The retail network has been a core sales channel for lotteries for as long as they existed. Despite new and innovative ways to sell lottery products, such as online and mobile devices, the retail channel remains a strong point of access to players and lotteries manage extensive sales networks of agents and commissionaires through their sales functions. The retail network is typically managed by the assignment of geographical areas or sales territories to groups of sales representatives, who maintain a client relationship with their respective retailers or agents. Integral part of this relationship is the direct interaction with retailers on location through sales calls and site visits to meet sales objectives and maximize retail sales. This interaction is typically driven by CRM principles and planned and executed by manual means, often neglecting to collect data on retailer quality aspects of the sales visits. This lack of historical data collected during visits deprives the sales force of valuable information that can drive the improvement of the retailer quality and also to base site visits on historical data of quality and compliance, so as to focus the sales force pro-actively on retailers where site visits are needed to improve the quality vs. a random or re-active and less informed approach.
An equally important area within the lottery operations that has a relationship with lottery retailers is the Security & Compliance function. It manages policies and procedures within the retail network for the purpose of ensuring adherence to regulatory and policy requirements. Integrity is one of the lottery’s key assets, and Player Protection and Fraud Monitoring are cornerstones of lottery integrity. Retailer Fraud can put your lottery’s reputation and player trust at risk. Many lotteries are realizing that in order to demonstrate integrity and measure compliance in the retail network, continuous testing and inspection in the field are critical. A risk based and consistent methodical approach to inspecting retailers for adherence with standards, policies and procedures drives change in behaviour and thus improves compliance. The collecting of historical inspection data further enables the better understanding of retailer behaviour, areas of risk and thus supports a more efficient and effective approach to retail network management.
Lastly, another area requiring site visits and inspections or testing are Gaming or Video Lottery sites, where Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) are subject to inspection and testing programs from the compliance, sales or technical perspective. For the compliance tester, VLT site inspections are conducted to gather site data in order to ensure compliance with standards and specifications. For the Technical and Support Teams, frequent and multiple site visits are key operational function to maintain VLT networks at required service levels.
All these functions are key operational areas for lottery and gaming operators or regulators and offer significant opportunity for improvement in enhancing operational processes and creating efficiencies with an automated, methodical and technology supported operational approach.
Learn how Baseline Compliance Manager™ effectively manages site inspections.
