Public Gaming Magazine September-October 2016

// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // September/October 2016

Changing the Game in 2016 and Beyond

As another NASPL conference approaches, and we look to the end of a historic year,

PGRI

spoke to Marco

Tasso, Senior Vice President of Product Marketing, and Paul Riley, Vice President of Innovation, at IGT about

the major milestones of 2016 and the future of the lottery industry.

Last year at NASPL, IGT unveiled

Aurora, your new business plat-

form. What has been its reception in

the industry?Whatprogresshaveyou

made in its development and rollout?

P.Riley:

The reception toAurora

has been

overwhelmingly positive, due in no small

part to two major items. The first is our laser

focus on end-user usability. Our completely

revampedUser Interface (Aurora

Navigator)

that sits on top of our feature-rich back-

office suite of applications, makes the jobs of

lottery personnel much more efficient and

effective. The expanded access to business

intelligence in a graphic, visualized approach

also makes folks’ jobs easier. The second is

our Service Oriented Architecture. Lotteries

are increasingly interested in a solution that

supports omni-channel engagement with

players,and theability for lotteries toeasilymix

andmatch components from various vendors

– and with Aurora, we can deliver on those

keyneeds.We

are in theprocessof rollingour

initialAuroradeploymentsout in theU.S. and

have been having discussions with our global

customerbaseaboutAurora.

What is IGT doing to remain in

the forefront of lottery services and

technology?

M. Tasso:

Knowledge of the player and

retailer is at the heart of how we approach

innovation at IGT.Wewill continue to invest

in research and development to ensure that

our lotterypartners receive themost cutting-

edge systems and terminals as well as the

most relevant game concepts. By combining

our investment in innovation with our player

intelligence andouroperational expertise,we

help our lottery partners achieve sustainable

and responsiblegrowth.

How does IGT stay in touch with the

needs ofplayers?

M. Tasso:

Our Player Insights Team

constantly collaborates with our customers

to conduct studies to understand the

wants, needs, and expectations of retailers

and players around the world. In the last 12

months, we’ve conducted more than 260

studies in theAmericasand62 internationally.

That’s more than 224,000 people that IGT

has talked with in the last year. We are also

continuing our World Player Study, which

captures the attitudes and opinions of lottery

players in 10countries. It’s thiscomprehensive

data set that feeds theactionable insights that

drivesgrowth forour customers.

How has that affected the develop-

ment of newgames?

M. Tasso:

As game portfolios and the

playerbase continue to age, lotteries need to

have a partner that is vested in the ongoing

development of game concepts. IGT has

created FutureGame, an eight-step game

development and testing framework to

satisfy our customers’ need for a constant

streamofnewgames.To

thoroughly leverage

player needs and emotions, theFutureGame

process begins with a series of insights and

trend diagnostics and ends with a complex

methodology of consumer and retailer

research. In addition, and to ensure we are

constantly on the forefront of interactive

games, we have pooled the resources of

120 software engineers, artists, and game

designers fromaround theworld tocreate the

IGT Game Studio. By combining the staff’s

uniqueapproach toartand sciencealongwith

the cultural nuances of our five worldwide

studio locations,we releaseat least sevennew

game conceptsperquarter.

As much as the U.S. lottery industry

talks about the importanceof interac-

tive and omni-channel approaches,

progress appears to be slow due to

legislation and other concerns. What

advancement has been made in the

last year?

P. Riley:

Slow and steady are perhaps the

operative words for the U.S. with respect

to interactive wagering. Illinois, Michigan,

and Georgia are still leading the industry

with their respective deployments and are

being joined by Kentucky and Virginia. We

have seen continued growth in the number

of mobile apps that IGT is providing as well

as the functionality that is deployed. We

currently support seven lottery apps on both

iOS andAndroid, all ofwhich have a suite of

player convenience features, and some that

also allowwageringwherepermissible.These

apps also support omni-channel interaction,

such as scanning for awinning ticket and then

directing the consumer to the nearest retailer

for redemption, or creating digital playslips

that aremore user friendly aswell as fast and

easy for retailers touse.

What developments are you most

excited about?

P. Riley:

We are very excited about the

potential to leverage interactive platforms

MarcoTasso,SeniorVicePresidentofProductMarketing

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FEATURE INTERVIEWS

(CONTINUED)

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Changing the Game in 2016 and Beyond

Marco Tasso

Senior Vice President of Product Marketing, Lottery, IGT

Paul Riley

Vice President of Innovation, IGT

and games to deliver a compelling player

experiencewhile still complyingwith internet

wagering constraints. Our PlaySpot on-

premise solution, which we hope to deploy

later this year, will allow players to use their

mobile phones to play lottery games on

their own terms, without having to access

the

internet.We

are also actively engaged in

a pilot for proximity marketing that uses an

existing lottery app and beacons placed at

lottery retailers todeliver targetedmessaging

and offers (lottery and retail partners) to

consumers, and we look forward to sharing

some ofwhatwe have learned ther c we

havebeenoperational long enough togather

somemeaningfuldata.

