GTECH sees its new vending machines as the next wave in the industry
GTECH Holdings Corp. is about to make it easier for shoppers to get in on the big money.
The West Greenwich, Rhode Island lottery provider yesterday unveiled a new vending machine that doles out instant and traditional lottery tickets directly to shoppers.
These machines not only allow people to buy scratch-off tickets like they buy a can of soda, they also include a touch screen that allows players to choose their own numbers and buy tickets for the big, traditional lottery drawings.
The machines are completely self-service, and GTECH plans to market them to states and municipalities for use in large grocery stores, said Robert Vincent, a spokesman for the company. The machine wouldn't replace the lottery attendants at convenience store counters. Instead, they would be put somewhere, such as a grocery store entrance, that gets a lot of foot traffic.
Since the machines are hooked to the Internet to sell traditional lottery tickets, they also can report back to the state Lottery when they are running low on tickets.
GTECH does not yet have a customer for the machines, and they are not being rolled out in Rhode Island right now. But Vincent said GTECH sees the machines as the "next wave of self-service product for the industry."
This will be excellent as long as people know what they are doing and can make their transactions quickly. I've wasted many a minute waiting in the self-checkout lanes in some supermarkets being held up by someone who has all the time in the world to scan their stuff through and still end up having an attendant come over anyway to sort things out for them. Hopefully they will install more than one machine in high traffic areas.
This will be excellent as long as people know what they are doing and can make their transactions quickly. I've wasted many a minute waiting in the self-checkout lanes in some supermarkets being held up by someone who has all the time in the world to scan their stuff through and still end up having an attendant come over anyway to sort things out for them. Hopefully they will install more than one machine in high traffic areas.
They would need to be placed in areas where store personnel would be able to see if minors were attempting to play.