WestLotto links with adesso for AI-based lottery slip tech for tablets

WestLotto has partnered with adesso to leverage the latter’s new software designed to recognise lottery slips from cloud-based and AI technologies on tablet devices
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WestLotto has partnered with adesso to leverage the latter’s new software designed to recognise lottery slips from cloud-based and AI technologies on tablet devices. 

Set to be adopted early next year, the new software has been designed for smaller retail outlets without the physical space for a full POS terminal, instead using a tablet computer. 

Tablets have been operating across North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017 and have been adopted by WestLotto to save space at smaller retail locations in the state. 

One challenge caused by this is that players must contact a salesperson and enter their numbers directly or choose a lucky dip number or by WestLotto’s digital services. 

Adesso states that its new software allows tablet terminals to read and process paper slips, streamlining the retail lottery experience for players in North-Rhine Westphalia. 

“Tablet-based lottery slip recognition is a challenging task,” explained Andreas Luckmann, who heads up the lottery business at adesso. “Conventional terminals feature a feed-in scanner that takes in the lottery slip, smooths it out if it is creased and reads the numbers selected by the player. 

“Tablets don’t have such scanners, and so have to determine the numbers on the lottery slip using a photo. The adesso solutions combine cloud and AI technologies with machine learning methods. The selected lottery numbers are correctly interpreted using AI algorithms.”

From implementation in early 2023, customers can play by filling out their lottery coupon and scanning into any tablet-based sales point to process the ticket and gain a receipt. 

Both WestLotto and adesso are unveiling this new software technology at this week’s World Lottery Summit, taking place in Vancouver. 

Michael Stücker, Head of the IT Development Department at WestLotto, added: “We have relied on the wealth of technical know-how and lottery expertise at adesso since 1999. After adesso’s successful design and realisation of our online lottery portal for our customers, we have now joined forces again to implement lottery slip recognition on our Android tablets.

“We have created a fully-fledged alternative to conventional terminals, with slips able to be scanned and processed using the tablet’s camera function.”