• GTECH to Provide Western Canada Lottery Corporation With 4,750 Altura® Terminals. Full Story
• INTRALOT Awarded for its Research and Technological Growth According to the European Innovation Scoreboard. Full Story
• Good Results for Norsk Tipping. Full Story
• Atlantic Lottery Corporation Board Appointments. Full Story
• Ludwin Group Announce Its Partner, Games Marketing Services, and Beijing Zhong CAI Printing Co Ltd. Have Entered Into A Distribution Agreement. Full Story
• Jansen Appointed Committee Chair . Full Story
• Lottery Sales Hit Record $935 Million, Up 2.4 Percent. Full Story
• Camelot’s Online Channels Have Even More Luck With Gomez’s Help. Full Story
• NZ Lotto’s July Winter Promotion. Full Story
• Research Camp Adds States/Attendees. Full Story

GTECH to Provide Western Canada Lottery Corporation With 4,750 Altura® Terminals

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, USA (July 09, 2007) – GTECH Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lottomatica S.p.A., announced that it has signed an agreement to supply new Altura® lottery terminals to Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC). This product sale is the result of a successful Altura pilot program that was implemented during the summer of 2006.

“We are continuously looking for ways to assist our lottery customers in increasing sales,” said W. Bruce Turner, GTECH and Lottomatica S.p.A. CEO. “Altura's open systems solution will allow WCLC to adopt new technology while ensuring high reliability and low operating costs. We are certainly grateful for WCLC's continued confidence in GTECH, and in our products and services.”

Under the terms of the product sale agreement, GTECH will provide WCLC with approximately 4,750 Altura terminals, replacing existing terminals already in the field. Delivery will take place during the summer of 2007, with installation beginning in the fall of 2007.

WCLC has been a valued GTECH customer since 1982. With respect to its agreement with WCLC, GTECH expects to receive approximately US $14 million in revenue during fiscal 2007.

About GTECH

GTECH is a leading gaming technology and services company, providing innovative technology, creative content, and superior service delivery.  Lottomatica is one of the world's largest commercial lottery operators and a market leader in the Italian gaming industry.  GTECH and Lottomatica together create a fully integrated lottery operator and gaming technology solutions provider – a combined company with worldwide scale, considerable financial strength, and industry-leading customer solutions.  Lottomatica is majority owned by De Agostini, which belongs to a century-old publishing, media, and financial services group. Lottomatica is publicly traded on the Italian Stock Exchange (LTO), and in 2006, had approximately €1.7 billion in revenues and 6,000 employees in over 50 countries when combined with GTECH.

SOURCE: GTECH Corporation.
CONTACT: Robert Vincent, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Phone: 401-392-7452.

INTRALOT Awarded for its Research and Technological Growth According to the European Innovation Scoreboard

ATHENS, Greece (July 5, 2007) -- INTRALOT was awarded for its Research and Technological growth according to the European Innovation Scoreboard, during the conference “Week of Science and Technology” which took place from 28 June to 5 July 2007, in Athens and was organized by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Development of Greece.

The European Innovation Scoreboard measures the innovation performance of a country’s economy based on a wide range of indicators, from education to expenditure in Information and Communication Technologies, investment in R&D or number of patents. In this context, the companies which achieved the highest performance in terms of technology growth receive a distinction, in order to acknowledge their contribution in world’s innovation leadership.

The “Week of Science and Technology” is realized in Greece for a second consecutive year and has already become a well-established and respected institution by the technology professionals and academia. It supports and promotes the research and innovation efforts in various sectors – technology, medicine, physics etc. 35 educational institutions, enterprises, research and technological present the results of their research activities in the most interactive and vivid way.

INTRALOT’s CEO, Mr. Constantinos Antonopoulos stated: “We live in a new exciting era where technology affects almost every part of our lives… Especially in INTRALOT’s case, technology not only affects but drives our industry. This is a true challenge for us and it has to do with the vision we have to be the leading company of our sector. This vision becomes a reality by investing consistently in Research & Development in order to ensure the constant improvement and advancement of our products and services. INTRALOT’s R&D investments in cutting-edge technology enable the company to offer customized products and solutions that meet the requirements of a global market, supporting its sustained international growth”.

