Public Gaming International May/June 2020

70 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MAY/JUNE 2020 S ometimes it takes a signi cant event to change the status quo. Whether it is politics or technology, the way we look at the world can change virtually overnight. e exciting challenge we face is recognizing the best opportunities and reacting to these developments by determining our role in this new and dynamically changing landscape. We must not overlook the importance of lottery to society during these times and therefore lottery must be able to respond in ways it has not had to do in the past. e current pandemic has accelerated the trend for multi-channel solutions and the importance of digitalization in our lives. Traditional in-store shopping does not take into consideration social distancing with shoppers waiting in line at the cash register and requires clerks to physically handle lottery games. Digital retail overcomes these issues and increases shopper convenience. ese new experiences that allow digital ordering and contactless shopping are well embedded in our current way of life and are totally accepted by consumers today. e pandemic will impact the way we buy and sell lottery games today and in the future. However, meeting these new challenges requires lottery to change from the restrictions of selling through speci c lottery equipment in limited locations when reaching consumers. e industry must move to a more distributed network of touch points in the retail landscape, while at the same time o ering additional digital lottery play. CHANGING CONSUMER SHOPPING HABITS e new partnership between Abacus and Scienti c Games, facilitates new retail integrated in-lane solutions, puts lottery products in front of 100% of the store’s customers and meets changing consumer habits. Today’s rapidly evolving retail environment demonstrates the importance of solutions that are exible and that can respond quickly to the way consumers prefer or are required to shop. Lottery must be part of the new retail landscape if it is to sustain sales and transfers to bene ciaries. It is during times of crisis like the world is currently experiencing that the vulnerability of businesses is put into stark reality as we are seeing with lotteries experiencing an up to 30% drop in sales (at the time of writing this article). However, the importance of lottery is even more signi cant during a crisis because lottery funding supports good causes in local communities. e ability to provide the best solutions to players and retailers is crucial. “It is paramount for the lottery industry to bring products conveniently to players as part of their daily shopping experience. And it’s crucial for our industry to modernize at retail if we want to stay relevant as we come out of this crisis, which is why we are partnering with Abacus to o er lottery across retail platforms and channels.” says Randall Lex, VP Lottery Retail Solutions for Scienti c Games. INTEGRATING THE RETAIL ECOSYSTEM e cooperation between Abacus and Scienti c Games integrates both companies’ technologies to o er innovative games and solutions through the retailer ecosystems that serve their consumers in ways not seen before. is combined approach also enables the industry to monitor consumers more closely by following them within the whole retail environment, gathering the metrics for analysis and using the data to visualize consumer purchasing behaviour and preferences. is data may then be used to create the content and interaction through signage and messaging to facilitate the appropriate targeted o ers that will be suitable for the sales channel and consumer as they purchase, whether that be in-lane, self- service, e-commerce or mobile. Abacus’ retail integration with partners such as Toshiba opens new sales and content channels within the retailer environment, facilitating sales as well as validation and redemption of all forms of gameplay in a exible but, most crucially, in a consumer-oriented experience. IMPROVING THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE As lotteries increase their consumer footprint, it is also important to o er the best consumer experiences. During extreme circumstances such as we are now experiencing, traditional sales methods and channels which have in the past guaranteed sales have shown that they too can be vulnerable. Selling lottery products is all about emotion as well as o ering relevant entertainment, therefore, as the world changes so must the consumer experience change. Scienti c Games' digital and physical THE NEED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL ABACUS PARTNERS WITH SCIENTIFIC GAMES ON IN-LANE LOTTERY RETAIL SOLUTION “It is paramount for the lottery industry to bring products conveniently to players as part of their daily shopping experience.”