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| Vol. 35 No. 6 -- Monday May 15, 2006 |
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WEST GREENWICH, Rhode Island, USA (May 10, 2006) -- GTECH Holdings Corporation (NYSE: GTK - News) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiaries, GTECH Corporation and GTECH Global Services Corporation Ltd., signed a three-year contract extension to supply the Beijing Welfare Lottery Center (BWLC) with a new online lottery central system, new lottery terminals, and ongoing software licensing and support. The contract extension runs through December 31, 2015, with three one-year extensions beyond that date. "We believe the decision by BWLC to continue its partnership with GTECH is a tribute to our commitment to providing quality products and services," said GTECH President and CEO W. Bruce Turner. "We are eager to use this opportunity to further strengthen our relationship with the lottery and their retailers over the next several years, and we look forward to continuing the growth and progress we have experienced since BWLC's startup in 2000." Under the terms of the contract extension, GTECH will replace BWLC's existing lottery equipment with GTECH's Enterprise Series™ solution and 1,500 Altura® terminals. GTECH will continue to provide ongoing services to BWLC including:
GTECH will receive a percentage of sales as an ongoing software license and support services fee. "It is also important to note that an alliance arrangement whereby BWLC can become the hub lottery/keno operator for neighboring jurisdictions in China remains in place," continued Mr. Turner. "To date, GTECH has added one keno jurisdiction under this arrangement, Shenzhen, in October 2005." GTECH has provided lottery products and services to BWLC since its inception in 2000. Since that time, BWLC's sales have grown year-over-year reaching $255 million in 2005. Proceeds generated by the BWLC support various welfare funds, with an emphasis on orphanages and elderly care. About GTECH SOURCE: GTECH Holdings Corporation media
release. Mix & Match: Coming Soon to a Hoosier Lottery Retailer Near
You! INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, USA (May 5, 2006) –The Hoosier Lottery announced today that tickets for Mix & Match, the Lottery’s newest draw game, will go on sale Wednesday, May 24, 2006. The first Mix & Match drawing will take place Friday, May 26, 2006 at approximately 10:49 p.m. (Eastern). For $2, Mix & Match players can select their first line of up to five numbers from 1 to 50 or choose a Quick Pick. Players then automatically receive two additional Quick Pick lines generated by the lottery terminal, for a total of 15 numbers. Mix & Match offers four different ways to win – one chance to win per line, and a fourth chance to win by combining numbers on all three lines. Combined play prizes range from a free ticket for matching just 3 of 15 numbers to $5,000 for matching eight or more numbers combined on all three lines. For single line play, players can win one of three prizes, including the $200,000 top prize for matching all five numbers on any single line.
“We hope Mix and Match will meet our players’ demands for large top prizes and more ways to win,” said Hoosier Lottery Executive Director, Esther Schneider. “This new game’s uniqueness is what makes it attractive. Mix & Match offers the traditional style of play, but also introduces a new combined play style, which is a game feature unlike any offered in our current draw game lineup.” Mix & Match drawings will take place every Tuesday and Friday evening at approximately 10:49 p.m. (Eastern) and all tickets for Mix & Match must be purchased by 10:39 p.m. (Eastern) on the night of the drawing. “Mix & Match’s Tuesday and Friday drawings should be popular because it gives players the opportunity to play a large top prize on evenings opposite Powerball and Hoosier Lotto,” said Schneider. Mix & Match Prizes and Odds
Guided by benchmarks of integrity and profitability, the Hoosier Lottery has returned $2.9 billion to the state of Indiana since 1989. SOURCE: Hoosier Lottery media release. INTRALOT Signs New Contract in Philippines ATHENS, Greece (May 9, 2006) -- INTRALOT, a leading global supplier of integrated gaming and transaction processing systems, has been awarded a new contract with Pacific On-Line which operates games in Southern Philippines on behalf of the state gaming organization Philippines Charity Sweepstake Office (PCSO). The contract is for 7 years and is estimated to generate total revenues of approximately € 10,000,000. The project includes the procurement, installation and support of an advanced, integrated network, which will be comprised of up to 900 terminals, the core operating system, LOTOS™, and the necessary satellite telecommunications infrastructure. When complete, the system will provide retailers with a flawless solution that will ultimately increase sales of all 6 PSCO’s games.
