Public Gaming Magazine January/February 2016

// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // January/February 2016

LESSONS FROM ABROAD

In Europe, where Scienti c Games customers have been

selling lottery products on the internet for more than a

decade, lessons learned in systems technology have nally

made their way to North America.

“The complexity of systems integrating third-party

systems, game content and distribution channels has been

developing in Europe for years,” said Patrick McHugh, Senior

Vice President, Lottery Systems for Scienti c Games. “That

expertise is now coming to the U.S., as systems are

becoming more complex.”McHugh said the greatest impact

could be happening in loyalty programs as well as with

mobile, interactive and social gaming technology platforms.

“In our U.S. contracts, our systems are bringing together all

the products and services Scienti c Games has to o er,

including instant games, digital, mobile, internet,

promotions and content. This can also include video lottery

and central monitoring systems in addition to instant game

systems and business intelligence systems. This may seem

like a lot of technology, but in reality, it’s one large,

integrated system.”

McHugh said the Bally merger has led to an increase in core

competencies and that cross-pollination has allowed

Scienti c Games to accelerate its integration of many groups,

bringing more innovation and expertise to market and

resulting in technology that serves more than amillion lottery

retailers worldwide.

“We tell our story from the perspective of consumer

insights, access to retail, knowing what’s happening in the

marketplace from our more than 2,000 studies—all of this

feeds into our technology systems,” said McHugh. “The

market is more complex, competition in gaming

entertainment ismuchmore intense, and lotteries are evolving

quickly. The need to understand data across your business has

becomemuchmore important.”

While the vast European experience may seem a bit

overwhelming to lotteries in the U.S. market, keep inmind that

ultimately, it all may come down to one thing: the ability to

develop the clearest possiblepictureof players and their needs.

One view of the player across verticals is critical in terms of

consumer insight, product selection and promotion.“We have

the capability to o er lotteries—or any customer that has a

desire to operate inmultiple jurisdiction verticals—one viewof

the player,” said Eisele. “We can understand player behavior

across casinos, lottery, interactive andmobile, andprovide data

in ways that will help them run their businesses more

e ciently—and more importantly, help them give their

players more of what they want.”

According to Eisele, Scienti c Games’ Canadian customers

o er a good example of what can be accomplished through

the convergence of technology. “The provinces in Canada all

run

basically

every

vertical

o ering

their

players—everything from sports to lottery to online gaming

and casinos. Being in a position to o er these customers

solutions to help them manage their businesses more

e ciently across verticals is another key di erentiator for us.”

SHARING INFORMATION,

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Convergence is not only driven by consumers and

business intelligence, but also by the megatrends Scienti c

Games’ Shared Services Platform group and iLab track

across lottery, gaming and interactive. Led by Steve Beason,

Enterprise Chief Technology O cer for Scienti c Games,

these futurist teams are tasked with developing concepts

based on a holistic industry view that encompasses casinos,

lotteries, mobile, web, retailers, regulators and players.

Focusing more on technical innovation over a two- to

ve-year period, the iLab develops technology that can be

used across any or all verticals. “Once we meet with

di erent business units to pull in a new technology, if one

of the groups wants to adopt it, we’ll look at whether or not

we want to pull it across to other groups as well,” said

Beason. “When something can be used across many

verticals, then our Shared Services Platform group takes

over, and that is really the team that is tasked with

convergence at Scienti c Games.”

“The market is more complex,

competition in gaming

entertainment is much more intense,

and lotteries are evolving quickly.

The need to understand data across

your business has become much

more important.”

—Patrick McHugh, Senior Vice President,

Lottery Systems for Scienti c Games