April 2016Volume 27Issue 4

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Dish it up!We collaborated with Minnesota’s famous chef, Andrew Zimmern, on Minnesota Potlucky—a $2 ticket that will add lots of spice to your scratch game line-up beginning April 26. Details:

• Players can devour cash prizes, up to $10,000.

• Display point-of-purchase materials in high traffic areas.

• Non-winning tickets can be entered at mnlottery.com for the chance to win tasty prize packs and a meet and greet with Andrew Zimmern at an upcoming Twins® game.

• Direct players to potlucky.com for interactive videos and exclusive recipes for Andrew Zimmern’s favorite potluck dishes.

• Minnesota Potlucky creates a great opportunity to cross promote with other food items at your business. Contact your Lottery sales rep for easy and fun ideas to help increase sales, commissions and fun at your business.

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE

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Month 2016 Volume X Issue X

News and Ideas for

MN Lottery Retailers

Coming next month:New & improved Lottery

LINK newsletterWe asked! We listened! And we have you to thank for helping guide the new direction of our retailer newsletter.

We understand that you’re busy and that you don’t have a lot of time to sit down and read the Lottery’s latest news. That’s why we’re relaunching the LINK newsletter to include a new and improved format with more interesting content that will take less time for you to read. Here’s what you can look forward to in the LINK starting next month:

• Less text

• More visuals

• New modern look

• More compelling content that’s interesting, fun and will help your bottom line!

PREVIEW!

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The Lottery’s Top Sellers recognizes retailers for exceptional sales performance. Each of the businesses that made this month’s Top Sellers

will receive $50 in free scratch tickets.

Top Minnesota Platinum family of games (#564-#567) sellers from Sept. 29, 2015 – March 14, 2016:

M & H Gas in Moorhead

Classic Stop in LeRoy

Bill’s Superette #9 in Brooklyn Park

East Grand Station in East Grand Forks

Kaposia Convenience Center in South St. Paul

Cub Foods in Brooklyn Center

Oasis C-Store RLH LLC in Moorhead

Hornbacher Foods in Moorhead

Cub Foods in Crystal

Kwik Trip #824 in Winona

Upcoming Top Sellers (schedule is tentative):May – FY16 3rd quarter sales leaders

June – Top 2 sellers by region

Catch of the month: You BetchA Bass

Can you reel in customers with the new fishing-themed scratch game? You betchA!

Minnesota’s fishing opener is an unofficial holiday and we have the perfect ticket to celebrate. The You BetchA Bass scratch game is a $5 ticket that offers the chance to catch up to $75,000!

You BetchA Bass launches April 5—just in time for the May 14 fishing opener. Capitalize on the excitement of the

upcoming holiday by suggesting this game to customers.

Celebrating 26 years of jackpot winners!

In honor of the Lottery’s 26th anniversary on April 17, we thought we’d celebrate all of Minnesota’s jackpot winners! How many jackpot winners have there been over the past 26 years? You might be surprised! Take a look below:

Northstar Cash: 680 jackpot winnersGopher 5: 505 jackpot winners

Progressive Print-N-Play: 127 jackpot winnersPowerball: 22 jackpot winners

Minnesota Millionaire Raffle: 20 – $1 million winnersHot Lotto: 11 jackpot winners

Lucky for Life: 6 – $25,000/year for life winners

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M & H Gas in Moorhead has been the Lottery’s #1 selling retailer 10 of the last 25 fiscal

years, and they are on track to earn the title for the eleventh time. Leading the charts with $1.2 million in sales, M & H Gas has earned a whopping $75,000 in commissions so far in FY16.

Location is a huge contributing factor to the success of M & H Gas. Located off Highway 94 near the North Dakota border, M & H Gas draws a lot of customers from North Dakota (the North Dakota Lottery does not offer scratch games). We caught up with M & H District Manager Craig Branby and store manager Trisha Gilbertson to learn about their secrets to success.

Minnesota’s top-selling Lottery retailer spills its secrets to success

RetailerSpotlight

According to Branby, “speedy service and smiling faces” is what sets M & H Gas apart from other businesses. “We place a big emphasis on customer service,” said Branby. “All of the smiling faces make it a very pleasant atmosphere here.”

Gilbertson agrees that it’s their “overly friendly customer service” that keeps customers coming back. “We are very patient with our lottery players and that goes a long way,” she added.

Lottery sales representative Roxann Ramberg-Cossette says the staff at M & H Gas are a “fun bunch to work with. They understand the games, are quick and efficient and they are really good at developing relationships with the people that come through their store—all of them.

“They are all pro-lottery,” Ramberg-Cossette added. “Even their new employees catch lottery fever really quickly!” She says it all starts with Gilbertson. “The assistant store managers are as on top of lottery as Trisha.”

Gilbertson says that she encourages staff to go out of their way to assist lottery customers. “We help customers if they don’t understand the games or if their tickets aren’t working we call the Lottery and figure out what to do with them.”

M & H’s large variety of scratch games also makes them a popular lottery hot spot. They have two 20-game in-counter dispensers and two on-counter dispensers for the family of games. To keep up with player demand, Gilbertson always has plenty of scratch tickets in stock. “People come in and they know that we will always have the games that they want,” she said.

Gilbertson orders tickets at least twice a week in addition to what the Lottery normally delivers. Ramberg-Cossette says Gilbertson goes above and beyond when it comes to ticket inventory. “She always makes sure she has enough stock to carry them through the weekend. If you’re going to have a 20-game dispenser you better have enough games available to fill it.”

Offering quarterly lottery promotions is a great way to have fun with their customers while increasing sales. Gilbertson says they run them on busier days, like Tuesdays, when they have a buy 1 get 1 free car wash promotion. They have tried a variety of promotions but the customer favorite is the spin wheel. “The spin wheel is very interactive,” said Ramberg-Cossette. “There’s not one person who doesn’t know it’s going on!”

A better Minnesota is theLottery’s biggest prize.

To our hard-working retail partners:

Thank you for helping raise more than $2.6 billion for Minnesota! As the Lottery’s 27th year of operation begins later this month, we remain committed to offering exciting new games and innovative promotions so that number continues to grow.

Photo credit: Carrol Henderson, DNR

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Minnesota State Lottery2645 Long Lake RoadRoseville, Minnesota 55113mnlottery.comDebbie Hoffmann, executive editorEmily Frost, managing editorKelly Barto, graphic designer

This publication is available in alternative formats to individuals with disabilities by calling (651) 635-8273, (888) 568-8379.

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

DETROIT LAKES, MNPERMIT NO. 14

Kwik Trip #250 in Austin, $1,000

Holiday Stationstores #196 in Monticello, $260

Holiday Stationstore #422 in Duluth, $500

Quick Stop of Cannon Falls in Cannon Falls, $500

SuperAmerica #8510 in Shakopee, $280

Jessy Food Store in Lonsdale, $280

Hy-Vee Food Store in New Ulm, $520

River Country Cooperative in East Bethel, $1,000

Retailers win big, too! Congratulations to...

April 5, 2016: April 26, 2016:

New Games

Cub Foods in New Brighton, $394

Holiday Stationstore #025 in Minneapolis, $753