StubHub executive Akshay Khanna is leaving the ticket marketplace to become the CEO of North America—and first U.S employee—for online lottery company Jackpot.
Khanna, 34, has been at StubHub for three years, most recently as the general manager of company’s North American business. His last day is Friday; he will start at Jackpot on Monday.
Based in the U.K., Jackpot operates in a handful of European markets, allowing lottery commissions to offer tickets online. It is looking to grow its business in America, where a handful of states have legalized the sale of online lottery tickets delivered digitally. They include Texas, New York, Ohio and New Jersey, which together represent about 21% of the U.S. population.
“The lottery market represents an untapped opportunity to digitize what has historically been an analog business model,” Khanna said in an interview. “You can get everything from furniture to groceries delivered to your home, but up until recently, to buy a lottery ticket you had to go to a physical location. Jackpot’s goal is to be the leading provider of convenient, online lottery tickets.”
Roughly 53% of Americans purchased a lottery ticket last year, and the total addressable market in the U.S. is about $100 billion per year, according to Khanna. That’s larger than the market for sports betting, and also significantly higher than the market for live event tickets (primary and secondary sales) in the U.S. each year.
Jackpot, which was founded in 2016 by Roi More and Yariv Ron, currently operates in European markets like the U.K., Sweden and Ireland. Khanna called it “Uber Eats for lottery tickets”—a service provider that allows tickets to be ordered online and delivered digitally.
In the U.S. that would mean partnering with state-run lottery commissions. The company hopes to launch U.S. operations in the second half of 2022, and will be hiring people around the country in the coming months. While politicians in some states have in the past moved to restrict the prevalence and ease of lottery sales, citing addiction concerns, online lottery measures are expected on the legislative docket in a handful of states in the next few years.
Prior to joining StubHub in 2019, Khanna was vice president of strategy at Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. In that role he helped oversee the group’s business strategy and revenue-generating functions across all of its franchises, including the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
