La Fleur's The Roles of Luck

Powerball is one of the most recognizable lottery brands in the world, but its future may be much bigger than jackpots alone. In this episode of The Roles of Luck , Byron La Fleur and Robert Tirloni are joined by Matt Strawn, CEO of the Iowa Lottery, to discuss Powerball’s evolution into a global entertainment brand.

On December 24, a lucky Arkansas player won the second-largest Powerball prize. Life-changing, of course, but it also got me wondering what that must have been like for the folks at the lottery, whose Christmas plans were probably interrupted. So today, Sharon Strong, Executive Director, and Karen Reynolds, Director of Marketing, from the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery join us to share exactly how i...

The latest episode of La Fleur's Podcast , The Roles of Luck , is out now! Khalid Jones, Executive Director of the Virginia Lottery, joins Robert Tirloni and me to talk about what it takes to modernize a lottery. We start with one of the biggest forces reshaping every industry right now, artificial intelligence.

Arizona Lottery’s Executive Director, Alec Thomson, and CMO, Chris Rogers, join Byron to unpack experiential prizes that take the brand beyond the ticket. They share lessons on turnkey vs. custom packages, their FY25 holiday campaign that lifted awareness, and why experiential marketing will shape the Lottery’s FY26 and beyond.

James “Jim” Carey Jr., a New Jersey native and former deputy attorney general, has led the New Jersey Lottery since July 23, 2018. Every year of his tenure, the Lottery has contributed more than $1 billion to New Jersey’s public employee pensions. In fiscal 2023, the Lottery also set its sales and contributions records at $3.73 billion and $1.17 billion, respectively. Carey now guides the Lottery...

Byron La Fleur speaks with John Martin , Director of Maryland Lottery & Gaming, covering a range of topics from responsible gaming to the unique challenges of “bulk purchasing” of lottery tickets. The conversation begins with John’s reflections on a recent Economist article, America’s gambling boom should be celebrated, not feared." (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/12/05/americas-gambling-b...

In the first episode of The Roles of Luck , host Byron La Fleur interviews Ryan Mindell, Executive Director of the Texas Lottery, discussing his journey to this leadership role. Jessica Parker, editor of La Fleur's Magazine , then reads an abridged version of the story A Local Monster , featuring Shad Barnes, Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at the Oregon Lottery. The episode wraps up with an i...