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May/June 2016 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL //
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computer itself—whatever its form fac-
tor—will be an intelligent assistant help-
ing you through your day. We will move
from mobile first to an Artificial Intelli-
gence first world.”
Our challenge and opportunity in the
lottery industry is to stay in lockstep with
this exciting and dramatic transformation
of the information age. Machine learn-
ing and predictive analytics will mean
that very soon you will find it difficult to
know what information you have really
searched for yourself and what is being
presented to you ahead of your conscious
needs. This may sound like science fic-
tion, but it’s fully upon us now.
You will have already seen slightly
“crude” marketing efforts today—you see
ads for a product that you had already just
bought or a trip that you just came back
from. Now imagine that the right lottery
product is offered to you at just the right
time! Not just a nudge to play a jackpot
game one evening because you usually play
when the jackpot hits $100m, but beyond
that…to a nudge for a social space game
with several friends, which appeals to ex-
actly your preferences. Again, we can’t pre-
dict exactly how all this plays out in each
market, but this fast emerging competition
aspect is now a reality, and lotteries must be
able to compete with the most sophisticat-
ed consumer businesses for the consumer’s
attention. We have 40 years of global lot-
tery experience plus all the insight from our
new IGT business. We’re using this today
to build predictive capabilities and learn-
ing into our core platforms. We need to be
there and responsibly nudging.
With things moving so quickly, how does
IGT keep up to date and build for the future?
D. Harkin:
There are many dimen-
sions to this, Paul. First, we listen very
closely to our customers. Some of them
have been innovating and experimenting
on the leading edge of technologies and
content offerings for several decades. In
fact, 120 of our customers have interac-
tive offerings around the world. Listening
to them gives us a unique perspective into
their needs as they develop and expand
their businesses across new channels.
We also leverage the knowledge within
our own company. Everyone in IGT is en-
couraged to openly contribute to develop-
ing the long-term vision. No ideas are bad
ones (at least to begin with), and there are
huge sources of insight and talent among
the 13,000 people who work for our com-
pany. The strength and depth of lottery and
gaming industry knowledge and expertise
within IGT is second to none. We have
large Research and Development groups, as
well as ‘Futures’ teams, who are dedicated
to thinking about what’s next. We partner
with trend watchers and specialists across all
areas of consumers’ lives. I can’t stress this
enough: all players are consumers, but not
all consumers are players. So lotteries must
deliver the same quality of convenience and
experience that consumers already expect
and receive from the other brands they
interact with every day. We are constantly
looking at other industries and evaluating
latest technologies and best practices.
IGT’s Aurora software platform is the
result of all of the inputs described above.
Aurora is designed and engineered to pro-
vide exactly the same kind of personalized
experience that characterizes the most suc-
cessful commercial businesses today…
whether they be 100% through the tradi-
tional retail channel or accessed through
multiple devices. It can service all possible
channels, now and in the future, because
it’s built around the needs of lottery players
and retailers. It also has complete flexibility
to integrate with any new game content or
service capability that may be conceived.
You mentioned Aurora a couple of times.
Aurora is IGT’s major new Lottery Plat-
form launch. What would you say is its most
exciting feature?”
D. Harkin:
Yes, and we are very excited
about it. Aurora is designed to deliver on
that vital player experience. It provides
lottery operators, players, and retailers
the essential data each stakeholder needs
to deliver and receive the true omnichan-
nel experience. Think of Starbucks, who
do an excellent job of providing a seam-
less consumer experience across channels.
You can choose how you’d like to load
money, see your rewards and even order
your coffee in advance, and every transac-
tion is updated in every channel in real
time. Aurora has been built using the very
latest architecture and technologies to en-
able that realization of the same seamless
experience for your lottery players and
goes far beyond what’s currently offered
in the marketplace today.
The beauty of Aurora and what sets it
apart, is the fact that it’s relevant to all
our customers, wherever they are on their
digital roadmap. Its sophisticated analyt-
ics toolset allows lotteries to manage their
player relationships through their retailers
and directly through B2C channels. Only
by having this holistic view of their play-
ers can lotteries truly continuously deliv-
er and evolve a compelling omnichannel
consumer experience.
Is Aurora ready to predict when a player
wants to enter a lottery draw?
D. Harkin:
Well some of the world’s
biggest companies have already imple-
mented similar algorithms for other prod-
ucts. We are staying very current with
these trends. Of course we are also able to
integrate learnings and experiences from
our IGT colleagues in the casino gaming
segment who also have a wealth of related
Predictive Analytics experience. And we
are leveraging that. All these possibilities
of course must be achieved with a close
eye on Responsible Gaming principles;
but certainly I think this is already avail-
able with the right tools and data.
But this is just one small example. Our
roadmap for Aurora is designed to respond
to technology and consumer trends as they
emerge. It allows our customers to be ready
with the right solutions at the right time
when these trends become mainstream or
even when a lottery wishes to experiment
with new content or services. Aurora lets
lotteries rapidly implement their own inno-
vations and unique requirements, whether
they be on a 100% dedicated retail network
today or a totally digital roadmap. While
IGT excels at working with its customers to
help them execute ideas, what we really de-
liver is helping them innovate new customer
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