In Leger’s Lottery Retail Recovery webinar, Jason Alsop conducted a presentation and a panel of guests discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the US ‘bricks and mortar’ retail lottery sector.
What is it?
The conversation revolved around the survivability of the American lottery market, particularly the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its operations and what measures operators have introduced to respond to the effects of the virus whilst ensuring customer safeguarding
Who is it?
Host – Simon Jaworski, President of Leger US
Speaker – Mike Prasla – Owner of Rudy’s, Texas’ largest lottery operator
Speaker – Lance Anderson, Assistant Director of Sales at Washington Lottery
Speaker – Bob Hornberger, Cash Management and Lottery Project Lead, Wawa
Speaker – Jason Allsop, Vice President of Leger Vancouver
What is being said?
Regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the US retail lottery market during his presentation, Allsop remarked: “We know that 14 states right now are online, and obviously there’s other states there – including Texas – who offer the jackpot solution.
“Where are players buying their tickets? And as you can see here, 87% of past-year players have bought exclusively from bricks and mortar. We can see that 8% of them have combined with online, and then only 5% have bought online only, so we can see the best part of 95% of our population, our lottery playing population, have bought through bricks and mortar.”
Concluding his statement regarding the survival of US retail lottery, he said: “The reality here is that despite COVID being around, it does not by any stretch of the imagination mean the death of bricks and mortar.”
Outlining the industry’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Lance Anderson said: “In Washington, we’re heavily vended, probably the most vended state in the United States and so we have really tried to optimise our vending machines and any of the other holding components that we have, that are part of our gaming system to really educate players on what’s going on.
“COVID came on quick out here as most people know, I believe that the first case was out here in Washington, and we pivoted quick. We were told we were going to go home for just a couple of weeks – it’s now been almost a year, so we have quickly transitioned.
“Our sales reps are working from home, they’re on a modified busy schedule now but initially we really had to lean on our marketing side to message to players that were still visiting retail for groceries and things like that.”
Where can I see more?
Source – Leger YouTube Channel
