29 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024 supports cashless payment with the additional benefit of also associating a player’s unique identity with LVM transactions. For national chain accounts, cashless functionality is important from a relationship standpoint, showing a retailer that the Lottery values the relationship. Beyond optimizing convenience for players who shop with the retailer, it helps to bridge the gap in some jurisdictions that don't offer a vendingonly model as another way to sell lottery. “Every retail report, every consumer payments report, points to the expansion of cashless payments,” says Paul Riley. “Adoption is increasing, and while not all lotteries can offer cashless, more options are available to those that can.” Adds Tony Kirkland, IGT Director of U.S. Strategic Retail Sales Development, “It’s becoming abundantly clear that lotteries that offer a cashless option on their LVMs are capturing more impromptu sales. Because, more often than not, core players are taking the extra time to get cash back or preemptively carrying cash for purchases. But new or occasional players who want to try a game could be limited by not having cash on hand and pass by the opportunity.” Implementation of cashless LVMs will look different in each jurisdiction. IGT’s lottery vending machines support all major card brands for payment using Swipe, Chip and Tap. And Tap payment methods can be by card and mobile/eWallet. Cashless transactions also open the door to additional analysis and investigation: for example, learning whether cashless transactions correlate to the purchase of higher-price-point scratchers. LVM optimization helps retailers sell lottery, helps players access the games they enjoy, and helps lotteries make more of the investments they’ve made in equipment. In addition to the tools and approaches covered in this three-part series, IGT’s specialized teams can also support customers with in-store placement, retailer and salesforce training, promotional strategies, and post-execution monitoring. To learn more about how IGT teams and tools can help you derive more business value from lottery self-service networks, contact your IGT representative. LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO SCRATCH AND WIN 4 6 1 4 4 3 3 3 4 2 6 6 1 3 3 2 2 2 ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL ROLL 4 5 1 5 3 5 , , THE POSSIBILITIES ARE INFINITY Dana Bennett is IGT’s Director of Market Analysis, North America Sales Development. His career spans more than two decades in data management and analysis, including long tenures with retailers including Staples and CVS. In 2021, he joined IGT, where, together with Tim Kriger, he directs retail performance analytics and the Retail Market Insights™ (RMI) industry database, ensuring data quality and conducting analyses to support lottery and retailer business decisions. “My whole career has been in data analysis,” says Bennett. “Having been exposed to data analytics in my undergraduate classwork, I found the topic interesting enough to know I wanted a career in it — long before any schools created degrees called "data analytics," or anyone had coined the terms Data Science and Big Data.” He became one of the first to enroll in and complete a new Master of Science in Business Economics program at Bentley College, a precursor to current data analytics degree programs. Bennett’s work is focused on finding sales opportunities through the analysis of retailer chains. He has led significant projects such as developing retail-related decision-making models for IGT lottery customers and developing analytics solutions for specific needs, such as retailer prospecting. He also works directly with customers to train on RMI and other software. “We’re always doing more behind-the scenes,” he says, having recently delivered a significant enhancement to the RMI tool based on feedback from one user-group that called for a new set of filters on the monthly reports. Whether related to lottery or retailer needs, he’s focused on, “What can we make better for the end user? And what can we do better on our end?” Tim Kriger, Senior Data Analytics Manager, directs IGT’s proprietary RMI database and tool with Dana Bennett, and leads analyses based on retailer data regarding games, game penetration, retailer density, retail optimization, and more. Kriger is a seasoned expert with over two decades of experience in technology and advanced data analytics. In a former role with multinational tech company EMC, he worked with all facets of customer data and analytics. Following EMC’s acquisition by Dell, he continued to expand his expertise into customer-experience and voice-ofthe-customer data and analytics. In 2019, Tim joined IGT as the RMI product owner. Since then, he has successfully expanded the program while introducing innovative tools such as the Consolidated Chain Reports and Vending Analytics. Tim is also dedicated to empowering lotteries and internal teams by providing training on the use of RMI dashboards and data sets, ensuring that all stakeholders can leverage the full potential of the available data. Translating Data into Actionable Insights
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