Since it's so much easier for the consulting firms to file an application now, they'll just flood the system to increase their odds in the lottery.

You do realize it's not an actual lottery ticket that you buy at a 7-11. Nor is it a one-click online application button.

You have to hire lawyers, file an LCA, fill tons of paperwork, pay decent amount of money, get through legal colonoscopies and spend much time to file an application. So anyone who files an H-1B is damn serious and will not be deterred by the meagre mode of filing, be it electronic or paper or in-person or whatever.

So no, no one will "just flood the system to increase their odds in the lottery".

This is a great move that brings some long-due simplification to the process. The amount of paper saved per year will be large enough as a forest.