18 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2024 The world may be changing at a dizzying pace, but Lottery’s relationship with retail remains essential to sales success, with around 90% of revenue coming through stores last year. But what challenges will that relationship face from new technology, business models, and competitive channels? And what actions can lotteries and vendors take to optimize partnerships with retail and go from strength to strength? Moderator Tom Seaver (Executive Director of the Colorado Lottery) led the discussion with a panel of experts from the lottery and vendor communities. Alongside Tom were panelists: • Jason Barrs, Senior Vice President Global Sales & Business Development, Carmanah Signs • Tonya Beenders, Chief Sales Officer, Missouri Lottery • Amy Drooker, Vice President Chief Revenue Officer, Kentucky Lottery • Michael Martin, Vice President Retail Solutions, Scientific Games • Terry Presta, Head of Business, North America, Abacus Lottery Solutions • Justin Rock, Deputy Director of Product & Sales, Florida Lottery Tom began by inviting the panel to highlight their key takeaways from the prior conference discussions about the relationship between retail and Lottery. “We keep talking about retail as if it’s one entity,” Michael Martin responded. And it’s just not. Retail has so many different facets, strategies, and components. Some stores are all about speed to keep creating space in the parking lot for the next customers. Others focus on being a destination, dwell time, and creating an in-store experience that will get people to stay. So, we have to approach retail flexibly; it’s not one size fits all, and we have to adjust and adapt accordingly.” Similarly, Tonya Beenders stressed the importance of understanding each retail partner to enable mutually beneficial collaborations. “We talk about KYC—know your customer—but it’s also essential to KYR—know your retailer. Every time we face a decision, we should put ourselves in the retailer’s shoes and think about what’s in it for them and how we can help them be more profitable.” Thinking about retail innovation, Terry Presta pointed out, “Innovation can be more than technology. It can be design or tactics. But often we still only have one lottery terminal and maybe one vending machine in a superstore. So, we’re losing sales at peak times or when there’s a big jackpot when lots of people want to buy tickets, but they haven’t got time to wait in line. And when you’ve lost that sale, it’s lost forever. So, let’s change the design so we’ve got Lottery everywhere.” Justin Rock also reflected on how some retailers are increasingly prioritizing vending machines. “It’s scary for us because we’re so used to doing business at the counter with customer service. But we’ve got to adapt because lots of retailers are looking for different ways to integrate Lottery into their stores.” P A N E L D I S C U S S I O N This article is based on a panel discussion held at the PGRI Smart-Tech Conference on March 13 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. You can view the video on PGRItalks.com. The Future of the in-store shopping experience L to R: Tom Seaver, Jason Barrs, Tonya Beenders, Amy Drooker, Michael Martin, Terry Presta, Justin Rock Continued on page 42 “Every time we face a decision, we should put ourselves in the retailer’s shoes and think about what’s in it for them and how we can help them be more profitable.”
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