothing super big. Probably a couple hundred bucks. I would love to stay here forever. But one day, if I move on from the Michigan Lottery, I will be playing those $50 tickets, hoping for $6 million.

Q: Do you think people feel good about playing the lottery because their money goes to a benevolent cause?

A: I do. I believe that. I knew what the cause was when I played. And I think it definitely sets us apart from our competitors.

And also, that's my job as the commissioner, to remind folks that when you're playing the lottery, it's going to a good cause. And I think the younger generation definitely feels good about; contributing to a good cause. And to that end, we're uniquely positioned in the gaming space.

And that's definitely what sets us apart. Ninety-seven cents of every dollar spent on a lottery ticket is returned to the state in the form of contributions to the state school aid fund, prizes to players, and commissions to vendors and retailers. And 26 cents on every dollar spent on the lottery goes to the school aid fund.

If you don't know where it's going, it's my job to tell you. And you can definitely feel good about where that money is going at the end of the day.

Q: What trends do you see with iLottery versus retail?

A: Most of our sales are coming from our brick-and-mortar retailers. And we, for the last, at this point, over 10 years, have offered an industry-leading iLottery platform. And I think our job is to find ways to provide players with opportunities to play both.

So we're focused on creating omnichannel players and incentivizing online players to visit retail and retail players to visit online.

And so, we're currently developing a new player loyalty program that will help attract and retain players, with more details to come in the future. But we still see folks playing at their local gas station, bar, or restaurant.

Club Keno, for example, continues to be a great game for us. Cash Pop. And it's an experience that people really can only have when they're at their bar, at their local bar or restaurant. Pull tabs are having a moment here in Michigan as well.

And so I think that there's really something for everybody as it relates to our clientele.

Q: Pull tabs are big there, too? I thought that was just a Minnesota thing.

A: We have them. And people love them. And they're fun. They're a lot of fun. And I joke with the team that I'm a tactile person. I like the sound of the tab being pulled across. And I think people do, too. So it's a lot of fun.

Q: What's your stance on lottery couriers?

A: As it relates to the general question of whether courier services are a good fit for Michigan, the answer for us would be no.

With more than 10,000 retailers throughout the state and an industry-leading online platform, courier services don't really offer much, if any, benefit to any of our players.

And I don't want our players paying more for our product when they can get it really close by and on our website. Because what the couriers do is charge a service fee. And so why do that when you can just hop on our site and play.

Q: What have your retailers been telling you about their feelings on couriers?

A: Quite frankly, there hasn't been a lot of outreach from our organizations regarding couriers because I think they're still so new. But I can definitely tell you that we at Michigan Lottery are very pro-retailer and pro-small business. We want to make sure that we're partnering with our friends across the state to ensure that we're doing the best we can to continue to provide the best games at their retail locations and that people are buying them there as well.

Q: Do you think couriers have a future with regulations and guidelines in place?

A: With our customers, I don't know that they would even use it because they could just go do it themselves, going back to that general thought that we're already offering iLottery. So, if you're not at the retail store, you just hop on MichiganLottery.com and play there.

So we don't really see a need for it.

Q: How encouraging is it to have your job in a state that has defended its legal gambling market against all sorts of unlicensed operators?

A: Our operations have been in existence for over 50 years. And that's something that's been established by law. We're definitely a continued, reliable source of revenue for schools and public education.

Who knows what the landscape will change over the years? But it's definitely our mission to remain competitive. And that's by really leaning into cutting edge technology and offering the best games, both in retail as well as online.

Q: What's the long-term future for the lottery in the United States?

A: I think for us, it's to continue to really position ourselves as cutting edge to our players. We want to continue to evolve and also meet players where they're at.

And that's by offering entertaining and engaging games. We talk about a player loyalty program that we're developing. We're focused on our game launch schedule to deliver high-quality and engaging games for our players, and then how are we going to continue to lean into partnerships and blend passions for people.

It's an opportunity to create a joint experience. I'm rooting for the Tigers, I'm at my favorite bar, and I get to play the lottery. It's kind of 'How are we creating those, almost like emotional responses to the games we're offering for our players?'

So it's really a lot of things going on at once. But, we continue to look to leverage relationships with Michigan brands where it makes sense to develop games. And we want to bring new play styles to Michigan.

Q: Why do some casual players only play when the jackpot mushrooms?

A: That's so funny because I talk about it all the time. I know people who don't play unless it's over $500 million. I was like, 'Oh, OK, so $200 million wouldn't change your life?' I think there's a fear of missing out. There's that jackpot mania that exists for people once you start to see those numbers. In Michigan, we have billboards that advertise the jackpot amount for Powerball and Mega Millions. And there's something about seeing five-zero-zero on that big billboard that makes you understand that you've got to play to win.

And people win. We understand what the odds are, but you can't win if you don't play. And I think once that number gets to a certain level, there's a lot of daydreaming that happens.

I remember I spent so much time with a group of friends of mine because we used to play at the Prosecutor's Office. There was a group of three or four girlfriends that we would always play with. And the amount of conversation that emerged from what we were going to do with our money was the most entertaining daydreaming I've ever had.

Q: How did you make the leap from prosecuting attorney to lottery commissioner?

A: I'm born and bred here in Michigan.

I'm the daughter of Albanian immigrants, and I grew up in a small business family. I grew up, and I became a prosecutor in Macomb County.

I stayed there for almost 10 years, around eight years. I spent half of that time prosecuting crimes against children. And then I joined Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's legal team when she first took office in 2019.

And there I spent time doing regulatory legal work. That job was really interesting because it was really the intersection of law, policy and politics all in one all in one place. And then from there, I took on a cabinet level position within the governor's administration as the children's ombudsman, which is now called the Office of the Child Advocate.

So, my job there was to advocate on behalf of children to make changes in legislation and law as it relates to the child welfare system. Then I took on a special role at the Department of Health and Human Services. I served as the first-ever director of juvenile justice reform.

So, still there focused on helping children and then back into the governor's cabinet as a Michigan Lottery Commissioner.

So the running theme here is children, really, really are at the heart of what I do, whether it be at the Prosecutor's Office, the governor's office, or here now at the lottery. So it's taken on different forms, our mission here at the Michigan Lottery is to maximize revenue to the school aid fund, and that's to benefit school children across the state.

Q: What's the learning curve been? Did you need to study up on math theory or ping-pong ball physics?

A: I've been here for a year, and the learning; the learning never stops. And like I said, I have such a great team.

I just have institutions around me and I have former directors I can call. And then, I have part of the Mega Millions consortium and I have other director friends that I lean on and ask questions to.

It's funny because this job is unlike any other job in state government. We operate as a business, but there's a great coalition of professional development opportunities and just friendships that we have with other directors across the state. So when issues pop up, we're quick to send a text or make a phone call and see what's happening in other states because we're not in competition with each other.

It's been a really great experience. I'm loving every minute of it.