The new Jack pocket lottery app allowing consumers to purchase tickets on their phones isn’t a win for everyone. With the app’s availability, the luck of New Jersey’s lottery retailers may be running out.
The NJ lottery helps almost 7,500 lottery retailers keep their small businesses afloat. Responsible for $189 million in lottery ticket sales commissions for retail chains and many small family-owned businesses across the state, the survival of these retailers is heavily dependent on lottery income. On average, stores receive $25,600 in commissions annually and for many who already running on tight margins, that income means the difference between surviving and closing the business doors.
But all is not lost for these retailers.
A bill allowing draw lottery tickets and scratch off tickets to be paid with a mobile phone, similar to buying coffee at Starbucks, and using a payment method called decoupled debit, was passed and is awaiting implementation. This method debits your checking account when purchasing lottery products at a vending machine or sales counter. Implementing that law would help these retailers by providing consumers with in-store options they don’t currently have while protecting the retailer’s commission and likely bring additional lottery sales to the State.
With regards to the decoupled debit method of payment, this is a technology that has been used safely and repeatedly in the c-store industry for more than 15 years in 30,000 locations nationwide. Leading retailers such as Target, Cumberland Farms, Circle K have embraced its use.
There is an urgent need to help NJ’s small business owners and similarly a solution to their lottery ticket dilemma. It’s a story that deserves attention if these fragile businesses and jobs are to be saved. I hope you are interested in this challenge facing NJ retailers and if you are, I can help connect you with several organizations that represent these business owners. I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance of your kind consideration.
Regards,
Shep Doniger