Transforming Powerball to scale for the Digital Age

Powerball was founded in 1992, and since then it has raised more than $29 billion for public services projects, nearly $1 billion for each year of existence. In 2022, on its 30th anniversary, Powerball set the record for the largest lottery prize ever awarded, when a Southern California man won more than $2 billion.

The company is a vital source of fun and public funding for Americans. Some 12 million citizens buy tickets for each drawing, and the proceeds have enabled public education programs, infrastructure improvements and environmental preservation programs across the country. Powerball has ambitious goals, hoping to double its revenue over the next five years $12 billion per year — which is why Powerball partnered with Stellar to rebuild Powerball.com.

Powerball wanted to create a website that encouraged new players to give the lottery a try. It also wanted to motivate existing players to play more often. A key component of Powerball’s growth strategy was making inroads with younger, Millenial and Gen X players. An engaging, well-crafted website was imperative in bringing a younger crowd into the Powerball fold.

Stellar implemented a number of features designed to increase the frequency of play with existing players, and attract and engage a whole new demographic. The redesigned site delivers sticky content and features that give users a reason to return frequently. Stellar added a countdown clock that ticks off the seconds to the next drawing, giving the website a sense of urgency and enticing users to buy a ticket.

The redesign and the content strategy took into account the various stages of the lottery cycle. Fewer people want to play Powerball right after the jackpot resets. We countered this perception with an image showing that a stack of $40 million in $1 bills is as tall as the Eiffel Tower. For existing, long-time players, we developed content that helped users understand that the only way to increase your chances of winning is to play more often. Stellar also created marketing campaigns targeted at these different customer segments.

The changes weren’t just cosmetic; Stellar strengthened Powerball’s web infrastructure to accommodate the sudden bursts of traffic whenever there’s a drawing. (Powerball gets more web visitors than Amazon.) Stellar also reconfigured the back-end to include more traffic monitoring and reporting so Powerball can continue to glean insights about its customers.

• Digital Strategy
• Content Strategy
• User Experience
• Visual Design & Branding
• Front-End Development
• Back-End Development
• Systems Integration