player-experience that is fun and readily
understood with an easy learning curve as
the consumer migrates from smart-phones
to tablets to TAPP IT
™
and other self-serve
in-store deliver systems. Essentially we
will provide a single user interface for any
device the consumer wants to use. In addi-
tion, we need to build in the ability for the
operator to integrate the retailer in whatever
ways fits their strategy, i.e. commissioning
and cross-promoting and other agendas that
we may not even know about right now. We
have great game developers that are integrat-
ing with us through our API so that retailers
and consumers alike can readily embrace a
migration process to more sophisticated, and
entertaining, games and channels. Omni-
channel is about enabling all this to happen
such that the high-tech back-office technol-
ogy appears simple and user-friendly to the
player and retailer. Of course, this process
is all being implemented in partnership with
the lottery partners, which we serve, the re-
tailers that sell lottery products, and the con-
sumers who buy the products. Together we
are evolving this business to position gov-
ernment-gaming operators to be the gaming
destination of choice for the next generation
of consumers.
Are there ways to integrate a social net-
working experience into the lottery playing
experience? Why can’t we create an easy
path-way for the player to post his “like”
for Lottery on Facebook? Post that she just
won $50 and is buying her friends drinks
tonight and such? And maybe loop in the
retailer in some way?
T. Little:
We already can create an easy
path-way for the players to post their “like”
for Lottery on Facebook or post that he/
she just won $50 and is buying their friends
drinks tonight. There are a number of dif-
ferent ways to directly interface with Face-
book and other social media channels. We
believe the best way is to design games that
have some sort of life after the ticket reveal
or the drawing. More specifically, add value
to the losing tickets after the reveal. The
winning tickets already deliver value. So, in
effect, our job is to create good losing tick-
ets. Players could perhaps accrue points for
their losing tickets to be redeemed in some
way. Or why not create a social media Zyn-
ga-like game—losing tickets could be used
as currency to buy virtual goods. That would
cost Lottery nothing, other than the game
development and maintenance cost. And it
could add a very interesting component to
the game. After all, the vast majority of our
players end up with losing tickets. We need
to focus our resources on enhancing the val-
ue to the consumer experience of purchas-
ing losing tickets. The social networking
that you refer to is already being done. Play
that goes through the web enables the game
results, player comments, etc. to be linked
directly to social media sites.
One obstacle is our inability to enable
Retailers to understand how and why the
Omni-Channel approach will benefit them.
T. Little:
The biggest issue facing the
lotteries when it comes to integrating the
Omni-Channel approach with brick & mor-
tar retailers is communication. For example,
NACS (the Retailers’ Association), in a re-
cent debate, said that one of the reasons that
they were against play on the Internet was
because of underage play. Another reason
was that they were worried about out-of-
state play. These types of issues have already
been solved from a technical standpoint to
assure that they don’t happen. Games of
chance in general, and that includes lottery
tickets, have been sold online for many years
almost everywhere else in the world without
incident. The technology to prevent under-
age play and out-of-state play is proven to
work. Of course, the people at NACS know
this. They just hope that the disinformation
can create concern on the part of the legisla-
tors they are trying to convince to prevent
Lottery from being sold online. Retailers are
understandably worried that they will lose
business and commissions. They should
not be because the Omni-Channel approach
draws in more consumers, drives more store
traffic, and benefits retailers. John Kennedy
said “A rising tide lifts all boats” and that is
what the Omni Channel approach does for
lottery products, lottery operators, and re-
tailers. This has been proven over and over
again with lotteries that are able to sell on
the internet. NACS rebuttal to that is that
they might have had larger increases in their
land-based stores without internet sales tak-
ing place. That is a convenient argument
since there is no way to prove or disprove
it. The thing is, that there are many ways to
integrate the retailers into an Omni-Channel
model. Commissions can be shared and lot-
tery websites can be an incredibly powerful
medium to promote retailers and drive store-
traffic. When you consider the increased
store traffic that lottery online promotion
would drive, the net result for retailers is
unequivocally positive. Many retail stores
are employing an Omni-Channel approach
already, and so we should be able to engage
their support. We have internet solutions
available for implementation in the retail
stores right now. For example, some of our
lottery operator clients have our self-service
Multi-Purpose Next Generation (MPNG)
machines and are selling our TAPP IT
™
in-
teractive games at land-based retailers. We
could enable players to play the same games
online for fun and come into the store to
play for money.
For the entertainment non-money games
we can provide retailer promotions to drive
players back into the stores. Another op-
tion is for players to get a ticket at the store
that they then play at home, on their home
computer or tablet or smart-phone. Another
idea would be to be enable players to “top
up” their e-wallets at the store and then al-
low them to play on the Multi-Purpose ma-
chines at the store or anywhere that they can
get online.
A problem is that retailers who are mov-
ing towards the Omni-Channel model are
not including Lottery in their planning pro-
cess. The first thing we could do is to iden-
tify retailers who are already thinking about
how to evolve their businesses to appeal to
and connect with the next generation of con-
sumers—the early-adopters of technology
and business process trend-lines. These are
the ones who will understand the benefits of
integrating lottery into their planning pro-
cesses. Think about it: Lottery has a massive
consumer connection, really unlike any oth-
er product in the world. Retailers know this;
they know that Lottery drives store traffic.
The retailer who is already thinking about
the Omni-Channel as it applies to their busi-
ness will quickly grasp the reach and im-
pact of Lottery’s website connection to the
consumer, and how it could be leveraged to
drive new consumer groups into the store.
As an industry, we have not always treated
our retailers as a true partner. If we want
them to treat us as partners, we need to treat
them as partners. By fully engaging with our
retailers on every level, we will become a
part of the process that includes Lottery in
an Omni-Channel approach. Instead of being
an Omni-Channel strategy that just serves
the interests of Lottery, it will be a joint ef-
fort that is mutually beneficial for both Lot-
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September/October 2014 • Public Gaming International
