Golden Casket in Queensland has advised its retailers, including newsagents, that they are to payout up to $1,500 on a prize – up from the $500 limit. This move is causing concern among newsagents in terms of the cash they will need to carry, especially after a superdraw, and the time it will take to be credited by Golden Casket for the payout.
In Victoria we payout up to $4,000. While there is discretion to the upper end of this amount, in my own newsagency we always try and make the payment because it reinforces our business as the go to place for lottery products. In today’s marketplace we need to seize every opportunity possible to build customer loyalty.
Absolutely, building customer loyalty is important and paying out lotto prizes is one of the many ways of achieving that end.
Here in Qld, we also previously had the option of making payouts over the standard limit of $500 and we were very happy to pay out large amounts WHEN THE CASH IS AVAILABLE. We are NOT happy to have a limit increase forced upon us without any consultation or consideration for our individual circumstances.
We have approached Golden Casket regarding this matter and await their response. Many thanks to the QNF for providing a pro-forma letter to use as a starting point, even though we are not a member.
We deliberately reduced our payout limit because we had issues about customers being targetted by unsavoury individuals. In this economic climate we will have no end of difficulty.
We also agree with Wendy, being forced is not a good look.
My concern is what will happen when you get a large syndicate payout. We recently had to pay $600 to 24 winners – we managed but it wasn’t easy.
What do we do if we have $1500 to pay to 24 syndicate winners. It makes the business look poor to have to explain that you are out of money and ask to make another arrangement. I believe we must keep the option to not make a large payment – for the times that we are just unable to!
They recently introduced the option of paying up to $1500 by being able to select “yes” or “no” so we have the option, which I thought was a good option.
I’d like to know the reason for it.
Is it to reduce GC staff processing the prize claims that get sent in to head office?
Is it to stop agents from not paying out, say, $500-$800 prizes to their customers, normally from Powerhit wins? (I have had customers say agents do that)
I’m also concerned that we went to great length having to hand back the prize receipt so that the “Bad man” standing behind “Mavis and Flo” couldn’t see how much they had won – making it safer for the customer.
Do we count out $1400 in front of Mavis and Flo while the Bad man is watching? Or do we write a cheque? (which they won’t want, they want their cash – they’d get a cheque from GC anyway in the past so why do we have to do that now and recieve more flack?)
Once they know we have to payout $1500 on the premises how many of our store will be burgled or held up?
I think the payout system at the moment is very fair for both player and agent.
What do they say?
“If it aint broke, don’t fix it”
I’m curious as to why, in 2009, we can’t have the player contact Casket, establish bona fides and have Casket pay them electronically.
We do that at the moment, phone up GC when they have a Winners Circle card and they get a cheque in the mail. Can’t they attach bank details for when it arises? It can’t be hard, they do it when playing online.
I didn’t realise that there was such a huge difference in the operational side of Golden Casket compared with Tattersalls. We pay up to $4000 and have been known to pay higher. As the funds are always in our account, we often give a cheque instead of cash, most of the time made out to cash and they simply take it to the bank down the road.
I have never had to carry excess cash on premises as a result. Is this an option for Golden Casket operators? Surely you are not required to pay out cash for larger amounts?
I agree with Mark, in that being able to pay cutomers makes us the destination store for Tattersalls. It gives us the point of difference needed from the bloke just round the corner who refuses to pay out large amounts; and also refuses to do any Tattersalls transactions on a Sunday.
Vaughan,
I would have limited difficulty if this was always the case, but it has not. Yes we can payout higher if we want to. The issues relate to a material change to the standard;
– my staff do not have access to business cheques – what if I am out?
– my insurance is for x dollars on the premises – who picks up the increased insurance bill?
– reverse EFTPOS is not catered for on my supplier, who picks up the cost of a change over?
– my eftpos is non bank based and fast – who picks up the costs of a retro fit on the eftpos and the slower transaction times?
– my area is a bit suss, we reduced the limits to raise the safety of our customer, what happens now?
– we are a destination as we supply fast, friendly and professional service, we are top 30 in the state, nothing to do with payout limits.
I am bit over the ‘one-size-fits-all’ mentality in management, thats just lazy.
We have signs in our shop advertising that we meet with police recommendations and do not carry large amounts of cash in our shop. Having been held up by gun point several years ago we will continue to only carry limited cash and we do not want it to become known that we have to carry large sums. Running a small shop with very limited cash flow, if we were required to pay out 4 payments of $1500 in one week and then have to wait another week to be compensated by GC we would struggle. What we want in Qld is to just be given the choice before the coupon is processed. How embarrassing would it be to have to tell a customer that you will write out a cheque for them, but could they wait before banking it to make sure we have enough funds! Some of us struggle from month to month and although we know it would be good for business to be able to pay straight away, sometimes it is not possible.
