PlayCentral Terminals Meet Diverse Lottery Retailer Needs as Self-Service Adoption Accelerates

Scientific Games award-winning PlayCentral lottery self-service technology will be showcased at the North American Association of State & Provincial Lotteries 2025 Conference, taking place Sept. 8-11 in Ontario, Canada. Developed with the guiding principle that “one size does not fit all,” the company’s family of PlayCentral self-service terminals offers a broad range of form factors, feature sets and configurations to fit diverse retail footprints, from large-format grocery and mass merchandisers to high-traffic convenience stores and compact independent outlets. Each PlayCentral model is designed to optimize space, maximize product visibility and enhance the self-service purchasing experience.

According to a 2024 PYMNTS Intelligence Report, 84% of U.S. consumers enjoy using self-service kiosks, and two-thirds now prefer them over staffed checkout lanes.

PlayCentral Powered by SCiQ was named a Gold Winner in the 2025 American Business Awards and a Bronze Winner in the 2025 International Business Awards in the Emerging Technology category. Several years ago, Scientific Games was named Walmart Services Division Supplier of the Year for Product, recognizing a PlayCentral model as an “exceptional or innovative product that enhanced customer savings (money and/or time, value or assortment).”

Unique in the industry, all terminals in the PlayCentral family support the full line sales of draw games, instant scratch games, Fast Play and monitor games, offering the greatest opportunity for lottery expansion to all player segments and playstyles. PlayCentral terminals have been deployed in thousands of lottery retail locations across North America, processing millions of transactions annually.

“PlayCentral self-service terminals are at the epicenter of a modern retail ecosystem. Powered by SCiQ, the technology integrates store-level analytics for streamlined inventory management, offering players a convenient, user-friendly shopping experience and readying lotteries for future payment strategies,” said Mike Cardell, Senior Vice President, Americas Systems for Scientific Games. “Our PlayCentral family is designed to adapt to any store layout, meet a host of different retailer requirements and deliver personalized game recommendations powered by AI. This is how Scientific Games helps lotteries and retailers grow their business while giving players enhanced self-service experiences.”

In addition to flexibility for a wide variety of retail environments, PlayCentral terminals integrate Scientific Games’ new GameChoice AI technology to provide personalized product recommendations to players. These data-driven insights help lotteries feature the right mix of games based on specific sales trends and player preferences, and it’s already driving higher engagement and incremental sales.

Scientific Games applied the same strategy to PlayCentral as with its highly successful line of WAVE clerk-operated countertop retail terminals. The sleek terminals allow players to purchase games, check tickets and access promotions without clerk assistance, while helping lotteries expand points of sale, showcase a complete portfolio and give retailers tools to operate more efficiently and increase sales without adding labor costs.

Scientific Games is the world’s largest lottery games provider and the fastest-growing lottery systems provider, delivering retail and digital games, technology, analytics and services to 150 lotteries in 50 countries.

GameChoice, PlayCentral®, SCiQ® and WAVE are trademarks of Scientific Games, LLC. © 2025 Scientific Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved.