Aussies will be able to play some of the world’s biggest lotteries from newsagents
Aussies will from Monday be able to play in the world’s biggest lotteries from more than 1400 newsagents across the country.
A new partnership between Australian-owned The Lottery Office and payment platform blueshyft means players can now deposit funds at the selected agencies, which they can then use to enter the draws.
The lotteries include the Italian Super Jackpot ($AUD 357 million), European Millions ($AUD 332 million) and USA Mega Lotto ($AUD 543 million).
Newsagents, in turn, receive commissions for deposits made and accounts created via the blueshyft platform.
The Lottery Office CEO Jaclyn Wood said the company expected the blueshyft deal would boost the confidence of lottery players keen to try their hand at playing major jackpots, but hesitant to deposit funds online.
“This will give The Lottery Office’s existing customers additional flexibility to make payments, but also open up a new channel for us to engage with new players,” she said.
Ms Wood said blueshyft had partnered with more than 20 companies including Ladbrokes, FedEx and News Corp to offer payments via an iOS terminal in newsagents since 2015.
It had processed more than 1.4 million transactions in the 2021/22 financial year, showing Australians were rapidly adopting the platform.
Ms Wood said the deal was also a win for newsagents, giving them a new and risk-free revenue stream.
“For any deposit made in-store, the newsagent will receive a percentage or dollar amount, whichever is greater,” she said.
“For every qualified new customer that comes to us via the newsagency, the newsagent receives an attractive referral payment.”