42 / 76
42
// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // May/June 2016
should concentrate on some other chal-
lenges instead of that? Maybe it is possible
to enhance skill games with sports betting?
What technological innovation/initiative has
enhanced internal operations and efficiencies?
Anita Bánki:
Project AEGIS (Ad-
vanced Entertainment Gaming and Infor-
mation System) incorporates a big jump
for the coming years in terms of user man-
agement and terminal-usage. The project
(consisting of two pillars, the first con-
cluding in August 2015) aims to integrate
and widen different kinds of gaming and
entertaining informations, from potential
customer-card service to gaining takeover-
reminders. The new system made possible
the renewal of our most popular betting
game (Tippmix), allowing us to provide
more game events, reach more markets,
process data more quickly, and deliver the
possibility to play live betting. We hope
to further integrate more internal services
that can influence indirectly the gaming
experience of the players and the effec-
tiveness of the communication with our
retailers (faster service, more effectively
using advertising material, etc.).
Lene Finstad:
The technological de-
velopment has major implications on
the lottery operations. We already see a
big shift towards the need for more, a lot
more, human recourses on the customer
front. This is important, especially as we
move more and more of the traffic from
our retail networks over to our direct chan-
nels. The need for operational resources
increase dramatically. To manage this it is
necessary to have even more automation
and efficiency in technical and back office
operations. The technology is more and
more commoditized in the back office and
central systems side and this means that we
should be able to be more cost efficient on
the technology side in the future.
Vincent Pauly:
Recently, we have
changed our mass e-mailing tool. The pre-
vious system was handled by our IT De-
partment, in our own servers, and was not
able to provide e-mails in standards. The
new tool is a complete SaaS solution, with
good analytics systems and also a ~99%
success of e-mails received. It is also a tool
that is constantly evolving. Now we are
looking for other possibilities with SaaS
solutions or web-based solutions for our
other needs (system e-mails, etc.).
Jari Vähänen:
In this area we are not
even closed to be ready. System modular-
ity with good internal APIs are the key to
doing this. Lottery also needs to acquire
the development knowledge for itself—
this cannot be fully outsourced. Internal
understanding of the process is crucial
for effectively guiding development. You
also have to have knowledge of customer
behavior and that data needs to be pro-
vided to all designers and developers who
need to have visibility of results and ef-
fects for them to be able make develop-
mental changes, and to do it quickly. This
requires modular systems that enable the
ability to know the impact of all changes,
provide the visibility to analytical behav-
ioral data of customers, and the ability to
create fresh hypothesis for how to make
improvements based on the analytics.
What role might the technology of standard-
ized APIs (or Application Program Interfac-
es) play for lotteries? Is there a potential for
an API solution to provide a central server
shared by multiple lotteries and retailers to
reduce the cost and increase the speed for de-
ploying new games and technologies across
multiple jurisdictions?
Lene Finstad:
The technology creates
potential and acts as a driver for econo-
mies of scale. We see this in all other
businesses and in my view it is highly
necessary for us in the lotteries to actively
seek co-operation to tap into this. For
instance, in order to enable the lotter-
ies to increase their game portfolios and
decrease the time to market, we should
encourage co-operation between lotteries
on co-development and even co-opera-
tion on game portfolios.
Vincent Pauly:
Of course, standard-
ized API between Lotteries would be a
very good point for us. Many lotteries
are selling similar games (like Euro Mil-
lions in Luxembourg) and all the lotteries
use a lot of resources to produce in-house
API’s. For Luxembourg, as we are a small
country, collaboration with other lotteries
would help us a lot in terms of costs.
Jari Vähänen:
It is possible but not
very likely. There are no standards in the
gaming business, since many providers
keep the other businesses out with closed
systems and closed APIs. And the develop-
ment of technologies is more rapid than
the possibility to create those standards.
I don’t see it happening. However openly
published APIs may help to create a few
de facto standards which may lead to
easier integrations. There are also other is-
sues, specific to each jurisdiction, that are
even more difficult to standardize, at least
for lotteries—like requirements of local
authorities, regulations, or local payment
and identification systems.
Are there any success stories or examples that
illustrate or relate to the theme of “Digital
Transformation in Marketing” that you
could share?
Anita Bánki:
Project AEGIS was a
huge step forward in the company’s life.
Vincent Pauly:
Our new website
(launched in November 2015, www.lote-
rie.lu) is an example of the Digital Trans-
formation in Marketing. It’s a responsive
website, so all our customers now have the
same experience, no matter what device
they use. They can also use an iOS based
phone or a Windows Mobile phone, and
they will get the same information in the
same format and, of course, the same gam-
ing experience. We have driven a strategy
on this website since the beginning of 2015
that reduces the path of customer to the
game. In terms of revenue and in terms of
new customers, this website is a success. We
are always working on our website to im-
prove conversions and new registrations.
■