Australian Newsagency Blog

We are promoting the OzLotto jackpot above our main magazine aisle again this week. not that Tattersalls would care. They only care about how we promote in their space. Smart retail is about leveraging traffic from one department to purchase from another.

If only they treated us as business people and recognised this […]

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Instant scratch ticket sales are up on the same period a year earlier. Our numbers dipped when we were out of stock last weekend. The replacement of Tattersalls instant scratch ticket product with Intralot product has not hurt at all. The Intralot online games, Keno, Lucky Lines and Bingo are pulling good interest […]

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Intralot Peru has announced that it has become the first firm in Latin America to let players to take part in online lotteries utilising a SMS. More on this story at iGaming Business. While this is not a world first, it is chilling to read about the move.

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The best news of the day is that OzLotto did not go off tonight. With the $50 million jackpot we’re sure to achieve at least a 50% increase in lottery sales. We will start a sales game in-store tomorrow as an incentive for our team.  Success with this is all about over the counter […]

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Despite heavy-handed treatment from Tattersalls in recent weeks, we continue to proactively promote their products.  We have a great display promoting the $40 million OzLotto jackpot down the middle of the store – way outside the precious Tattersalls Dedicated Area.
 
The photo does not do the display justice.  It’s certainly driving good sales.  And, yes, the […]

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The device on the right side of the photo is a self check reader for Intralot tickets. This is provided as part of the Intralot solution. Customers can easily check if their instant scratch or other ticket is a winner. Our experience is that while some customers prefer you to check […]

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Our sales of instant lottery tickets are up 40% for the first week of July compared to the same week a year ago.
While the jump may be due to the publicity surrounding the replacement of Tattersalls instant product with Intralot product, the sales growth is higher than I expected - especially given the challenges in […]

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With OzLotto not going off last night the jackpot is now $40 million.  This is cause for great celebration.  We will certainly go hard with in-store promotions, syndicates and other activity to drive sales.  The only dampener to an otherwise great story is the battle many Victorian newsagents continue to have to navigate with Tattersalls […]

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Three days in and our Intralot scratchie sales at Forest Hill are better than where they were under the old brand. At Frankston and Watergardens where the category is new for us sales are good but with room to grow. Still little comment about Intralot vs. Tattersalls.
The Intralot launch has been a bit rocky […]

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I watched a as a customer asking for a ticket in the now defunct Wednesday Tattslotto for tonight was easily sold an alternative product.  As I noted in my post earlier today, customers don’t care about the brand, some don;t even care about the actual game.  It is the dream for tonight that matters - […]

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The drought is over! Scratchies are back in town - instant scratch tickets that is. We received Intralot scratch tickets yesterday, put them out and achieved good sales - including in two outlets which had never sold this category of product before.
Most customers don’t care about the brand, they care about the game […]

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We have been promoting tonight’s OzLotto $25 million on one end of our newspaper stand (facing out to the mall), next to sports and racing newspapers.
This is part of our standard approach to promoting jackpots above $20 million. It makes sense given that half the people entering our shop will not pass the lottery […]

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Thankfully or Tattersalls machines are still running, they have not cut us off overnight as threatened. I say thankfully because OzLotto has passed the $20 million jackpot sweet spot and is now offering a first division prize of $25 million. We are actively promoting this through our house syndicates and regular tickets. […]

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I was interviewed by Derryn Hinch on 3AW yesterday about our dispute with Tattersalls over the placement of the Intralot terminal on our counter. He and his producers had done their homework and and this made the interview good for bringing the issues at the core out in the open. While the dispute […]

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I was interviewed by Jon Faine on ABC local radio in Melbourne this morning about the breach notice issued by Tattersalls against us. I know from calls I have received in the two hours since that this is a hot topic among newsagents. Hopefully, the coverage by the ABC will encourage Tattersalls to […]

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Tattersalls has hand delivered a letter today breaching me for pormoting Intralot in space I have used for eight years to sell magazines and confectionery.  They have given me two days to remove the Intralot terminal.  They have also advised that my comments here are a breach of mny Tattersalls.  It seems the company is […]

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Intralot has started its TV campaign based around the theme of the luck factory. In-store, they are using the LCD screens to educate customers about their new games they launch July 1. I am pleased to see such good use of the LCD screen - they add to the theatre of retail. […]

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The Victorian State Government continues its cut and run strategy on its changes to over the counter lottery products. Their lack of genuine engagement in navigating the resulting changes is disappointing. I have written to the Minister for Gaming twice about unreasonable demands by Tattersalls regarding space allocation. The Minister has ignored […]

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Tattersalls has claimed that it owns the term Quick Pick meaning that Intralot has had to ditch tonnes of printed material and come up with a new name.  While we will work hard to pitch their Lucky Pick to customers, customers will call it what they will.  If it catches on, customers wanting a Tattersalls […]

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At Forest Hill we are getting behind the last Wednesday Tattslotto draw this coming Wednesday, June 25. We are promoting that there can be no jackpot, the prize pool must go. The focus of our locally produced marketing is our house syndicates which we have created just for the occasion. This, coupled […]

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I was fortunate to meet with Dr Katakis, the CEO of Intralot yesterday.  While not the purpose of the meeting, we did talk about the threat made by Tattersalls to turn off access to their product in my business.  He provided some contact details within Government agencies which should help resolve the matter.
Tattersalls would be […]

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Tattersalls withdrew all remaining instant scratch ticket stock in Victorian Monday, leaving 40% of the counter space allocated in our Forest Hill store empty with no prospects of new product.  A threatening letter from their Senior Corporate Solicitor Monday indicates that they intend to fight to retain “their” space.   Dead counter space is commercial suicide.   […]

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I’d be interested in hearing from any newsagents in Victoria who have received communication from Tattersalls in the last week or so about their in-store Tattersall’s Dedicated Area. You can reach me by email on mark@towersystems.com.au.

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We are out if instant scratch tickets as are most newsagents and other lottery outlets in Victoria. Tattersalls say we cannot use the space for anything else even though they do not have new product approved by the State Government for this space. Premium counter real-estate is left looking pathetic - see the […]

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I was interviewed last night by Mark Hawthorne for his report in The Age today about how Tattersalls is treating its retail network over the handling of allocating space to Intralot. Jon Faine on ABC local radio in Melbourne today covered the Tattersalls / Intralot story from a different angle and interviewed a Tattersalls […]

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