The implementation of the project will begin this quarter and will be launched later in 2006. INTRALOT S.A. CEO, Mr. Constantinos Antonopoulos said: “We are very pleased to have signed this new contract with Pacific On-Line. This contract strengthens our position in the rapidly growing market of the Philippines and also contributes to our further penetration in S.E Asia, one of the largest and most demanding gaming markets in the world. Pacific Online Chairman, Mr. Willy Ocier added: “We are very pleased with our partnership with INTRALOT, and we look forward to continue delivering quality service to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in their efforts to generate revenues for the government's charity projects.." About
INTRALOT For more information please CONTACT: Ms Evi Ioannidou, Communications Director, Phone: +30-210-6156000 – Fax: +30-210 6106800, email: ioannidou@intralot.com. SOURCE: INTRALOT (www.intralot.com) media release. Boston Red Sox Instant Ticket is a Grand Slam in
Massachusetts ALPHARETTA, Georgia, USA (May 4, 2006) -- The Massachusetts Lottery is on a winning streak with its new Red Sox Instant Ticket. The ticket recorded a lottery-industry record of $30 million for the first three-weeks of sales and projected sales indicate a sizzling 20 percent of the game inventory will be sold in its first four weeks. After launching on April 11, the $5 game has sold more than $30 million and is performing at more than double the rate of sales when compared to other $5 games launched this fiscal year. Massachusetts is the first state to launch a Major League Baseball ticket after Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, MDI Entertainment, acquired the rights to MLB last month.
“The Red Sox Instant Ticket is a great success for the Lottery, as well as for the 351 cities and towns of Massachusetts," said State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who serves as Lottery Chairman. “We are pleased that the game is off to a strong start, and hope that the excitement surrounding the ticket continues to grow because the better our games do, the more prizes are won, and the more money we have to return to communities throughout the state.” “The Lottery has hit a home run with Red Sox Instant Ticket,” said Lottery Executive Director Joe Sullivan. “We are happy to be teammates with the Red Sox on this revolutionary ticket that is generating so much enthusiasm and excitement throughout the Commonwealth. The fans of Red Sox nation and the cities and towns of Massachusetts are winning big with this game which is awarding great prizes to our customers and producing record revenue for our municipalities.” “This is great news for Massachusetts, the Lottery, its players and the lottery industry as a whole,” said Steve Saferin, president of Scientific Games Ventures. "The game’s popularity is a testimony to what lotteries everywhere have been asking for – an extremely successful partnership with their local professional ball clubs.” The revolutionary game features over $150 million in total prizes, ten $1 million prizes and the grand prize of Red Sox season tickets for life. After being on sale for just three days, the game produced its first $1 million prize winner. Joseph Belanger of Brockton, MA, who rarely plays the Lottery, purchased a ticket in hopes of taking home the ultimate prize - Red Sox season tickets for life. He instead won one of the top instant win prizes available on the ticket and was presented with a check by Treasurer Cahill for $1 million in the outfield of Fenway Park.
In addition to cash prizes and season tickets, the game also awards attractive prizes through second-chance drawings such as Red Sox tickets, merchandise, Red Sox cruises and spring training trips and other related experiences. The season tickets for life will be awarded at the very end of the game in a final grand prize drawing. The first drawing, which will award 2,600 prizes including one Grand Prize finalist, will be held Friday, May 5. About Scientific
Games SOURCE: MDI Entertainment,
LLC. Icelandic Lotteries Will Implement Betware’s New “Turn-Key” Solution REYKJAVÍK, Iceland (May 8, 2006) -- Islensk Getspa and Islenskar Getraunir recently signed a contract with Betware of Iceland, allowing for the addition of a new “turn-key” functionality to the original gaming services provided by Betware on its powerful Betware Gaming Platform (BGP). The latest solution developed by Betware is designed, supplied and built to be installed as is, in its complete form, ready to operate. It will feature all the benefits of the original solution offered by Betware and will have the flexibility of customization on top of its existing functionality. “The solution is a great step forward in the development of vendor gaming software since it comes as a “packaged” product, ready to use with a fixed set of features,” says Hordur Birgisson, Project Manager at Betware. The solution importantly also benefits from a “shorter time to market” which means its faster implementation makes it easier for a Lottery to launch its gaming services to customers. Betware’s turn-key solution will come inclusive of a set number of games such as the more popular numbers games of Lotto and the sports betting games of Oddset and Toto. Additionally, the turn-key solution will also feature:
Islenskar Getraunir was the first state lottery in the world to go on the Internet as early as 1996. Betware has serviced the Icelandic Lotteries since this time. “Upgrading to the turn-key solution was the way forward for us”, says Bergsveinn Sampsted, CEO of the Icelandic Lotteries. “Many of the smaller lotteries would find what they are looking for in Betware’s turn-key solution since something like this has not been offered before in the gaming market. It is a feature rich solution that does not need customization so it is affordable by the smaller lotteries.” The Icelandic lotteries are Betware’s second clients to choose the turn-key solution. The first to buy the solution were Chariot (UK) plc, the company behind monday – the Charities Lottery lotto game. The turn-key solution is expected to be integrated to the Icelandic Lotteries’ central system by the beginning of June 2006.
For further information please CONTACT: Prerna Desai, Media and Account Manager Betware, Brautarholt 10-14, 105 Reykjavik ICELAND. Telephone: +354 5804700, Fax: +354 5804701. About Betware (www.betware.com) About Islenskar Getraunir and
Islensk Getspa (www.lotto.is &
www.1x2.is) About Chariot (UK) plc.
(www.chariotplc.com) SOURCE Betware media release. SCEL Hits One Billion Dollars in Sales Milestone! COLUMBIA, South Carolina, USA (May 9, 2006) -- As of 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 9, 2006, the South Carolina Education Lottery’s (SCEL) ticket sales will surpass the $1 billion mark for this fiscal year. With seven weeks remaining in the current fiscal year, this total easily surpasses the previous record of $957 million in lottery sales achieved in fiscal year 2005.
“This remarkable feat is the direct result of the wonderful partnership our lottery has forged with our players, retailers and vendors,” said Ernie Passailaigue, SCEL Executive Director. “We have put together a world-class staff to oversee this enterprise and the results are evident. The people of the Palmetto State continue to see the fruits of our labor: well over one billion dollars directed to new educational initiatives since we launched,” Passailaigue added. Instant tickets remain the most popular type of game, making up more than 60 percent of overall sales. The multi-state lotto game, Powerball®, is the next biggest seller, with Pick 3, Pick 4, and Palmetto Cash 5 rounding out the product mix. “Staff should be commended for their efforts in producing a product that South Carolinians can be proud of,” said Pat Koop, SCEL Director of Marketing and Sales. “It is the hard work of our retailer network and the loyalty of our players that have led us to this achievement.” Ticket sales commenced on January 7, 2002, and on December 15, 2005, SCEL transferred the billionth dollar to the Education Lottery Account. As of May 1, 2006, the Lottery has transferred more than $1.1 billion to fund educational opportunities. For more information, please visit www.sceducationlottery.com. SOURCE: South Carolina Education Lottery
media release. For More Information JCM American Wins Top Honors at Kioskcom Awards LAS VEGAS, Nevada, USA (May 5, 2006) – JCM American’s self-service DMV kiosk took top prize at the recent KioskCom trade show, held recently in Las Vegas. JCM designed and installed the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicle’s (DMV) self-service kiosks, winning top honors for Best Kiosk Application for Government, Education or a Non-Profit Agency at KioskCom’s 5th annual Excellence Awards. Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles Director Ginny Lewis was also named “Industry Deployer of the Year.”
The award was given by a panel of 21 judges, representing analyst firms, kiosk vendors and suppliers and kiosk media, who selected winners in a dozen categories. JCM’s kiosks were first launched in Nevada DMVs in June 2004. Currently, there are 22 stations in DMV offices statewide, including two outdoor walk-up kiosks that are available nearly 24 hours daily, seven days per week. Two AAA offices in Las Vegas also have kiosks providing the same DMV services. Nevada’s kiosks are the first in the U.S. to accept cash and credit cards, and give change while dispensing government documents on the spot. Motorists can renew vehicle registrations, obtain driver’s license renewals and get vehicle insurance verification with little to no wait and average transaction times of two minutes. Since the project began, Nevada motorists have used the kiosks for almost 300,000 transactions. KioskCom is the world’s largest and longest running kiosk and self-service conference and tradeshow, delivering business solutions focusing on interactive self-service programs to a highly qualified audience in the areas of retail, finance, hospitality, tourism, health care, government, gaming/entertainment, hospitals, restaurants, QSRs, financial services, ticketing, photo and other industries. KioskCom launched the inaugural industry-wide KioskCom Excellence Awards in 2002 to recognize the most successful and innovative interactive self-service solutions. Past winners include BMW, Sony, AAA, the US Postal Service, Avis, Hilton Hotels, Sunoco, SAS, Daimler Chrysler and ExxonMobil.
About JCM American
Corporation SOURCE: JCM American Corporation media
release distributed by Steinbeck Communications. Kansas Lottery’s Country Stampede Promotion TOPEKA, Kansas, USA (May 1, 2006) -- Beginning May 2, Kansas Lottery players who purchase $5 in Powerball will automatically receive a discount coupon for the Country Stampede.
