Paul Jason, Public Gaming:
What is the
overriding rationale for the merger with IGT?
Jaymin Patel:
Bringing GTECH and
IGT together produces the largest best-in-
class supplier of products and technology in
the industry. That translates into enhanced
value to our customers who operate and de-
liver the games, and to the consumers who
play the games.
Government lotteries and gaming op-
erators are GTECH’s primary customers. In
some jurisdictions, such as New York, that
also includes VLT operations. In others, it
includes bothVLTs and Interactive. GTECH
has been building its portfolio of products
and services with the goal of helping our
customers evolve with the marketplace.
IGT’s customers include both casinos and
consumers for online social gaming. The
combination of GTECH and IGT encom-
passes a spectrum that covers virtually every
gaming category . We will create the world’s
leading end-to-end gaming company, with
significant positions across all segments.
This tremendous scale and global reach
allow us to leverage the best, most experi-
enced talent in the industry, and apply it to
creating, marketing, and delivering games to
the consumer. It also gives us direct access
to the data that helps guide our understand-
ing of consumer behavior, trend-lines, and
the dynamics of the marketplace and retail
operations, and informs the process of creat-
ing and delivering games of chance.
We expect to generate operational synergies
and efficiencies through the IGT merger. That
is important because it will further enhance
our ability to focus more resources where
they add value to our customers’ business. In
the end, this is all about delivering maximum
value and support to our customers.
There seems to be little overlap, not just
in the product mix (IGT’s strength being in
casino games and GTECH’s strengths be-
ing in all things Lottery). The product mix
also falls into different industry segments,
with IGT’s strength being in the casino
sector and GTECH’s being in government-
gaming sector.
J. Patel:
True. There are some interest-
ing geographical synergies as well. Both
IGT and GTECH have a global footprint,
but IGT’s penetration is deeper in some
parts of the world, like Asia. The comple-
mentarity between our assets is quite com-
pelling – even in Interactive, where we are
both strong. GTECH has a portfolio of
Interactive contracts, including customer-
facing B2C operations, but IGT’s success
with DoubleDown’s free-play entertainment
games is like nothing else in the industry.
DoubleDown is one of the jewels in the
IGT portfolio of assets.
J. Patel:
DoubleDown Interactive is a
wholly owned subsidiary of IGT. Double-
Down’s game development talent and un-
derstanding of players are deep. It is rap-
idly growing and a market leader in a space
where we know we need to be – free-play
social gaming. DoubleDown positions us
to provide a pathway for lottery operators
who are not in the iGaming space but want
to offer Interactive free-play or to deliver
an augmented iLottery player experience.
Free-play online games will prove to be a
vital part of the portfolio of consumer-en-
gagement strategies for many traditional lot-
tery operators. In fact, we would submit that
lottery operators will benefit by building an
online gaming connection with their play-
ers. DoubleDown’s expertise in monetizing
“freemium” players (getting people to buy
virtual currency) can help make that happen.
GTECH already has a robust portfolio of
Interactive gaming products and services that
we provide to operators all around the world,
including the U.S. We just acquired Prob-
ability, an innovative UK-based developer of
mobile games, both casual social games and
money games. By combining the mobile ex-
pertise of Probability, the social gaming ex-
pertise of DoubleDown, and GTECH’s global
offerings, we now have a diverse range of
product expertise in the Interactive space.
IGT has done a very good job of convert-
ing its casino content into social games. Just
as IGT casino customers benefit by its acqui-
sition of DoubleDown, so too do GTECH’s
PGRI Introduction:
On July 16th,
GTECH announced its intent to
merge with IGT in a deal valued at
approximately $6.4 billion, bringing
together the world’s leading global
lottery business with the world’s
largest global gaming equipment
company. Combined, this transac-
tion will create the world’s leading
end-to-end gaming company with
scale and scope across all business
segments of the gaming landscape.
Marco Sala, Chief Executive Officer
of GTECH S.p.A. said, “This out-
standing combination of two global
leaders truly defines the future of
gaming entertainment. Together we
are uniquely positioned to provide the
industry’s broadest and most innova-
tive portfolio of best-in-class prod-
ucts, solutions and services.” Paul
Jason sat down with Jaymin Patel,
President & CEO, GTECH Americas,
to better understand the impact of
this merger for WLA customers.
Public Gaming
Jaymin Patel
President & CEO, GTECH Americas
Public Gaming International • September/October 2014
36