About INTRALOT (www.intralot.com)

INTRALOT, a public listed company, is the leading supplier of integrated gaming and transaction processing systems, innovative game content and sports betting management, to state-licensed gaming organizations worldwide. It’s broad portfolio of products & services, its know-how of Lottery, Betting & Video Lottery operations and its leading-edge technology, give INTRALOT a competitive advantage which contributes directly to customers’ efficiency, profitability and growth. With presence in over than 40 countries, with more than 3,600 people and revenues of €791,4 m. for 2006, INTRALOT has established its presence in all 5 continents.

For more information please CONTACT: Ms Evi Ioannidou, Communications Director, Phone: +30-210 6156000, Fax: +30-210 6106800, email: ioannidou@intralot.com

SOURCE: INTRALOT.

Good Results for Norsk Tipping

HAMAR, Norway (July 5, 2007) -- It’s not just the recent court rulings that have ensured that Norsk Tipping has wind in its sails. Turnover generated by Norsk Tipping’s games continues the positive trend we saw last year. Five of the Company’s seven games showed continued growth during the first half-year, and total turnover for the first six months of the year grew by 4.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

“The growth we see in Norsk Tippings games means that the Company is fulfilling its mandate to offer sensible and entertaining games to the majority of the general public. That our games are well-received is a vital element in the wish of the authorities to build and maintain a healthy and responsible gaming market that does not create problems for players. Simultaneously, a stable and necessary profit is generated for good social causes” says President and CEO Reidar Nordby jr. of Norsk Tipping AS.

“All the traditional numbers games are in a period of growth – the most robust being Viking Lotto and Lotto. – This growth is very welcome and shows that the games are maintaining their appeal with the general public”, says Nordby.

 “Just as pleasing – but perhaps a little surprising – is the positive development we see in football pools. This growth can have many causes, but increased interest in football in general and a number of successful campaigns related to the pools, in particular on the Company’s web pages, can be part of this. – We can certainly confirm that the pools are alive and very healthy indeed”, says Nordby.

“At the other end of the scale we find Flax, which showed a decease in turnover of 7.2 percent compared to the first six months of last year. – As expected the negative trend for scratch cards continues. We have also see the same trend internationally”, says Nordby.

See norsk-tipping.no     for local turnover figures

For further information please contact: Peer Jacob Svenkerud, Senior Vice-President, Information and External Affairs, Tel: 47 915 54 368 or Roar Jødahl, Press Spokesman, Tel: 47 970 71 404.

Atlantic Lottery Corporation Board Appointments

MONCTON, New Brunswick (July 6, 2007) -- Sean O’Connor was appointed Independent Chair of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) at its recent annual general meeting. Mr. O’Connor has served on ALC’s Board since February 2000 and was previously Vice Chair.

Stirling “Ginger” Breedon of Prince Edward Island recently retired after 14 years on the Board, including the past 12 as chair.

“We wish to thank Ginger Breedon for his dedicated service and leadership with the board,” Mr. O’Connor said.

Marie Mullally, CEO of the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, replaces Mr. O’Connor and joins Stephen Mont as the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation representatives on the Board of Directors. The other Board members are John E. Mallory; Roger Melanson; Patricia Mella; Gary Norris; Michael L. O’Brien and Terry Paddon.

ALC’s Board of Directors is made up of eight voting members, two from each Atlantic Canadian province, and an independent Chair, which is a non-voting position. The Board determines the Corporation’s strategic direction and corporate policies, guides business operations, approves the annual business plan and budgets and oversees their implementation at monthly meetings.

For more information please Contact: Robert Bourgeois, Atlantic Lottery Corporation, 1-800-561-3942 or 1-506-867-5825, Email: robert.bourgeois@alc.ca

SOURCE: Atlantic Lottery Corp.

Ludwin Group Announce Its Partner, Games Marketing Services (GMS), and Beijing Zhong CAI Printing Co Ltd (BZP) Have Entered Into A Distribution Agreement

PARIS, France (July10, 2007) -- Games marketing Services (www.gmslottery.com) and Beijing Zhong Cai Printing Co Ltd (www.lottery-bzp.com) have entered into an agreement to distribute BZP‘s products in Europe, Africa and Latin America.

