Svenska Spel has partnered with Pressbyrån, a Swedish convenience store operator, to launch its new pilot project testing the capacity of ‘coupon free’ national lottery ticket purchasing for Swedish retailers.

The Swedish lottery operator will test out its new ‘coupon free’ in-store functionalities across four Pressbyrån stores located in Stockholm, Jönköping, Östersund and Kalmar, allowing a paper-free transaction for customers to instantly select their national lottery numbers.

The trial will see Svenska Spel remove its traditional coupon counters from the stores, with all player numbers and tickets registered through a digital screen device, connected to its lottery network.

To secure their national lottery numbers, Svenska Spel customers will be required to verify their Swedish social security ID at the point of checkout, with coupon numbers stored and allocated to digital accounts.

The lottery’s pilot scheme was launched following nationwide feedback from retailers which stated that lottery sales couldn’t be prioritised due to the space taken by coupon counters and their need for manual input of numbers by staff.

Torgny Lilja, In-Store Innovation Project Manager at Svenska Spel, said: “We had a meeting with Reitan (operating firm of Pressbyrån) about a year ago where we presented the self-service screens connected to a new surface-efficient platform.

“Reitan felt that this should suit their customers and staff. The advantage for Pressbyrån’s employees is that they also save time by not having to top up coupons and update campaign material.”

Svenska Spel has begun to trail ‘surface-efficient concepts’ in response to retailer concerns, in which it acknowledged retailers need to optimise floor space.

Further benefits see ‘coupon free’ purchasing marked as a key innovation objective, in which the lottery seeks to become the first European lottery operator to become 100% paper-free, fulfilling its environmental responsibility mandate.