Walmart poised to offer retail and, eventually, digital lottery
The message was conveyed in meetings with the likes of IGT, Scientific Games, NeoPollard and others currently working with the retail behemoth. Walmart representatives unveiled a slogan aimed at the lottery industry – “Be in it to Win it” with presentation materials from the Bentonville, Arkansas summit that were reviewed by Lottery Geeks.
The exact mechanics of Walmart’s play are as yet unclear and the shift may prove slow moving. But the “Lottery@Walmart” plan is indeed underway, according to multiple sources who discussed a sensitive matter on condition of anonymity.
It’s all about the data
There is profit incentive. But some of Walmart’s motivation is due to a pain point shared by retailers and vendors all across the country – such as Kroger, Sheetz and Wawa – owing to a frustrating disconnect between lottery point-of-sale (POS) systems and the stores’ internal POS systems. Due to the nature of the agreements executed between individual state lotteries and lottery partners such as IGT, as well as state-by-state lottery laws and regulations, the systems everywhere operate separately.
In the year 2024, more and more sales are processed digitally (often remotely for in-store pickup). Retailers are missing out on reams of valuable data about its customers’ baskets and spending and ultimately missing sales opportunities as a result. Sales of groceries online especially spiked during the pandemic years from 2020 to present.
The problem of inconsistent, incomplete sales transaction data is not unique to Walmart, with its market cap of $560 billion. It’s a universal complaint. But perhaps only Walmart has the scale and leverage to force its way to a solution.
Walmart did not immediately respond to Lottery Geeks’ questions about its plans in the lottery sector.
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Founded in 2023, Lottery Geeks is a website dedicated to all things lottery in the U.S., with original reporting on industry developments, rules and regulations, lottery results and more.