GMS will be responsible for the promotion, marketing and sale of the instant lottery tickets, thermal paper rolls, bet slips and all game supports printed by BZP.

For Yves Hémard, GMS‘s Chairman, "this agreement is a very important step forward for our company, but also for our partner LudWin Group (www.ludwingroup.com).  I believe it is also paramount for lottery operators in general. At a time where the number of instant tickets suppliers has reduced to a small number, we are now in a position to offer a very competitive alternative with BZP’s products. Having followed the development of BZP’s production processes over the years, I am very impressed with what BZP’s management has achieved. The quality and security of the tickets meet standards requested by most lotteries around the world. Through this agreement, we will also be able to provide bet slips and thermal paper rolls of the highest quality. It is a perfect complement to GMS existing offer of instant tickets gaming concepts. We are really looking forward to developing our relationship with BZP and provide new solutions to lottery operators.”

For Mr Peï Hang, BZP’s General Manager, a new challenge is ahead, “this distribution agreement with GMS allows us to expand our international presence. We have made important efforts to reach the security levels necessary to compete on the international scene and meet the most strict quality criteria. We have known GMS for many years and strongly believe that together we will provide a very credible new solution for lottery operators.”

Games Marketing Services (GMS) is a company that specializes in strategic marketing and creative game concepts for gaming operators and state controlled organizations. GMS offers innovative game concepts, marketing consulting, market research and general organisation assistance. Through the experience of its team, GMS is capable of having a comprehensive view of the market. Its approach is always market and customer oriented.

Beijing Zhong Cai Printing Co Ltd (BZP) is a printing plant based in Beijing, China that has been producing quality products for the past 10 years. Its proven records of integrity, quality, reliability and efficiency are attracting a growing clientele around the world. BZP is dedicated to unceasingly going after world first class product quality, security and services. BZP has passed ISO 9002 quality assessment and obtained ISO/UKAS quality certificate.

SOURCE: LudWin Group (www.ludwingroup.com). CONTACT: Christophe Caye, Managing Director, Tel:+ 33 (0)1 48 89 79 79, Fax:+33 (0)1 48 89 12 34,  Email: christophe.caye@ludwingroup.com.

Jansen Appointed Committee Chair

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri, USA (July 9, 2007) -- Larry Jansen, executive director of the Missouri Lottery, was recently appointed chair of the Finance and Audit Committee for the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL).

In this role, Jansen will also serve as a member of MUSL’s executive committee. His term began July 1 and will last for one year.

MUSL is a non-profit, government-benefit association owned and operated by its 31 member lotteries. Each member lottery offers at least one of the games administered by MUSL. Powerball is the association’s best-known game.

MUSL’s Finance and Audit Committee reviews and approves financial systems developed by product groups, develops investments policies, and audits and monitors all accounts and financial transactions. The committee also supervises annual financial and compliance audits by independent auditing firms ? and the committee reviews and selects financial and investment managers.

Jansen, 51, of Jefferson City is a CPA and worked as the Chief Financial Officer for the Lottery from November 1986 to September 2005, when he was appointed executive director

SOURCE: Missouri Lottery.
CONTACT: Contact:  Breanne Gibson, (573) 526-7442.

Lottery Sales Hit Record $935 Million, Up 2.4 Percent

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri, USA (July 10, 2007) -- Missouri Lottery sales for fiscal year 2007 set a new record of more than $935 million*, surpassing the last fiscal year's sales by $21.5 million, a 2.4 percent increase. 

"Our Scratchers product did very well this past year," said Larry Jansen, executive director of the Missouri Lottery.  "We added a third $10 'mega' game in January and introduced two Major League Baseball® Scratchers games in March."

Along with Scratchers ticket sales, the twice-daily Pick 3 and Pick 4 games and the Club Keno game also saw sales increases.

"The Missouri Lottery also sold its largest jackpot prize ever during fiscal year 2007, awarding a $254 million jackpot to a family in St. Louis," said Jansen. 