Brett,
Its not about one-size-fits-all management style, its about GC driving consistency around their brand.
In NSW the limit is $1000 (from memory). We would happily payout more if we were able.
Turning people to GC for payouts is not sending the message that you are a lottery destination.
Jarryd, Brett and PB sum it up nicely.
At the moment we can process player prize claim forms. Which means spending a little time with the customer. It’s a good experience for the customer knowing they’ll get a fancy cheque in the mail and won’t be robbed on the way out. I’ve never had a customer walk out with a bad experience with this.
Brett, My centre has had two break ins by pro cons in a month, who are working out which business has a good turnover that day, then breaks in overnight. If they knew what I “have” to pay out, I’d be sweeping up glass right now I suspect…..
Golden Casket was sold last year by the Queensland Gov’t to Tattersalls, so they are now forcing their operations onto Qld newsagents. I totally agree with Brett (#8) in relation to points raised. We have paid out higher WHEN cash is available but we also try to keep cash at low levels for security. Also you cannot issue a cheque to a registered player as cash as it has to be in the winners name/names as per the players card. If it is 2 names both names have to go on the cheque and if they do not have a joint bank account in both names then banks will not process them.
I love it when a customer wins and your the one telling them the amount but to have to pay them 1500 or more in cash is iresponsible if you ask me ,you are putting that customer at risk the second they walk out the door .yeah sure they will love the fact that you just gave them all that cash ,but i am sure they will not love it when they get knocked over the head and loose it all .I might be wrong but isn’t this the reason that it is not diplayed on the customer screen ?
Yes Shaun, that was the reason (LOL). Customer safety/privacy.
I think it was a GC initiative, now Tatts are changing a few things it seems.
just think of the amount of extra coin they get to hold on to every week now and the interest on that while we wait an extra week for our money .once again every one has our money barr us
I am told that in WA, customers who simply want to check the results of their lotto ticket, scan it themselves without waiting. As a newsagent is not remunerated for the considerable time checking customers lotto tickets why haven’t Qld and other states followed suit. The argument that it draws customers to the shop is hollow compared with return achieved
I was speaking to my rep from GC just the other day about it and his responce was that you don’t pay out 1500 every day do you ,no idon’t but you have to be prepared to pay unlimited 1500 dollars amounts don’t you ,as one person has already mentioned what if you have a syndicate with 26 people in it what do you do then there is no option but to pay and i know i will definantly never have enough money in my account to cover a payout lke that .worse case i kow but it can still happen after all that why people play the lotto
I had the same thing happen with the syndicate (but more shares) and I went negative.
I had to put my personal funds into my business to keep it afloat – It was worrying, but If I couldn’t bankroll the GC “pay out this week, pay us this week” system, it would have been terrible.
The key to resolve this issue is to remove the expression ‘you must’ from the process. All of us are happy to pay if we can.
That’s right Brett.
When I go to the bank I clean out as much as I can to put in, leaving around $500 in the till. I’ve had customers come in while I’ve been at the bank with prizes of $800.
My partner has had the option of delaying the payment until more cash comes in (In which the customer was happy with), but with this “you must” we don’t have that option.
Our customers are happy with the current arrangement. Why make agents unhappy?
It will cause most of us to re-think synicates and ‘do you run them’. Our store will pay out up to $2k without too many drama’s. But like everybody else if it is 7 x $1400 then it will cause a concern.
It is not so much that we pay these amounts out everyday, it is that you must be prepared to pay this out everyday. We had a customer come in on Saturday that won $595. The agent they purhased the ticket from said it was illegal for them to payout so they must go to casket. Now this was 1 winner on a single ticket. I paid the amount with a smile and a think of us next time you purchase. If I am now to payout on that stores winners then it may turn into a daily event.
According to GC, a cheque payment or part payment is an option if an agent doesn’t carry enough cash to make the payout required. I have offered this option to customers in the past (when we were given the OPTION of paying out an amount above the compulsory payout limit), but I have yet to have a customer agree to accepting my cheque. Also, as Ian said, if the winning ticket is registered to a Winners Circle card, the cheque must be made out to the name on the card. In this instance, the customer would probably prefer to collect a GC cheque from head office (which is only 10 mins down the road) or wait the prescribed 4 weeks for a cheque to be automatically sent out to their home by GC (this is an option with a ticket registered to a Winners Circle card – a SECURITY function).
On top of all of this, our bank is charging us for every cheque we write, but GC is not offering us any payment for making the payout in the first place.
I know most customers do not understand or care about any of this, so despite all of our protestations, we do intend to continue taking care of our customers as best we can.