20 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2022 P A N E L D I S C U S S I O N Another holiday of recordbreaking online sales – both for home delivery and in-store pick-up - is further evidence of a trend that has been growing for a number of years: Consumers want the purchasing process to be easy and quick. And what is true for shoppers of clothes and groceries is also true for lottery purchasers. While the majority of lotteries continue to discuss an iLottery future, the traditional in-store retail experience is undergoing massive changes that have improved the shopping experience for players. And more advancements are on the way. Missouri Executive Director and president of the Powerball Group May Scheve Reardon moderated a panel discussion which delved into the various aspects of the modernization of in-store retail sales of lottery products. She was joined by: Max Goldstein, Vice President Sales - Americas, Carmanah Signs Gary Grief, Executive Director, Texas Lottery Matt Isaac, Senior Director, Lottery Marketing, Pollard Banknote Terry Presta, Head of Business, North America, Abacus Solutions Sara Taylor, Executive Director, Hoosier Lottery and President, MUSL As a lottery director and president of MUSL, Sarah Taylor is in a unique position to comment on lottery activity throughout the Unites States. She said that the economic and human resource shortages facing all businesses are also impacting lottery retailers. “Hiring is difficult. Both starting pay and gas prices are going up,” she said. “When we have a few good jackpot runs some retailers feel they don’t have the staff to help the people in line to purchase tickets. Retailers are looking to us to help solve the problem by making the in-store lottery experience more efficient. In Indiana, we equip our sales team with information to help the retail locations work more efficiently, perhaps by offering self-service. We see services like Door Dash and Instacart providing a great service to businesses. As more retailers go to ‘buy online and pick up in store,’ should we learn and engage how lottery can tap into this new channel of delivery services? There is a lot for us to consider and figure out.” Gary Grief agreed with Sarah that the retailers are looking to their suppliers and commercial partners for assistance. And that’s what his team in Texas is providing. “As we can’t do iLottery, sports betting or keno, our big focus is in-lane, and our sandbox is limited to traditional draw and scratch ticket products,” he said. “That actually helps us be very focused on how we increase the sales of those two revenue drivers. We recognize that every retailer is different, and each has a different footprint for lottery. We need to provide solutions to apply to each situation. We are working with vendors on different initiatives, such as the Quick Ticket solution with InComm which is a gift card type product for Powerball and Mega Millions. “At HEB Grocery we have integrated with IGT’s central system to sell the multi-state games on the checkout receipt. And we have partnerships with Blackhawk and Abacus to develop in-lane solutions with a other large retail chains. This allows us to go from one point-of-sales location in a store to multiple POS’s in a single store, some even exceeding twenty or twenty-five. I really think that in-lane solutions are the holy grail for traditional lottery products. It will be our main driver of growth.” As the former owner of a chain of convenience stores and former Executive Director of the Kansas Lottery, Terry Presta understands better than most the pressures faced by lottery retailers and how the industry Continued on page 54 EXECUT I VE SUMMARY OF ROUNDTABLE DI SCUSS ION AT PGRI LOTTERY EXPO NASHV I LLE THE FUTURE IS NOW FOR LOTTERY RETAIL MODERNIZATION “iGaming and sports wagering have changed how customers, retailers and legislators perceive the gaming landscape.”
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