What were the biggest milestones

and developments of the past year?

M. Tasso:

One of the best examples of our

player-first thinking this year is the Gemini

Touch. We turned our u

nderstanding o

f the

shoppers’ need for convenience, simplicity,

and interactivity into an immersive self-

service vending experience featuring a

high-definition, 42-inch touch monitor. Both

players and non-players are attracted to the

dynamic graphics and large touch screen

thatdisplaysup to 28 instantgames and a full

complement of draw-based games. Plus, the

device is easier for our retailers to use. The

DynamicPlanogram functionalitycanmodify

thedisplay in real-time to react to fluctuations

indemand, inventory,ormarket conditions.

P. Riley:

Powerball was of course huge in so

many ways. Operationally, the team and the

systemsdelivered.More than234,000 rollsof

paperwere used; that’s enough to go around

the world 1.5 times. More than 15.5 million

playslips were produced, and ur 185,000

terminals functioned at 99.9% uptime. From

an awareness perspective, the media hyp

surrounding the record jackpotwas priceless.

The key question is how d we

rlay that

interest intoengaging newplayersona repeat

basis. Monumental events like this provide

opportunities to engage more consumers

and expand the player base, particularly with

something like themobile appswhichwe just

discussed.The jackpotwas also a great value

to retailers.Retailers had to acknowledge the

history-making lift in traffic and ancillary sales

that the jackpotdrove.

What trends are you seeing in the

world of gaming and lottery?

P. Riley:

There’s a lot of interest in cashless,

which is good because so many of our

consumers are embracing cas l ss, BUT

it is not a trivial topic due t regulatory

considerations, technology sp cts, and last,

but not least, economic implications. We are

doingapilot inconjunctionwithourcustomer,

the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and are

collecting data on usage and transactions to

support bett r insights into the benefits and

ch llenges concerning this topic.

How do you stay current on what

players and retailers respond to?

M.Tasso:

OurLotteryManagementServices

groupcontinues tobe the incubator forprofit-

driving strategies and tactics. Lottomatica

remains the standard for lottery growth

around the world with more than $16 billion

in annual sales.The IG

T Indiana andHoosier

Lottery teams also provide a gr at example

of the synergies that developwhen you have

a solidportfolioofgamesworking along-side

business intelligence tools such as Aurora

OnePlace to track

progress.We

’ve increased

average facings from 24 to 30, placed more

than 5,800 on-counter towers, and installed

more than 1,100 Aurora MultiMedia and

mini-jackpot signs. The Hoosier Lottery

achieved record growth while maintaining a

commitment tocorporate social responsibility

and achievingWLALevel4C rtificaton.

What are you most excited about for

the year ahead?

M. Tasso:

Our business intelligence t ls,

which are already the best in the industry,

keep g tting stronger. Our BI tools create

actionable insi hts that empower quicker,

ffectiv decison-making. For

example, the Retail Marketing Insight (RMI)

platform is now capturing data from 21 U.S.

lotteries to provide visual comparisons across

retail chains and jurisdictions. Aurora

Performance Intel is using state-of-the-art

analytics to turn mountains of data into real-

time strategies and tactics. Plus, with the

acquisition of Hudson Alley, we have paired

OnePlace with Aurora

Retailer Wizard to

provide Lottery Representatives and their

retailers with the real-time data they need to

efficientlymanageand successfullygrow their

businesses. All of these tools work together

to empower lotteries with a onsistent a d

insigh ful viewof theirbusin sses.

P. Riley:

NASPL has signed a declaration

to move for ard with establishing a lottery

standardAPI (ApplicationProgram Interface)

that could provide significant benefit to the

industry in cost effectively increasing lottery

into under-penetrated or non-penetrated

retailers. The initiative is about setting up a

standard way for retailers to communicate

with lottery transaction processing vendors

in a uniform manner tha mor aligns with

theway inwhich they sellmany of their other

goods. If we penetrate more retailers and

tradestyles and very importantly – offer our

products in themulti-laneenvironments–we

have chance toengage farmore consumers

and increase awareness of the lottery brand

and thegood causes lotteri s support.

To learn more about IGT’s plans for 2017

and beyond, visit their booth at NASPL 2016

inAtlanta.

PaulRiley,VicePresidentof Innovation

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