NSW newsagents are facing losing lottery business to supermarkets, pubs and clubs if my information is correct. It’s been suggested to me that supermarkets, especially, stand a good chance of getting lottery business which until now has been the almost exclusive domain of small business newsagents. Newsagents rely on lottery traffic to sell other items. Lottery purchases are part of the habitual newsagent visit each chip away at that risks consumers forgetting about newsagents and purchasing their newspaper, magazine, greeting card, stationery and cigarettes elsewhere.
The Government owned New South Wales Lotteries needs to consider any move away from newsagents very carefully. Newsagents have built the lottery brand and it is only through their efforts and exceptional customer service that lotteries is as strong as it is. To then take a chunk of that business and gift it to supermarkets and others would be a huge blow against small business. What government would do that?