The coupon is good for $15 off a one-day admission ticket or $30 off a four-day ticket. Information on how to redeem the discount coupons is printed on the coupons. This is a limited time Lottery promotion. The promotion will end when 40,000 coupons are generated, or on May 15, whichever comes first. The Country Stampede, featuring superstars of Country Music, will be held June 22-25 at Tuttle Creek State Park near Manhattan. Visit www.countrystampede.com for more information and the line-up of performers. SOURCE: Kansas Lottery. Norsk Tipping to Implement Flat Screen Advertising! HAMAR, Norway (May 9, 2006) -- Norsk Tipping has a project underway that will alter the way in which the company communicates with its customers at the point of sale – its agents’ premises. From the New Year, every one of the company’s 4,000 agents will have new flat screens installed in the gaming area of their premises. The messages displayed on the screens will be controlled exclusively from Norsk Tipping’s head office. This investment secures for Norsk Tipping a future-oriented and innovative digital solution that will provide the company with an up to date and exciting tool for the communication of messages and information to our customers in a new and creative manner.
Digital communication at our agents gives us a high level of flexibility, tremendous scope for development, a modern, up to date image and not least more cost-effective distribution, says Managing Director Reidar Nordby jr. of Norsk Tipping. The new concept from the company Datametrix means that Norsk Tipping has a whole new set of options and potential to direct the message to exactly where the customer is. The investment will place Norsk Tipping firmly in the front line in the development of digital advertising distribution to retail outlets, and the solution provides the possibility for the transmission of both images, text and film/sound. As the project progresses it will relieve the agents of the task of ensuring that the required placards and messages are in place at any given time. The solution means that Norsk Tipping prepares digital messaging that is managed at the retail end of the system by the company via the terminal network. Norsk Tipping can thus transmit differing messages to different agents on the basis of type of outlet, customer categories that shop there, or the outlets geographical/regional location. The end result will be greater flexibility in communication, better communication, more effective communication, and a more rational distribution of communication. SOURCE: Norsk Tipping AS. Lotto has Jackpotted from Monday to Wednesday for First Time Ever SYDNEY, NSW, Australia (May 9, 2006) -- For the first time ever, Lotto has jackpotted from Monday to Wednesday as a result of game changes which commenced last week. As there were no Division One winners in Monday night's $1 million Lotto draw, the jackpot will roll over to Wednesday night to offer $1.76 million. It took just three draws for the game to jackpot, offering Lotto players the bigger jackpots they asked for in Monday and Wednesday Lotto.
Tonight's Lotto draw will now offer a
minimum First Division prize guarantee of $1,750,000 - up from the former
minimum prize of $600,000. Monday and Wednesday Lotto form a part of a
multi-state draw, which includes South
Australia and Western Australia with NSW
and ACT. SOURCE: NSW Lotteries (www.nswlotteries.com.au). SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, USA (May 10, 2006) -- Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today announced that just three months after going on sale, the state’s first lottery ticket to benefit Illinois veterans and their families has generated more than $1 million for veterans. Veterans Cash is the first instant ticket in Illinois Lottery history where a portion of the proceeds will help fund state programs and services for veterans. “The success of this special ticket shows just how much Illinoisans support the brave men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect this country and our freedom,” Gov. Blagojevich said.
Proceeds from the sale of this ticket will be deposited into an interest bearing account in the State Treasury called the “Illinois Veterans Assistance Fund.” The Illinois General Assembly will appropriate this money solely to the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) who will award grants, fund additional services or conduct research relating to veterans' Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, homelessness, health insurance costs, and disability benefits. Gov. Blagojevich and the Illinois Lottery launched the Veterans Cash instant lottery ticket on February 10, 2006. Since then, the scratch-off ticket has raised $1,060,086 for new state programs and services that will help Illinois veterans and their families. Veterans Cash is currently available at all Illinois Lottery retail locations. Each ticket costs $2 and has a top prize of $20,000. “We are very pleased with the public’s overwhelming response to the Veterans Cash lottery ticket. The proceeds from the ticket will be used to fund important programs such as health coverage for uninsured veterans, housing assistance for homeless veterans, and post-traumatic stress disorder treatment for returning veterans,” Lt. Governor Pat Quinn added. “We are humbled by the outpouring of support Veterans Cash has received and as a result of these tremendous sales, the Lottery will be re-launching a new version of the ticket this month that we hope will continue to drive strong returns for our veterans,” said Illinois Lottery Superintendent Carolyn Adams. “It’s amazing to see how much compassion the residents of Illinois have shown our veterans by purchasing this special ticket. We’re excited about the new services that will be available thanks to the proceeds from Veterans Cash,” said Illinois Department of Veteran’s Affairs Director Roy L. Dolgos. For more information on Veterans Cash please visit the Illinois Lottery website at www.illinoislottery.com and for more information on Illinois veteran programs and initiatives visit the IDVA website at www.state.il.us/agency/dva. SOURCE: Illinois Govt. News Network, Office of the Governor.
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