By Nanoptix
Published September 11, 2024
Founded in 1996, Nanoptix was built on excellent customer service, knowledgeable support staff and an experienced product development and engineering team. Over the years, we have provided solutions for lotteries as well as for most casino and gaming OEMs. Our team designs, manufactures and supports an innovative portfolio of high-quality thermal printers and systems to customers worldwide. The Paycheck™ and Spill-Proof™ lines of products are trusted brands to our lottery customers in Canada, the USA, Australia and Europe.
For nearly 28 years, Nanoptix has served the lottery and gaming industries with quality products and services. Nanoptix is proud to introduce these new innovative products at NASPL 2024.
Regaining Casual Lottery Play
It is no secret that lottery play is stagnating in certain segments of player demographics. The opportunity to earn significant lottery sales from those who might be described as casual players may be lost due to friction in existing customer journeys/purchase processes. With an aging player base and competing online products that primarily serve core players, spontaneous play is also at risk. Casual players (including new players and younger demographics) might forget to ask for a ticket, find it inconvenient to fill out selection slips or create an account. They may also not really know what to ask for.
As more retailers move towards greater online sales, or self-checkout options in their physical locations, lottery may have become a neglected category in the retail reality. Many lottery competitors provide attractive alternative products, but lotteries have a huge advantage not available to online operators: an established brick and mortar infrastructure and retail network with trained retailers, access to multi-jurisdictional and national draw-based games and wagering.
Imagine if there was an intuitive, low-cost and in-person means of leveraging this retail infrastructure and creating an easy purchase experience for the non-traditional, elusive under-35 market that engages the untapped customer through spontaneous and casual lottery play! The EZButton™ can be customized to consider local draws, jackpot amounts, nearby demographics and purchasing patterns. Imagine if all this were possible and there was very little integration required by the lottery. What if this solution also appealed to those who only occasionally play rather than attracting core players to spend more? What if the solution can be located anywhere in a retail environment and did not require age verification? What if retailers would benefit from impactful ancillary sales through more engaging and seamless lottery experience?
In collaboration with some of our lottery customers, these are some of the questions we asked ourselves and which are being evaluated with a concept terminal called the EZButton™. Conceived by the Nanoptix team, the EZButton™ displays active lottery draws and offers quick one or 2-touch instant pick tickets. The terminal could also be customized for customers who want to select their own numbers, without the use of selection slips or without having to create an account. Adding an EZButton™ to the retail ritual offers a compelling way of retaining or even growing the lottery category at retail without the headaches and complexities associated with integration of payment, retail and lottery systems
Sports Betting at Retail?
How simplifying the retail experience for players may pave the way for incremental sports wagering.
What if there was another way to engage sports fans for a casual flutter? As more states and provinces have legalized single-event betting in recent years, the market is going through incredible growth and is estimated to keep growing until the end of the decade. While much of this is being driven by mobile applications, sportsbooks in physical locations hold appeal for many players. Physical retail remains an important part of mature sports betting markets such as the UK, something we have not seen given the digital focus in North America. This may mean there is an opportunity to create something more tangible in a connected age.
Sports betting is primarily confined to mobile betting apps or casino-located sportsbooks. This limits the addressable market to those who have taken the time to download the app and core players. App usage on mobile devices is becoming saturated, with the majority of people reluctant to download any new apps. There is an opportunity to be seen as an alternative to the phone screen during periods of quiet time. This is especially appealing to those who are concerned about having betting apps too readily accessible on their mobile devices. Digital sports betting terminals and kiosks offer an opportunity for sports fans to spontaneously bet on events they care about and feature benefits such as:
Located where people are in the sports mindset: bars, casual restaurants, transit hubs, stadiums;
Betting in the "right" social context, immersive experiences with friends, watching sports games or events;
Feeling the ticket in their hand appeals to the emotional side of the wager;
Simple intuitive screens skinned for specific lottery offerings eliminate entry mistakes common with selection slips and wasted paper when printing odds; and
Incentivizes retailers as players will likely stay longer to watch game outcome, leading to ancillary sales.
In addition to providing these benefits, the Terminal XL’s simple user experience opens opportunities for low-cost new player acquisition through reduced steps and promotional content. Traditional high-cost methods of acquiring new customers (estimated at between $300-350/player in 2023) and increased restrictions on sports betting advertising may also make the Nanoptix solution a much lower fixed-cost solution for customer acquisition. We believe it is more likely to attract new casual players and foster safer play rather than encouraging core players to spend more.
Preliminary field trial data show that the Terminal XL in the right setting can boost sales by up to 300%. This may be because the terminal is providing potential players with valuable information which reduces the reluctance and intimidation caused by sports betting's steep learning curve. With its bright screen, the terminal also offers the possibility of easily integrating responsible gaming and promotional content. Return on investment is swift, and the terminal has a fixed cost and a long-life expectancy.
Are you interested in learning more about how the Nanoptix patent pending EZ Button™ can help remove obstacles for your existing customer purchase process and render the retail experience more attractive to new players? Or how the Terminal XL provides a simple user experience that is a great way to improve sports betting opportunities at retail? Please contact Bruno Roy, VP of Sales & Marketing at bruno.roy@nanoptix.com
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