Public Gaming International May/June 2020

45 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MAY/JUNE 2020 TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS COMMENTARIES Teresa Immel, Senior Director Sales & Marketing, Schafer Systems Lottery industry vendors have seen an immediate impact as a result of COVID-19, through lost sales requiring furloughs, pay cuts, etc. The industry as a whole will be impacted long term as the pressure to deliver more revenue to the state will mount as tax receipts are down. This will create opportunities for lotteries and their vendor partners to expand offerings, look for new ways to sell (iLottery, vending, in-lane, etc), and reevaluate current retail service models. Many consumers have taken advantage of shopping online with delivery or curbside pickup. We anticipate this method of shopping will continue and possibly expand as people become more accustomed to staying at home. Fuel stations will remain critical as people begin to emerge from isolation; therefore, finding ways to make our products highly visible and easily accessible at those locations will be critical to increase lottery sales. A primary challenge we’ll face with this newer model of shopping is how, as an industry, we can ensure our lottery products, which are often impulse purchases, remain available, relevant, and easy to purchase. Brick-and-mortar retailers, our partners in this industry, will be looking for opportunities to ensure not only their employees remain healthy, but their finances remain healthy as well. We need to continue to service these accounts in the best ways possible, which may look somewhat different than it did before. We may need to adapt some of the ways we operate; from how we deliver product, to retail set up, even means of payment may be different. Continued at publicgaming.com Bill Breslo, President, Diamond Game The trend toward self-service and self- checkout is likely to accelerate, which could hamper lottery ticket sales. Diversifying lotteries’ retailer and player base will be important to maintaining lottery sales. Fast play products, available as e-instants in the iLottery space and as “stay-and-play” self-service games for social establishments, provide a different play mechanic that will broaden the player base and open new sales channels. Two areas that will provide the greatest benefit and opportunity for lotteries post COVID-19 are iLottery and products geared toward social establishments. The former—iLottery—helps maintain important lottery revenue during crises that affect retail sales, e.g. pandemics and extreme weather, such as blizzards and flooding. The latter—social establishment products—not only diversify lotteries’ retail and player base, but also provide an important source of revenue for bars and restaurants that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 related closures and regulations. Many individuals will resume social gathering rather quickly; however, there is another segment of the population that will remain cautious for quite a while. For the lottery industry to benefit from opportunities post COVID-19, understanding how this pandemic has impacted retailers and potential retailers is key. Providing solutions that address retailers’ challenges will uncover opportunities for lotteries. Social establishment retailers, e.g. restaurants/bars and social clubs, will be trying to regain lost revenue, so providing viable products aimed at this retailer segment not only helps these establishments recover, but also diversifies lotteries’ retailer base and generates incremental revenue. Diamond Game products have been uniquely designed for the social establishment space and can help lotteries rebuild sales in the post COVID-19 world. Q Simon Butler, Chief Executive Officer, Abacus Solutions International Group Consumers will be even more digitally disposed, and credit debit will become essential and handling cash will be seen as undesirable by some. The less business can be conducted without touching people or product the better. Abacus can put the lottery into the retailer’s ePOS and make the lottery available everywhere the retailer chooses to go to market. So, an integration via our gateway is essential if lotteries want to sell across all retail channels. The draw games were struggling before and we hear they are having a hard time reaching escape velocity. However, instants are soaring, so the lottery business is coming through the crisis better than most industries. Abacus is well positioned to help grow instants across all retail channels and we are looking at solutions with both Scientific Games and Pollard in this regard. We think the younger demographic will “snap back” rather quickly. Each decade of age may indeed respond more slowly and only time will tell on travel. There has been real demand destruction and it is hard to predict how long to get back to zero level. We are meeting with retailers continually. They want more sales, less shrink, and easier accounting and settlement. These are the solutions that Abacus as part of our overall lottery service that we can supply with our integration into the ePOS. We are working hard to attract some of the biggest retailers in the nation that have not really embraced lottery in the past specifically because of high levels of shrink, accounting and settlement issues. At the same time, open up more lanes of distribution in the grocery category that is not in lane such as self-checkout and selfscan. Next will be new channels like restaurants and coffee shops etc. We are at the very beginning of a massive expansion into new distribution points with an emphasis on growing digital. C ontinued at publicgaming.com