As players continue to search for convenient and efficient lottery transactions, in-lane solutions are addressing their needs. In addition, retailers are interested in offering an additional location within their stores to sell lottery, with the added benefit of having those transactions integrated with the POS systems. As the market leader in the U.S., IGT enables 78% of the lottery market by wager and 70% of the more than 220,000 retailers across the country who sell lottery products. We partnered with lotteries, retailers, and third party technology providers to deliver the first in-lane implementations to the market, debuting two solutions with the Texas Lottery Commission in 2019. IGT also is actively involved in the NASPL Standard API initiative which is the foundation upon which in-lane deployments are proliferating.
The initial focus of in-lane was on draw-based games and in particular the large jackpot games of Powerball and Mega Millions for their ability to drive incremental sales during high jackpots. Debuting at leading Texas chain-store retailer H-E-B, the Receipt Ticket enables players to purchase jackpot game Quick Pick numbers directly at the register and receive their ticket printed directly on their receipt. QUICKTICKET also delivers draw game Quick Pick numbers, this time in the familiar form of a scratch ticket-style where the player buys the ticket by activating it at the point of sale and then scratches the latex to reveal their quick pick board data that is entered into the next available draw. Both of these were the first in-lane solutions of their kind in-market and offer increased speed of purchase and convenience to the player.
The natural progression of in-lane lottery sales has led us to its most recent iteration: selling Scratchers in-lane. The key success factors for scratchers in-lane are to have a cost-effective solution that addresses the display and secure dispensing of Scratchers while supporting retailers’ desires for light integration with their POS, and speed of transaction for their employees and their consumers. Albertsons, a successful supermarket chain in the U.S., deployed a pilot program at select stores located in Texas with very positive results. Check out the below video highlighting the key components of the experience for both retailers and players, and hear from an Albertsons representative on the appeal to customers.
“The successful rollout at Albertsons, and similar approaches with Winn-Dixie in Florida and H-E-B in Texas, underscore the potential for incremental Scratchers sales at existing lottery retailers with a very modest investment. On a regular basis we are talking with Lotteries and National Chain Retailers to pique their interest in also implementing Scratchers in-lane to enhance player engagement and drive incremental sales,” said Paul Riley, VP Retail Innovations & Partnerships at IGT.
The cumulative result of these collaborative efforts and deployments positions IGT as the in-lane innovation leader. Stay tuned in this space for more developments on in-lane as we meet new challenges head on. For more information about IGT’s in-lane innovations, contact your account executive.
