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November/December 2015 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL //
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Congratulations to the newest members 2015 Lottery Industry Hall of Fame! The sixty members of the PGRI Lottery
Industry Hall of Fame have voted and elected these eight industry leaders to be inducted into the 2015 Class of the PGRI
Lottery Industry Hall of Fame. The North American members were inducted on October 12 at the NASPL Conference in
Dallas, TX. The Global members will be inducted at a ceremony in Europe in the first half of 2016.
Visit
www.lotteryindustryhalloffame.comto read about the Hall and its members.
Stavros A. Michael
DIRECTOR CYPRUS
GOVERNMENT LOTTERY
In 1981 Stavros A. Michael was appoint-
ed Statistical Assistant 3rd Grade of the Sta-
tistical Service. In 1986 he was appointed
Finance Officer in the Economic Research
Directorate, Ministry of Finance. In 1991 he acquired the po-
sition of Finance Officer A´ in the Budget and Fiscal Control
Directorate, Ministry of Finance and in 1997 he was promoted
to Senior Finance Officer. Stavros was promoted to Director of
Finance in September 2001 in the Directorate of Budget and
Fiscal Control at the Ministry of Finance. The basic mission of
the Directorate is derived from Articles 165-168 of Part XI—Fi-
nancial Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus
and encompasses the implementation of the state fiscal policy.
He is also a member of the Cyprus Cultural Foundation as well
as of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Insurance Orga-
nization and the Oncologic Center—Bank of Cyprus.
Stavros was appointed Director of the Cyprus Government
Lottery in June 2000 by the Council of Ministers. Since his ap-
pointment in 2000 the sales of the Cyprus Government Lottery
had an upward trend and from 52 million Euros in the year 2000
to reach 70 millions Euros in 2008. After 2009 due to the eco-
nomic crisis which affected Cyprus the sales have dropped to 35
millions in the year 2014. Having in mind the whole economic
climate, competition and the small size of our market, the finan-
cial results of Cyprus Government Lottery are considered sat-
isfactory. Revenues generated by the Lottery have always been
returned to the State for the benefit of the society.
Stavros was elected internal auditor of the European Lotter-
ies in 2005 and since then has been re-elected every two years
by the General Assembly of the Association. Every year since
elected as Internal Auditor, Stavros prepared and presented with
the other joint internal auditor the audit report to the Executive
Committee. The Executive Committee has always taken into
consideration their recommendations. Afterwards they present
their audit Report to the General Assembly of the European Lot-
teries and always the General Assembly unanimously approves
the report of the internal and external auditors.
Stavros is married and has three children. He graduated from
the Larnaka Lyceum in 1975 and studied Economics (BA) at the
University of Athens (1977–1980). From 1988 to 1994, Stav-
ros specialized in the field of Public Finance at the International
Monetary Fund and the Civil Service Academy in Washington
D.C. and acquired a Master Degree in Public Sector Manage-
ment (C.I.I.M) (1994).
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Jim O’Brien
STRATEGIC MARKETING
VICE-PRESIDENT, SCIENTIFIC
GAMES CORPORATION
A 35 year veteran of the lottery indus-
try, Jim’s original and inventive method-
ologies have helped the instant-ticket sec-
tor grow into a global industry worth over $80 billion and his
influence is seen across the major markets in the U.S., Europe
and Asia. Jim also designed the world’s top two lottery Keno
games currently running in Massachusetts and Greece.
After spending 21 years with the Massachusetts State Lot-
tery Commission, where he climbed the ranks to the level of
Marketing Director before joining Scientific Games Corp.,
O’Brien was given the responsibility of developing and ini-
tiating new mathematical formulas and strategies. That as-
signment yielded incredible insights into the nature of player
behavior, consumer market dynamics, and product portfolio
management. Those insights provided the catalyst for the
mammoth growth in the lottery’s instant game sales. In fact,
the work undertaken by O’Brien at the company is attributed
with a huge proportion of the credit for the growth of the
business’ sector from $54 million per year, to $54 million per
week by 2001. As Scientific Games Massachusetts’s Account
Manager, Jim continues to help shape the Massachusetts Lot-
tery in achieving record instant sales in FY 2015.
The innovative O’Brien joined Scientific Games Corpora-
tion in 2001 and for the last 14 years helped to shape the in-
dustry through the creation of custom product marketing and
game plans for the company’s lottery customers using the 15
Determinants of Demand methodology he developed. Work-
ing closely with scores of lotteries including the Georgia Lot-
tery, the Massachusetts Lottery, Florida Lottery and globally
with the Italian Gratta e Vinci and China Sports Lottery.
Jim is engaged daily with customers and Scientific Games
colleagues providing deep knowledge and training with the
company’s marketing, research, insights and product develop-
ment groups to continue to innovate all of the lottery product
category management best practices he continues to create.
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