A summary from our webinar on 1/12/23
Webinar Summary: Best Practices for Using LottoShield
Date: January 12, 2023
Time: 9:30am-10am PST
Host: Reza Mahmoodi, Customer Success Leader
Best Practices for Audits
Frequency
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Recommend performing an audit at the beginning and end of every employee’s shift
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Reduces errors due to missed scanned tickets
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More audits means easier investigation of issues (smaller time window)
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It’s so easy, scan often!
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If scans at shift change are not feasible, we recommend at least two audits: one at the beginning and end of the day
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Always perform an audit at the end of every day to coincide with register close (a few minutes before closing register)
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If you are only performing two audits per day, scan the display case twice in a row to ensure that all packs have been scanned
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Performing Audits
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Keep rolls in the same direction
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If your case is going from the highest number to lowest number, make sure all are going from the highest number to lowest number
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We recommend starting from the side of the pack that makes it easiest for doing audits.
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Loose Tickets
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Make sure to place them back in the case with the other tickets
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Either place the ticket on top of the others diagonally or place it on top of the next ticket and slide them in together making sure that the tickets don’t fall into the case.
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Scanning
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Hold an object such as a piece of paper under the tickets while scanning. This helps to prevent accidental scanning of the ticket in the pack below.
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If you have a damaged ticket, scan the next ticket. That will create a shortage, but once the ticket is sold, there will be an overage for the same amount.
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Scan twice to ensure you haven’t missed any packs, we recommend starting at the top and scanning to the bottom and then scanning in the reverse direction
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Consistent Over/Shorts
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Check the clock on your register. It may be set to the wrong time or time zone. Resync the time on your register as a best practice.
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Do not sell scratcher tickets during an audit
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Do not sell tickets out of sequence
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Do not allow employees to set aside or buy and play scratcher tickets during their shift
Tips on Using the LottoShield Portal
The main dashboard will show a list of your stores with a summary view of missing packs and over/shorts for scratchers, lotto, and payouts
Investigating Overs/Shorts
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The Audit Page is the default screen where you can view register sales to investigate any overs/shorts
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The timeline shows all audit history and you can drill into audit details of every game to narrow down which game is impacted
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Once you’ve identified the game, you can drill further into audit history and details of that specific game to find the exact window when the issue occurred and review camera footage to understand the root cause
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The “Show More” option allows you to view more history so you can look for any other potential issues
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Timelines show detailed information like ticket sales, ticket voids, employees name/#’s, pack activations, etc.
Using the “Resolve” Feature
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We recommend keeping resolutions to a minimum
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Issues usually resolve themselves with training. The ROI on training is worthwhile (especially the small issues). A $1 loss today could be a $5,000 loss in 60 days.
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Investigate Missing Packs
On the Packs page in LottoShield, you’ll see a list of all packs in backstock, missing packs, auto-activated, and returned
Tips for Handling Missing Packs
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Sell auto-activated packs as soon as possible or have them returned to the state lottery
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Keep on top of understanding what happened to missing packs! The pack summary makes this easy by showing issued dates, confirmed dates, activated dates and settled dates
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It’s a red flag when packs are activated and settled in a short time period (4-5 hrs)
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If you accidentally activate a pack and don’t move it to the display case, LottoShield will show the pack as missing
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If you need to move a pack to the backstock, there are two ways to handle it:
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Conduct a backstock audit using the LottoShield app
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Move it to backstock using the button option in the LottoShield portal under pack summary
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LottoShield will generally understand packs that are sold whole, if it does not, you can resolve it by going to the pack details page and clicking “pack sold” at the top right
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LottoShield will generally understand packs that are sold whole, if it does not, you can resolve it by going to the pack details page and clicking “pack sold” at the top right.
Online Lotto & Payouts
On the Online Lotto and Payout pages in LottoShield, you’ll see a list of register sales/payouts and your State lotto sales/payouts with an easy to view column that shows the difference
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Sales that are not in increments of $0.50 or full dollars should be investigated since it’s very uncommon for games to be less than $1
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Some states will show an hourly breakdown of sales so you can compare your register sales to the state lotto portal sales and make sure those match. Differences should be investigated, but the minimal time window makes it much easier to understand what happened.
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If your state does not provide an hourly breakdown of sales, please reach out to your lottery representative. LottoShield has been advocating for these reports, but we could use your added leverage!
Voids
This is a new feature in LottoShield that shows all voids including the time a void occurred, the employee or register who performed the void, the value of the void and whether that void led to a short
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This helps direct your attention immediately to any potential issues. Voids should always be reviewed.
Help Center
You can find many helpful articles and videos in our online help center. Please check it out if you have any questions or need any assistance. We have a lot of good material that could be useful to you.
