Lotto New Zealand

As Lotto discovered when the move to level four lockdown was announced, having an established online store was only half the equation.

Lotto's Head of Customer Service Peter Cooke explains how, with the total closure of its retail outlets, Lotto made sure it stayed connected with its customers.

The challenge: scaling overnight

Peter says:

"Taking the biggest part out of our distribution model was a big change. Hypothetically, 1% of active players online will need help, so if you have 200,000 playing, you'd expect 2000 calls.

"When you factor in people who are new to the platform, you'd expect calls to go through the roof. So the question was, 'How can we support this at very short notice and still resolve every customer enquiry?'"

More than a game — supporting communities

"We needed to make sure everyone who wanted to play could play, both for our customers, and for the charities who receive 100% of Lotto NZ profits. That is our core purpose, to make a difference to communities all over New Zealand. During this time, we know these causes need our support more than ever."

35 agents on the phones by 10.30am

"I reached out to John and said: 'I need 30 people by tomorrow!' At 4 o'clock on Friday, we appointed Telnet. By the next morning 35 agents had completed their training and were on the phones by 10.30am. By the time we had our Saturday night Lotto draw, Telnet had managed 1000 calls with a 96% resolution rate. It was an amazing achievement."