43 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2024 different approaches taken by the lotteries of Kentucky and Indiana. “In Kentucky, we have digital menu boards in all of the Circle Ks, and they’re placed so that the people standing in line can access them. We’ve seen the benefits of using digital boards across Kentucky, and in some places they’ve increased Fast Play sales by up to 76%. But in Indiana, they don’t have the digital boards, but they have a tower of four right there on the self-checkout, and it’s really engaging. So, we’re going to do some testing and maybe add those towers too, so we’ll have a mixture of the old approach and the new.” Moving on, Tom asked the panel’s opinions on the in-store media that retailers and other vendors try to sell as spaces to promote the Lottery. Justin responded that gas station TV had been very effective for the Florida Lottery. “It lets you capture that consumer who’s not really willing to go into the store for anything else. And you can catch them in a moment of impulse, promoting your product right there at the pump and prompting them to go into the store. The only downside to it is inconsistency and making sure that it’s working properly in all the places where you’re paying for it.” Jason emphasized the importance of owning and controlling in-store media to achieve maximum ROI. He explained, “Our partners at OLG own and control their retail media network and use it to focus on specific games, showing direct correlation with increased product sales. So, it has been valuable to them, and they’re able to control and dictate how they want to implement in-store media instead of having to beg, borrow, and steal time on a retailer-owned media network.” In another example, Jason described recent research results from the North Carolina Education Lottery, “We saw that players were much more likely to try games featured on the Digital Menu Boards. For example, 24% of players at stores with Digital Menu Boards tried Fast Play games in the past six months, compared to just 3% of players at stores without Digital Menu Boards.” Next, Tom asked about the effectiveness of in-store promotions and how they can best be used to generate sales. Tonya explained how the Missouri Lottery has a limited budget for paid media in stores, but they do use in-store promotions as part of the statewide promotion of new games, such as their recently launched Frogger scratch ticket. “We try to leverage whatever is happening at a statewide level within stores. We get into the stores and ‘tryvertise’ to expose customers to the product. And it works really well, especially when you have fun brands that create a lot of buzz at retail. For example, lottery sales reps conducted more than 200 on-site promotions at retail with the launch of the Frogger Scratchers ticket.” Justin made the case for offering instant win opportunities as part of in-store promotions. “Instant win opportunities put money straight in the player’s pocket and give them that buzz of instant gratification, which is a big part of our business.” Thinking about the visual side of in-store promotions, Michael stated, “Obviously, promotions can only be effective if people notice them. And that’s why you need something that’s colorful and moves, ideally something digital that changes. And if you can partner with retailers to do a cross-promotion, that’s one of the best ways of tying the two businesses together, digital and retail, and really getting people’s attention.” Answering Tom’s question about how changing retail environments have impacted lotteries’ vending strategies, Amy shared the experience of the Kentucky Lottery. “We have a really well-established, robust vending program with around 2,200 machines spread across about 55% of our retailers. Our perspective is that retailers want time and money. And with our vending program, we’re basically giving them a free employee. And although we’re asking more of them, we’re giving them much more too in terms of driving sales and improving their bottom line.” In Florida, the number of vending machines is limited by law, so the Lottery has only placed them in very high-performing top-tier stores. But Justin shared his concern about retailers who only want to sell through vending machines. “It’s as if some retailers are breaking up with us. Some of them are telling us, ‘It’s our way or the highway—we don’t need you at the counter, so if you don’t want to sell out of a vending machine only, we don’t really want to sell.’ And because our retailer commission is set by law, we can’t even change that when negotiating with them.” Sharing a success story from Missouri, Tonya explained how the Lottery there has traditionally set strict rules for retailers, such as you can only get a vending machine if you agree to take at least two. However, they’ve recently done a big rollout of vending machines in QuikTrip stores, which saw the retailer agreeing to go from having eight games at the counter to 20 or more. “We have over 5,000 new facings just with that deal,” she added, “and QuikTrip’s sales are up 30% in their lottery category, which is huge.” Finally, Tom asked the panel about the next big initiatives that they are working on. Responding first, Amy discussed Kentucky’s forthcoming “Epic Program,” which is about recognizing and celebrating best practices among retail clerks. Echoing Amy’s earlier point, Tonya emphasized the importance of “really working on providing retailers with better tools to onboard and train their staff on issues like loading games into a vending machine.” Michael explained how Scientific Games will continue to work with the whole ecosystem to improve retailer collaboration and use data to drive actions and accountability. For Terry and Abacus Solutions, the emphasis remains on bringing Powerball, Mega Millions, and both traditional and digital instants in-lane. Finally, Justin was excited about a new initiative that could revolutionize sales in Florida. “Being able to incentivize our sales force is a game changer for me. No more just pats on the back, now we can really motivate the team with proper incentives, and that’s what I’m really looking forward to.” n
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