SHOPPERS will soon notice a big change when buying their National Lottery tickets in supermarkets as thousands of new machines are rolled out across the UK.
Allwyn, the operator of the National Lottery, has started introducing more than 30,000 state-of-the-art Lottery Wave terminals in stores nationwide.
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The high-tech terminals are part of a £350million investment to modernise the Lottery and improve both the player and retailer experience.
The machines come with faster processors for speedier transactions, larger adjustable screens, and advanced barcode scanners.
They also include a new play slip reader that can be fed both horizontally and vertically, making ticket purchases easier for shoppers.
Retailers will benefit too, with the terminals offering enhanced reporting features and the option to update numbers on Fast Pay cards.
In the first half of this year, around 8,000 stores had already received the new kit.
By the end of August, another 4,000 shops will see their old Altura terminals replaced.
From September, Allwyn says it plans to install thousands of the machines every week.
Retailers have welcomed the upgrade.
Nisa store owner Stephen Harrison said: “Having the new terminal in store has been amazing.
“It is so much more responsive and easier to use, which has been especially important to us as we recently had some PR around a millionaire made in store, so our store has been much busier selling those lucky tickets.”
Allwyn director of operations Jenny Blogg said: “This is another massive undertaking from Allwyn as we deliver generational change to the National Lottery.
“We have invested more than £350m in a comprehensive plan to transform the National Lottery, substantially improving its operations and technology.
“These will support exciting plans we have for new games, a better player experience, and a commitment to double returns to Good Causes from £30m to £60m every week by the end of our 10-year licence.”
As reported by The Grocer, the rollout follows the biggest technology upgrade in the Lottery’s history since it began in 1994.
Between 2 and 4 August, systems were taken offline to allow new software and data migrations to take place.
This meant players could not log into their online accounts, buy draw tickets, or claim prizes until services restarted on the Monday morning.
While most shops were back up and running quickly, some retailers complained about problems with older machines.
Go Local retailer Reuben Singh Mander said: “We always said that we expected that a small proportion of legacy Altura terminals may experience delays coming back up for various reasons, including some that didn’t download the new software successfully.
“We’ve been busy visiting and troubleshooting with the very small number of retailers who have experienced any residual issues.”
Despite the disruption, Allwyn said the changes were vital to deliver its long-term plan to modernise the Lottery.
The move comes after earlier changes this year, when Asda trialled a new digital scratchcard dispenser for the first time in 30 years.
That system featured a touchscreen display and an automated dispenser designed to make buying scratchcards faster and easier.
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