Scientific Games is not just talking about innovating in retail self-service; the firm is implementing its innovations for customers.
“Our PlayCentral HD™ has been successfully deployed in two jurisdictions in 2016, with several more jurisdictions scheduled in 2017 both domestically and internationally,” said Pat McHugh, SVP, Global Lottery Systems, Scientific Games.
“In early 2016, we deployed 225 PlayCentral HD terminals for the Maine Lottery. In addition, we’ve launched 200 PlayCentral HD and 50 PlayCentral EX terminals in Pennsylvania this year, with another 300 HD and 200 EX terminals to be deployed in late 2016. The PlayCentral HD terminals in Pennsylvania will be deployed with our PCI-compliant credit/debit, and mobile payment technology, allowing us to reach new players who prefer cashless payment, while providing enhanced payment flexibility for current players.”
PlayCentral HD Features
PlayCentral HD is Scientific Games’ flagship self-service terminal supporting both instant and draw game sales through its 42-inch full HD touchscreen.
“The PlayCentral HD’s display combines rich, vibrant graphics with an intuitive user interface designed to actively engage players and provide an unparalleled self-service game play experience,” explained McHugh. “PlayCentral HD supports a number of payment types to deliver flexibility for retail customers, including: cash, coin, voucher, winning ticket validation, and our fully PCI-compliant credit/debit and mobile pay (Android Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, etc.) solution. PlayCentral HD supports an industry-leading 28 instant games, all lottery draw games, and a number of new games and play styles designed to reach new players and trade styles.”
Advanced features of the PlayCentral HD enhance the player experience, including both “touch to purchase” and “shopping cart” purchase options, which are key for any lottery considering cashless payment options where a shopping cart is required. “Additionally, the PlayCentral HD delivers more information for interacting with players than legacy push-button self-service technology, displaying the full front and back of instant game images with game information like top prizes available and second-chance drawing opportunities. Today’s consumers demand more information than ever before, and the PlayCentral HD delivers,” said McHugh.
Self Service Solution
One of the keys to attracting new lottery players is creating new play styles for games and creating new ways to deliver content to players, especially through retail self-service.
“Our PlayCentral HD full-service and PlayCentral EX draw-only touchscreen self-service terminals are built on a common application platform,” said McHugh. “Our PlayCentral technology is designed to evolve over time, with new features, functionality and user experiences added regularly with future releases. We see our platform much like Android or iOS in the smartphone market, with new releases regularly brought to market and new features that enhance the user experience.”
As the self-service platform continues to grow and evolve, Scientific Games is bringing new games and play styles to market. “This includes new ways to play such as our FastPlay instant win games, YouPlay™ interactive eInstant games, MobiPlay™, ChoicePlay™ and Tru-View Keno™ that allow mobile game play and wagering through retail purchases, new ways to access players’ VIP loyalty accounts, and many other exciting new features. These innovations help lotteries engage with players through retail self-service and can help them acquire new players and reach into new trade styles with games that are relevant within a particular trade style,” stressed McHugh.
Cashless Betting
“First and foremost, self-service currently represents a large percentage of retail sales for many U.S. lotteries—in some cases over 50%,” stressed McHugh. “We continue to see demand for self-service grow throughout the industry. At the same time, we are seeing cash transactions at retail continue to decrease year-over-year. For this reason, when Scientific Games implemented our PCI-compliant credit/debit and mobile payment processing system directly integrated with the Pennsylvania Lottery’s gaming systems technology this year—the first ever in the U.S. lottery market—self-service was an integral part of our plan.”
Awareness is another huge opportunity with self-service, which ultimately can lead to higher player acquisition.
“Credit/debit card technology integrated into a self-service retail terminal is visible to all retail foot traffic and is essentially advertising itself, making everyone—lottery players and non-players alike—aware that a cashless payment option is available,” explained McHugh. “This is key, because not only do we want current players to know cashless payment options are available, we want non-players who do not carry cash to realize they now have the ability to purchase lottery games with their preferred method of payment in a secure environment.”