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September/October 2016 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL //
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play at the pump
lottery on the rise in
north carolina
The partnership of Linq3, creator
of Play at the Pump technology,
and the North Carolina Education
Lottery (NCEL) has surpassed
$1 million in lottery sales. For a
program that’s less than two years
old and began with seven participat-
ing retailers, the milestone paints
a bright picture of what’s to come
for the future of fuel pump lottery.
While Play at the Pump launched
in a trial mode with a select group
of retailers, the solution has grown
to more than 190 convenience stores
across the state. And with recent
partnership announcements with
NCR and Verifone, Linq3 looks to
further expand the North Carolina
Education Lottery’s reach to new
players in the years to come. Play
at the Pump offers these players a
convenient and efficient way to play.
The Play at the Pump lottery trans-
action occurs in a matter of seconds,
including age verification, payment
and receipt.
“This is a nice milestone to reach in our
partnership with NCEL,”
said Daniel
Cage, president & founder of Linq3.
“Think about today’s convenience econo-
my. We rely on Uber for cab rides and
AirBnB for lodging. So what does Uber
look like for the lottery? Our technology
helps lotteries and retailers answer that
question. Play at the Pump helps them
modernize their distribution, expand
their reach and offer new players a
convenient way to play.”
“At Murphy USA, we serve about
1.65 million customers per day at our
fueling islands. When you consider
that 65 percent to 72 percent of these
customers never come inside the store,
that’s one million customers who never
come into our locations. Play at the
Pump helps us reach these potential
players by meeting them where they
are, right at the pump,”
said Steven
Desautels, senior category manager
for Murphy USA.
Linq3’s lottery playing platform will
soon add Verifone Commander to its
pump POS/site controller integration,
with NCR’s RPOS completing the set
by year end. This will position NCEL
and Linq3 to access more than 95
percent of the gas retail sector.
“Every ticket the lottery sells helps to
raise more money for education in
North Carolina,”
said Alice Gar-
land, executive director of the N.C.
Education Lottery.
“Our partnership
with Linq3 adds a way to buy a ticket
for Powerball, Mega Millions and
Carolina Cash 5 that didn’t exist be-
fore. Using Linq3’s new technology to
make playing the lottery a convenience
at a gas pump will help the lottery
continue to improve its performance.”
Linq3:
More players. More oppor-
tunity. For more information, please
visit
www.linq3.com.changes to california
online poker bill would
keep pokerstars out for
five years
The latest changes to California’s
Internet poker bill call for online
gaming companies who facilitated
poker games for Americans between
2006 and 2011 to be excluded from
the Golden State market for five
years. The amendment would pre-
vent PokerStars, which has roughly
70 percent of the worldwide online
poker market, from being involved
right out of the gate in what is con-
sidered the nation’s largest online
poker market. PokerStars facilitated
games for Americans until 2011,
before the federal government
indicted its former owners. The
company settled without admitting
to any wrongdoing.
nba nearing $250 million
deal with data
company sportradar
The NBA has for years been among the
most progressive sports leagues in the
world in its use of technology. They’re
about to take another major step. Ac-
cording to a report from Bloomberg’s
Scott Soshnick, the league is close to a
deal worth $250 million with the Swiss
company Sportradar: Sportradar and
data analytics firm Second Spectrum
are said to be close to a six-year, $250
million contract with the NBA. The con-
tract is expected to apply yo a variety of
services that include selling official league
data to betting houses, data analytics to
teams and the development of a stream-
ing product. The NBA Mavericks owner
Mark Cuban, Hornets owner Michael
Jordan and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis
are among the investors in Sportradar.
Their involvement with bookmak-
ers worldwide is consistent with the
NBA’s support for legalized sports bet-
ting, a stance NBA commissioner Adam
Silver has publicly stated his support for
legalizing sports-betting where it is now
prohibited by federal law. Sportradar
already has data contracts with the NFL,
NHL and Major League Baseball.
igt acquires hudson
alley software, a leading
provider of sales force
automation (sfa)
and lottery retailer
engagement applications
Hudson Alley is known in the lot-
tery industry for having well-estab-
lished, respected solutions
with an excellent reputation for
customer service and driving re-
sults. Hudson Alley products are
currently used in 20 U.S. lotteries.
14 of those U.S. lotteries are also
IGT draw-based customers. Hud-
son Alley CEO Adam Perlow joins
IGT as Vice President of Sales Force
Automation Solutions, reporting to