In its annual meeting in April, Walmart brought together lottery vendors and suppliers to discuss the future of lottery. Walmart plans to move from being a spectator to a competitor and active player. It may even launch an app with iLottery features.
In meetings, the message was delivered to IGT, Scientific Games and NeoPollard as well as other companies that work with Walmart. Walmart officials unveiled the slogan “Be in It to Win It” aimed directly at the lottery sector. Presentation materials reviewed by Lottery Geeks from the Bentonville Arkansas Summit.
Walmart has not yet revealed the exact details of its strategy, and it may take a while to make the change. Multiple sources have confirmed that the plan for “Lottery@Walmart”, which is a lottery at Walmart, has been implemented. They spoke on the condition of anonymity about a highly sensitive issue.
Data is everything
Profit is an incentive. Walmart is motivated by a common pain-point shared across the nation, such as Kroger and Sheetz. This stems from a disconnect that exists between the lottery’s point-of sale (POS) system and their internal store POS. The systems in each state operate independently due to state lottery laws, IGT’s agreements with state lottery operators, and the state lottery partner IGT.
By 2024, the majority of sales will be processed electronically (often for pickup in store). Retailers miss out on valuable information about their customers’ shopping baskets and purchases, and therefore are losing sales opportunities. Online sales of groceries spiked in the years following the outbreaks, from 2020 until now.
Walmart’s $560 billion market capital does not make it the only company with inconsistent and incomplete data on sales transactions. This is a common complaint. Walmart may be the only company with enough scale to make a difference.
Walmart has not responded to lottery Geeks questions regarding its plans for the lottery sector.
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