Executives at the New Zealand Lotteries Commission faced somewhat of a dilemma when it was discovered lotto tickets printed on supermarket till receipt paper are not as durable as tickets printed in the traditional way. The lottery conducted a business case study to ascertain the extent of the problem and decided it did not provide sufficient reason to cancel the recent implementation of ticket sales from supermarkets checkouts at Countdown stores.
Board members were told: "The till paper does wear more rapidly; this shows as deterioration on the edges of the paper."
The lottery combatted the problem by using a shorter barcode and ensuring critical information is located at the center of the ticket to allow a 'buffer zone' around the edges.
After an initial trial at 11 Countdown stores, the lottery began expanding the availability of "fastlane" ticket sales earlier this year. The option is now available in over 100 Countdown stores.
