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September/October 2016 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL //
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At least not in the short-term. In the long-
term, though, we should recognize that all
the different sectors of the games-of-chance
industry are converging so that the con-
sumer has instant access to all games.
Too, the Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods
(FMCG) industry is driving change and
modernization in the retail sector.
N. Nikolakopoulos:
And land-based
retail is where our consumer lives. Digi-
tization of the retail shopping experience
is technology-enabled. But here too we
must start with a focus on the consumer
experience. The leaders in the FMCG
space are learning much about shopper
behavior, how technology can be used to
enhance the consumer shopping experi-
ence, how to integrate Mobile into the
retail shopping experience, how to build
a relationship with our customers that
reinforces the connection through all the
many stages of the customer journey. The
biggest FMCG brands may be leading the
way, but we can adopt best practices as we
observe them being applied.
The Telecom industry would have a built-in
connection to the customer by way of the tele-
phone number and billing address. How can
Lottery apply data analytics without having a
registered player base?
N. Nikolakopoulos:
Of course, build-
ing the registered player data-base is a top
priority for Lottery operators. In spite of
that, vast majority of players are unregis-
tered and therefore anonymous. But there
is still much that can be accomplished by
application of big-data analytical tools.
We can capture and organize sales data
by product and store and time of day and
much more. This data could help Lottery
understand consumer behavior, identify
trends, perhaps correlate buying patterns
to external events. Intelligence and insight
gathered through this kind of big-data ana-
lytics could certainly inform and sharpen
the focus of all our efforts in marketing,
promotion and product design.
Increasing the registered player data-base
is key to the kind of personalized CRM
that is the end goal. But even a small reg-
istered data base can be integrated into the
analytical process to great effect. We don’t
want to wait until everything is perfect, or
even until it is better. We need to increase
our investment in data analytics now. Ev-
eryone is operating with incomplete in-
formation. Tremendous insights can be
gained with the information we have access
to right now.
You have been COO for almost two years
now. INTRALOT has progressed greatly over
that time. What would you say are some of the
key changes that you did to clarify and focus
INTRALOT’s operational strategy?
N. Nikolakopoulos:
There are three
basic elements. The first thing we did was
consolidate our skill-sets and resources
to establish a clear focus on the specific
segments of Lottery and sports-betting.
We chose to focus on developing the
technologies and expertise in content,
technology, the Interactive channel, and
retail optimization. We are not dividing
our attention between the government-
gaming sector and the casino business.
We do not sell slots or table games or
operate casinos. We focus clearly on the
needs of our customer which is Lottery
and the sports-betting operator.
The second thing is to sharpen our fo-
cus on product innovation. Over the last
three years we have dedicated ourselves
to building a product development pro-
cess that incorporates feedback from our
customers, from best-practices outside
our industry and our competitors, from
insight gleaned from data analytics and
market analyses. We now have a specific
development roadmap that is guided by
rapidly changing consumer tastes and
market-place dynamics.
The third thing is to evolve an opera-
tional system that leverages strategic part-
nerships. We have for many years devel-
oped a flexible system of partnering with
clients. We feel we have a decisive com-
petitive advantage when it comes to cre-
ative collaborations with operators from all
around the world. The specific needs vary
enormously. Together we assess those needs
and core competencies and create a part-
nership that meets those needs and lever-
ages our respective competencies into the
most productive partnership. The success
of our equity partnerships in Turkey, in Ar-
gentina, in Bulgaria, in Peru, in Italy and
many others is based on the flexibility and
experience at operating within a diverse set
of circumstances. In Morocco, too, we have
established truly fruitful, mutually benefi-
cial and commercially successful collabora-
tions with great partners who have great
knowledge of their market and players.
Our success as a partner is also based on
our laser focus on the business of our cus-
tomer, which is Lottery and sports-betting.
For instance, in Peru we collaborate with
the Nexus Group which is one of the biggest
private equity groups in Latin America. It
So we are in a great position to learn from those
industries, to copy the best practices as applied
in those industries. We even have the luxury of
time to observe what works best and to avoid the
mistakes they make because of the pressure they
are under to be first to market with breakthrough
innovation. Still, we do need to act with more
urgency to assimilate the methods and ideas that
are proven successful in other sectors.