NZ Lotteries may begin selling Lotto tickets online as early as next month, according to franchisees, some of whom fear the effects on their businesses already feeling the pinch from plummeting consumer confidence.
Spokeswoman Karen Jones says NZ Lotteries is now at the final stages of completing plans to let people buy tickets to its Saturday Lotto and Big Wednesday draws over the Web.
Retailers say punters would pay for tickets using a credit card and get a unique serial number that they would be able to print out as a receipt.
The owner of one franchise in central Wellington says fewer people will walk into his shop when ticket sales go online.
He says 60 per cent of his sales are for Lotto, grossing about $20,000 each week.
“Am I expecting it to hurt? Yes. Look at my location, every Tom, Dick and Harry around me has got Internet access. Would you wait here in the queue or go on the Net and print one out?”
He says he would be reluctant to check tickets sold online. “I’m not going to get anything out of it.”
Another inner-city retailer says the move will hurt his business because people will not leave their offices to buy tickets.
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