MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
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<strong>THE</strong> NATIONAL LOTTERY COMPANY <strong>OF</strong> IRELAND:<br />
“CURRENT AND CALL TO ACTION” CONTENT<br />
In a world of digital gaming entertainment, competitiveness<br />
requires innovation, flexibility and most of all<br />
a constant presence everywhere. The National Lottery<br />
Company (NLC) of Ireland has therefore implemented a<br />
plan to both attract new players and provide an improved<br />
experience for existing players on all platforms.<br />
Knowing that many of its products are impulse purchases<br />
and relying on research analysis, the NLC decided to<br />
place digital signage at points of sale to grab players’ attention.<br />
The content as well as the strategic placement of<br />
these screens are important factors. For each NLC draw<br />
game, the digital screens show the current increasing<br />
jackpot amount and a countdown in minutes to the next<br />
draw. The signage is located facing the direction of the<br />
normal queue at cash registers for maximum effect to interest<br />
players in particular games and educate them with<br />
real time information directly downloaded from the National<br />
Lottery’s central system. Currently, the Lottery has<br />
installed digital signage in 100 stores and expects to implement<br />
this technology in 1000 stores by the end of <strong>2011</strong>.<br />
The result will be an incremental lift in sales, especially<br />
during periods of large jackpots. The current NLC retail<br />
network is comprised of over 3,700 stores throughout the<br />
Republic of Ireland, all connected to the central Lottery<br />
system in Dublin, using wired broadband.<br />
Another improvement is being trialed in selected supermarkets<br />
throughout Ireland. To increase overall store<br />
sales and the number of points of sale in supermarkets,<br />
some lottery product sales activities have been transferred<br />
to small quick-pick terminals at individual checkouts<br />
supplementing the traditional lottery sales at the<br />
customer service desk.<br />
ONLINE AND MOBILE PRESENCE<br />
FOR <strong>THE</strong> NLC<br />
Last June, the NLC decided to consolidate its two<br />
websites into a single site to make online registration<br />
an easier task and provide a more efficient online<br />
experience for both players and visitors. The<br />
site now offers a choice between English and Gaelic<br />
(Irish language) and all the popular features (e.g.<br />
previous draw results, information on future draws,<br />
etc.) are just one click away. This redesigned website<br />
has resulted in a 10% increase in regular visitors and<br />
players alike as well as the time spent (up by 20%)<br />
searching the site. On days with large jackpots, the<br />
site receives over 120,000 visitors. Another element<br />
emphasizing the Lottery’s willingness to be more ac-<br />
LOTTERY & TECHNOLOGY<br />
cessible has been the new Web service enabling third<br />
party sites to read draw results automatically from<br />
the NLC website. The NLC is also present on mobile<br />
devices with new iPhone applications, allowing users<br />
to check draw results and generate quick-pick numbers<br />
right on their smartphone.<br />
11 NEWS 37 <strong>SEPTEMBER</strong> <strong>2011</strong>