Jackpot News on Screen

Most regular UK Lotto players have had the experience of asking a retailer for information that they haven't been able to provide on the spot. The most common question that flummoxes busy retailers at the terminal is, "What's the jackpot total now?" This question proves difficult not only because retailers are obviously very busy people who have more to do than keep an eye on the ever-changing Lotto prize fund levels, but because they don't have easy access to the very latest information.

The good news for both retailers and Lotto players is that this situation is set to change in dramatic fashion later this year. Following a series of successful pilot schemes and in-depth research, Camelot have announced that they will be installing around 4,000 digital display units in lottery retail outlets. Just under two thirds of this number will be in the form of "electronic Jackpot Communicators" (JPCs) and the rest will be media screens.

The media screens will provide players and retailers with a constantly updated stream of the very latest news about the full range of lottery products. Content will include real-time jackpot figures, details of promotions and even multimedia clips of the latest National Lottery television commercials.

The Jackpot Communicators will provide a more streamlined "ticker tape" style display which show continually updated prize amounts for rolling jackpots (such as EuroMillions) as well as providing information about events such as rollovesr and superdraws.

Retailers who have taken part in the pilot scheme have seen their sales rise (by around 3%) and their customers benefiting from the ground-breaking service. Sheilen Patel, who owns a newsagents in Edgware, commented, "The TV display is really eye-catching, and the interactive communication really helped to engage the players - without me having to do anything! I have no doubt that having the TV screen has helped sales and brought in additional players - there were definitely some new faces asking for the games they had 'just seen on the telly'."

Once the 4,000 media screens and JPCs are installed across the country (lottery officials say this should happen by November) it will be the largest in-store digital media network in Europe, and the largest lottery-dedicated network on the planet.

So now UK Lotto players have at least one good reason to look forward to the Christmas shopping season - even in July!

6/7/06