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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // July/August 2016
modern consumer. The Millennial may not want to take a play slip
out of a counter-top bin and fill it out with a pen in the conventional
manner. The modern shopper is attracted to the monitor screen.
That is how they are used to getting the information they need to
make decisions and engage. The modern consumer wants to play
and learn about Lottery on their own terms. Most shoppers do not
want to ask the retailer how to fill out a play slip and play. The digital
play station is scalable and can transform the retail experience by
engaging the shopper with a medium that enables them to decide
how to interact with Lottery. The play-station is perceived by them
as a large interactive tablet or a giant iPhone. It’s a touch screen. You
can pick any game and learn more about it. You can go to the section
that describes the good causes that Lottery supports, you can print a
bar code. You can do a ‘quick-pick’ or pick your own numbers and
then go to your shopping cart and generate the purchase to your
phone, communicate with the terminal, or generate a bar code that
could be scanned and then get
a ticket from the terminal. This
is all brand new for the indus-
try. Carmanah Signs is doing a
couple of pilots and the results
will be available this summer.
Bishop Woosley:
I think
everyone here would agree that
the Mobile connection is inte-
gral to everything we do now.
And for most of us in the U.S.,
Lottery is not a part of the Mo-
bile experience. I’m glad we’re
finally moving towards in-store Beacons, cashless lottery transac-
tions, and interactive tools.
Max Goldstein:
We can look to Europe for ideas on how to
apply these new technologies and processes. They have years of
experience with this and several lotteries there and in Canada are
expanding their retail presence by being in-lane. The Belgian post
office is an in-lane lottery retailer; they don’t even have lottery ter-
minals. They are using the POS system. They’re selling draw-based
games, they’re advertising the jackpot, and doing the basic things
to prompt people to buy.
Everybody is used to touch screens and everybody has come to
expect that they will get messages when they walk by a store. We
need to embrace some of the technology that enables these digital
interactions in order to attract and engage the consumer.
Like Rick mentioned, we need to think about locations where
people can stay and play: bars, bingo halls, Veterans and frater-
nal locations. Having something to do, a game to play, encourages
those patrons to spend more time and maybe a bit more money.
The shop owner benefits because more drinks and more food gets
served as patrons stay to play more games. And it is more sociable
with everyone interacting together.
Rebecca Hargrove:
What do you think the retail world will
look like five years from now? What can we do to prepare so that
instead of reacting and following, we are proactive and leading and
ready to help retailers get to where they want to be?
Terry Rich:
Applying digital technology is the key part of any
plan to prepare for the future. Ultimately, we’ll be buying our tick-
ets online and working with the retailers to have special promotions
so that once you buy a ticket and see the win posted directly to
your bank account or given in cash, the player will be motivated to
go back into the store. The ticket boxes on the counter-top prob-
ably will go. Purchases are going to be made with an iPad, mobile,
or some other personal digital device that so that the ticket may
already have been purchased before you even walk into the store.
And if not, there will be a Beacon to entice you to buy the ticket.
Rick Weil:
In five years, we
won’t have the terminal and we
won’t be printing tickets. And
because transactions will be
digital, we will be capturing far
more information and come to
learn far more about the players.
Then too, we will interact with
and communicate directly with
the players through their devices.
Rick Weil:
The whole cus-
tomer journey must be engaging, compelling, and relevant. And I
do think there is an opportunity for us as an industry to improve
on game content.
Terry Rich:
We need to look at how self-service can help people
to learn about the products. That could be just as important as
providing a new transaction-enabled POS. Presently, the shopper
is expected to ask the retailer how to play. Neither the shopper nor
the retailer prefers that option. We need to provide the means for
new player groups to be attracted to Lottery.
Rebecca Hargrove:
In the video we just saw, the woman was
not able to go out to the store because she was caring for her two
Retail Optimization:
The Outside-the-Store Consumer Experience…
continued from page 32
Digital play-stations can reshape the
whole lottery playing experience by
presenting Lottery in a way that appeals
to the modern consumer.
—Max Goldstein
In five years, we won’t have the terminal
and we won’t be printing tickets.
And because transactions will be
digital, we will be capturing far more
information and come to learn far more
about the players.
—Rick Weil