Q&A
Q: How do you resolve a shortage?
A: You can drill down into the timeline view and there you can resolve the shortage.. If a consistent shift is short, have them perform multiple audits during the shift to reduce the window of investigation.
Q: When should you add/refill ticket packs? Mid-shift or before/after an audit?
A: New packs can be added anytime of day. If you want to do an audit after adding new games to the case, make sure to do a full display case audit.
Q: What should you do when you can’t scan the ticket on display roll due to it being damaged?
A: Scan the next ticket. Your audit should be short by one ticket and should offset with an overage once you sell the ticket. If the ticket never offsets, you have a true shortage.
Q: Can we change the ticket price points or do we have to keep it the same when filling the ticket box with a new ticket?
A: You can change the slot to a different price if you choose.
Q: How long does it take LottoShield to update and send a report after a scan in or audit?
A: 3 minutes after the last ticket is scanned.
Q: What should you do when you accidentally scan the wrong ticket?
A: If you scan the wrong ticket you can go back and scan the correct ticket if you are still performing the same audit or do another audit.
Q: How far back historically can you view daily overs/shorts?
A: You can view history for as long as you’ve been using LottoShield.
Q: Does LottoShield support PDI and ERP software integrations?
A: Yes, for Enterprise plans, we can perform custom integrations for inventory and sales. Some systems will manually email you files and you would need to upload those to your back office system. Please reach out to [email protected] if you’d like to discuss further.
Q: What are payouts and why is there change associated with the total?
A: Payouts are winnings from lottery sales that are paid out at the register. If there are decimal places in the amounts, that may indicate a problem because payouts are usually in whole dollars.
Q: Why can’t I see the Voids page on my LottoShield portal?
A: This is a new feature. Please reach out to your contact at LottoShield or email sales@lottoshield.com for assistance.
Q: Do you need to have the LottoShield app to perform backstock inventory?
A: You can either use the app or purchase an additional scanner that is just dedicated to performing backstock audits.
Q: Does seeing the cashier’s name on the timeline come with the upgrade?
A: This is a base feature of LottoShield but may appear differently based on your type of register. Verifone will show the name of the employee whereas Gilbarco will show the employee number.
Q: If you have a confirmed pack, is it most likely in the backstock?
A: Yes.
Q: Will LottoShield recognize the sale of a whole pack of scratcher tickets?
A: If you activate a pack and the whole pack is sold after activation, LottoShield will understand that the pack was sold whole. If a pack is sold before activated, it’s usually because the clock/time on your register was not correct. If this occurs, you can easily resolve it by marking the pack as sold whole in LottoShield.
Q: I had refunds done this past Monday by the CA Lottery rep and on my audit it is stating that I am short. Why is this and what is the proper protocol to correct this?
A: You can manually resolve this in your LottoShield portal and monitor your state report to make sure you get a refund. The other way, which we recommend, is to leave the shortage unresolved in LottoShield and on Sunday, when the CA weekly reports are available. LottoShield will then automatically resolve the issue and no longer show the short. This is a good reason to have your state LottoPortal connected to LottoShield.
Q: How do we unlock the features we don’t currently have?
A: Please reach out to your contact at LottoShield to learn more about our new features.
Q: What if a whole pack is sold during one shift and an audit wasn't performed?
A: If the pack is sold during a 24 hr. period, LottoShield should catch it. This is why performing audits frequently is important.
Q: When will the new update on the LottoShield Portal will take place ?
A: Updates to the LottoShield portal are released frequently, however some features may only be available as an upgrade with an associated fee. Please reach out to your contact at LottoShield or sales@lottoshield.com for more information.
Q: Tickets show as missing but are located in our vending machine and I have to resolve them manually. What is the best practice for handling this?
A: Anytime you add new packs to the vending machine, you can use the LottoShield app to do a vending machine audit.
Q: If a pack shows as confirmed, shouldn’t it be in the backstock automatically until it is activated and put in the display case?
A: Yes usually confirmed packs are in backstock. If you see a confirmed pack in the display case that means that a confirmed pack was audited in the display case.
Q: What happens if tickets are sold out of sequence by mistake?
A: You will end up with shorts and then overs. If no loss has happened it should balance.
Q: How do you identify which cashier may have made a mistake resulting in an over/short?
A: By looking at the time for that scratcher or looking at the audit details to see which cashier was signed onto the register at that time.
Q: When we mistakenly activate a package, it shows us how short the total amount of the package is. How should we resolve this situation in our records?
A: Make sure the pack is still present in the store and if so perform an audit on it. If in the backstock perform a back stock audit using the phone app. If you don’t perform back stock audits, manually move it to backstock on the portal. You could also leave it as a missing pack and that missing pack will disappear once it is placed in the display case