Scientific Games’ VP of Strategic Marketing receives Lottery Industry Award

A 33-year veteran of the lottery industry in the areas of marketing, research and product development, O’Brien was once referred to as “one of the most valuable public servants in U.S. history” in a Washington Post article because his breakthrough methodologies were largely responsible for generating billions of dollars for lottery beneficiaries and helping build the instant game business to the over us$ 32 billion business it is in the U.S. today. 

Joining Scientific Games in 2001, O’Brien has created custom product marketing and game plans for the Company’s lottery customers, many of which are the world’s top-performing instant game lotteries in terms of per capita sales (La Fleur’s 2011) – including the Massachusetts Lottery, Georgia Lottery and Italy’s Gratta e Vinci.

As the former Director of Marketing for the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission, which has perennially ranked number one in the U.S. for per capita lottery sales, O’Brien revolutionized the instant scratch game business for lotteries around the globe in the 1980s. During his 21-year tenure with the Massachusetts Lottery, his mathematical formulas and marketing strategies were credited with growing the Lottery’s instant scratch game sales from us$ 54 million per year to us$ 54 million per week by 2001.

O’Brien’s approach to instant games has been implemented at lotteries around the world and generated billions of dollars to state and local governments. In 2011, U.S. instant game sales reached us$ 32.5 billion, with an estimated us$ 10.8 billion funding state beneficiaries such as education, healthcare, transportation and the environment. Worldwide, instant game sales totaled us$ 71.3 billion in 2011 (La Fleur’s 2011). 

“We congratulate Jimmy on his lifetime of achievement in the lottery industry. He has been and continues to be integral to the innovation and science behind our games and strategic planning for our lottery customers,” said Jim Kennedy, President of Printed Products and Chief Marketing Officer of Scientific Games. “Jimmy’s deep knowledge and training has been integrated within the company’s marketing, research, insights and product development groups to capture all of the instant product category management best practices he created. He is truly invaluable to the lottery industry.”

In 1990, O’Brien was the very first recipient of the annual Edward J. Powers Award from the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) for excellence in sales and development; he received the award again in 1993. Under his guidance, the Massachusetts Lottery was awarded “Best Lottery Marketer Organization” at the 1st Annual La Fleur’s Lottery World Symposium in 1996. At the Symposium in 1997, O’Brien received the “Best Lottery Marketing Director” award. A native of Massachusetts, Jimmy O’Brien holds a Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from College of the Holy Cross.

O’Brien is the 4th inductee from Scientific Games to receive the Lottery Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, which was established by the Public Gaming Research Institute to honor professionals who have achieved a lifetime of contribution to the lottery industry’s success worldwide. More Scientific Games professionals have received the Lifetime Achievement Award than any other major lottery industry company.