Lottery Plans Conversion To Gtech; Sales Interrupton Beginning At 12:01 Am Sunday

In order to complete conversion with GTECH, the West Virginia Lottery’s new gaming system vendor, lottery sales will be stopped at 12:01 AM Sunday, June 28 and resume at noon, according to Lottery Director John Musgrave.

Musgrave said retailers have been provided with new and improved equipment that will make purchases both faster and easier. “The very fact that these terminals are user friendly and infinitely quicker, spells good business for overall lottery sales in the coming year.”

As part of the system enhancement, Musgrave said all traditional-game lottery retailers will have the capability to sell both instant and online tickets, which include scratch-off games, as well as Powerball®, Hot Lotto®, Cash25, Daily3 and Daily4.

In addition to the new lottery terminals, he said high-performing retail locations have received stand-alone Player Activated Terminals (“Pay & Play”), which provide customers an opportunity to purchase and check winning tickets without the assistance of a retailer; many of the Lottery's KENO locations have received Ticket Scan machines (“Ticket √”), allowing players to check their own tickets for winners on West Virginia Lottery online games.

Musgrave said the new terminals offer retailers a user-friendly approach with features such as touch-screen technology and flat-panel screens for customers, who will be able to view their transactions, as well as lottery notices about jackpots, products, and promotions. The new terminals will also provide retailers with accounting features that enhance security in monitoring and tracking tickets.

Additionally, Musgrave said satellite communication will be used to improve transaction speeds, as it has been proven more reliable than traditional phone lines.

Musgrave commended the efforts of lottery staff, as well as lottery retailers and GTECH employees, who he said have spent thousands of hours to make the conversion seamless. “It has represented an undertaking of unimaginable proportions, but one that we believe will provide a smooth transition for the playing public. We do ask for their patience, however, as retailers continue to learn the new system.”

Musgrave said more than 4,000 clerks and managers from 1,521 lottery retail outlets were trained on how to operate new terminals within just three weeks by the Lottery's marketing staff and GTECH professional trainers. “Remarkably, retailer attendance was better than 99 percent . . . we were grateful for their attendance, which speaks to the dedication and professionalism of the Lottery’s retailer network, as well as their enthusiasm over the new system.”

In addition to GTECH building out their offices in Charleston, Musgrave said behind-the-scenes activity has included the installation of new equipment at all retail locations six weeks prior to conversion, transferring lottery warehouse inventory to a new location, implementing new internal procedures to merge the Lottery and GTECH systems, and training lottery staff on how to use a new graphical interface provided by GTECH.