15 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2022 not even exist in the near future,” he said. “Larger retailers, like Walmart, have dictated the parameters for their own self-service terminals and different venues warrant different terminal solutions. A sports-centric venue might not want the same self-service terminal that works for a traditional momand-pop retail establishment. While I agree with the importance of cashless payment options, I also think the method for paying at self-service terminals will expand to include payment apps and other technology. Seamless payment transaction is critical to lottery sustainability.” For Michael Martin of Scientific Games, the future is personalization and using data to give consumers exactly what they want. “The player research and retail analytics available to Scientific Games customers is being used to improve their players’ at-retail experience,” he said. “iLottery is far behind most other industries. Look at Uber, Amazon. They use every piece of data to personalize their interactions and improve the experience for their customers. We have to bring this same business intelligence to lottery, using data to deliver a more personalized player experience. The airline industry is another example we should look to. You use your phone to buy your ticket, get your boarding pass, then see the traffic you’ll encounter on the way to the airport, check in for your flight, and, finally, use your mobile device to board the plane. This works because of the connectivity of devices and systems being processed together. It’s where the lottery retail evolution needs to be, and where we are focused on innovation and continuing our ecosystem.” CHALLENGES AT RETAIL Gary pointed out that some of the issues facing retail are not just the natural evolution of consumer habits, but disruptions brought on by the pandemic, namely the lack of workers. The worker shortage certainly makes the need for technology advancements even more pressing. For more insight into the implications of these changes for the lottery business, Gary turned to vendors who work in the retail trenches every day, honing the technology solutions “We can’t maintain the status quo and continue to do business the same way and expect to continue with record-breaking results.” PROVIDING LOTTERY PARTNERS WITH POWERFUL OMNI-CHANNEL PAYMENT SOLUTIONS Visit sightlinepayments.com to learn more. Continued on page 32
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