Coinstar Expands Gift Card Mall Program into the United Kingdom; Turnkey Category Management, Merchandising and Point-of-Sale Technologies.

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) today announced the expansion of its gift card mall program into the United Kingdom.

The gift card mall consists of a display rack of leading dining, clothing, entertainment, book, home and service gift cards strategically placed for shopper convenience. The gift card mall program gives grocery, drug, convenience and other retailers a turnkey, innovative means to drive incremental traffic, sales and profits into the store. The Coinstar program in the U.K. provides category management and merchandising support for retailers at the front of the store space.

Gift vouchers are a $1.5 billion market in the U.K. and stored value gift cards are expected to build on this strong base, with industry sales predicted to grow ten-fold by 2007.

"Coinstar has the advantage of launching this program behind the credibility and presence we have already established in the U.K. with our prepaid wireless, long distance and kiosk businesses," said Steve Verleye, senior vice president and general manager for Coinstar's E-Payment Services. "Combining that experience with our U.S. retail card partnerships will allow us to deliver an effective package for retailers right out of the gate," said Verleye.

Coinstar's gift card mall program represents the company's latest move in developing a comprehensive offering that helps retailers increase consumer traffic and drive profit at the front of the store. The program includes targeted card selection, inventory control, management of card sourcing, display design and merchandising and multiple point-of-sale technology integration (in-lane or kiosk). Coinstar expects the program in the U.K. to include U.K. national and regional cards along with a selection of international retailer products.

"Coinstar Inc. prides itself on being a multi-national one-stop supplier for retailers' front-of-store needs, which today in the U.K. consists of self-service coin counting and kiosk-based sale of long distance minutes and prepaid wireless card top-up," added Verleye. "The gift card mall is a natural extension to our e-payment or pay-as-you-go product line."

About Coinstar

Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) is a multi-national company offering a range of 4th Wall(TM) solutions for the retailers' front of store consisting of self-service coin counting, electronic payment solutions, entertainment services and self-service DVD rental. The company's products and services can be found at more than 65,000 retail locations including supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, financial institutions, convenience stores and restaurants (as of 12/31/05). For more information, visit www.coinstar.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to Coinstar, Inc.'s plan to roll out a gift card mall program in the United Kingdom, the benefits of the program to retailers and the rising demand for gift cards. These are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "plan," "continue," "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "goals," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from the results expressed or implied in such statements. Differences may result from actions taken by Coinstar, Inc., as well as from risks and uncertainties beyond Coinstar, Inc.'s control. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the ability to negotiate, enter into and maintain contracts with retailers for e-payment products, competition from other e-payment providers, some of whom have greater experience in this area than we do, continued growth of the e-payment industry and uncertainties relating to the ultimate success of new business initiatives. The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. For more information on factors that may affect future performance, please review the most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Coinstar, Inc. These forward-looking statements reflect Coinstar, Inc.'s expectations as of May 18, 2006. Coinstar, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update the information provided herein.