Jansen noted that while overall sales set a record, they were lower than anticipated due to fewer high Powerball jackpots, gas prices, weather issues and lack of advertising dollars.

The record sales in fiscal year 2007 translated into proceeds of $259 million to the Lottery Proceeds Fund to benefit various public education programs.  Total proceeds to the state, including education, since the Missouri Lottery began are more than $2.9 billion.

More than $824 million* in prizes were awarded to Missouri Lottery players during fiscal year 2007, increasing the total prizes awarded since the Lottery began in 1986 to more than $5.9 billion.  Sixteen Missouri Lottery tickets worth $1 million or more were sold, awarding jackpots ranging from $1 million to $254 million.  In all, $287.1 million in jackpot prizes were awarded during the past fiscal year.

Thirty-nine Powerball tickets worth $200,000 were sold in Missouri during fiscal year 2007, along with Power Play prizes worth $600,000, $800,000 and $1 million.  Sixteen SHOW ME 5 Paydown tickets worth $50,000 tax paid were sold.

Retailers who sell Missouri Lottery products earned more than $571 million* in commissions, incentives and bonuses for selling Missouri Lottery tickets during fiscal year 2007. 

SALES BY PRODUCT

FISCAL YEAR SALES HISTORY

* unaudited (estimated) figures

SOURCE: Missouri Lottery.
CONTACT:  Shelly Perez, (573) 526-7467.

Camelot’s Online Channels Have Even More Luck With Gomez’s Help

WATFORD, UK (July 11, 2007) -- The National Lottery is played by more than 70% of the UK adult population and has raised more than £20 billion for Good Causes. And with over 2.7 million players registered to play interactively and sales via the web, digital TV and mobile phones running at above £5 million a week, the UK National Lottery is the most successful interactive lottery in the world. With figures this high, Camelot can’t afford to take a chance with its website performance.

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 Camelot Group plc is the operator of The National Lottery and operates a network of more than 26,200 draw-based terminals around the UK, alongside Scratchcards and the interactive channels.

 Camelot’s over-riding aim is to maximise returns to Good Causes while selling products in a responsible way. One of the ways they do this is to make sure that the lottery is available when and where players want it. The website, national-lottery.co.uk, is a vital way of helping to achieve this goal.

Challenge:

Camelot wanted to make the player online experience as user-friendly and fun as possible, in order to encourage regular use of the site and maximise those returns to Good Causes. As part of its commitment to constantly improve its services to National Lottery players, Camelot wanted a way of collecting more information about players’ experiences online.

Internal monitoring tools had been built by Camelot’s IT team, specifically for performance – but the company also needed to see what was happening in real time.

Mike Pellett, Network Manager for Camelot, said: “To us, proactive monitoring is key. On average, if a player is unable to get onto a website after three attempts, he or she will give up trying and won’t visit the site again. That’s too much of a risk to take.”

Several of Camelot’s team were already aware of the Gomez product suite, as the leading providers of web application experience management solutions. So, when Gomez offered a free trial for the end of 2005/beginning of 2006, Camelot was happy to accept.

At this time, Camelot was running a number of key projects both off and online, and the Gomez monitoring provided a better view of response times and created an opportunity for fine-tuning.

Solution:

Camelot’s initial trial with Gomez consisted of Backbone monitoring services, which enabled Mike Pellett and his team to understand how their web applications and websites were performing for lottery players, outside of the firewall.

Gomez provides on-demand solutions to measure website performance from design and development through to deployment and production. All applications are integrated into the Gomez ExperienceFirst™ Platform – including Backbone, Last Mile and P2P monitoring among others – which are accessed via an easy-to-use web interface. Gomez products are delivered via software as a service (SaaS), so there is nothing to install and no maintenance or upgrade fees to pay.

During the trial, Camelot was pleased with the level of support provided by Gomez.  This included a number of training sessions over the phone, when members of the Gomez team talked through the specifics of the product, as well as on-site training, followed up with thorough documentation.

After the trial, Camelot made the decision to purchase the Gomez solution and expand into Last Mile testing, which provides more detailed response times, and tracks the difference in the player experience when accessing national-lottery.co.uk from an ADSL line or dial-up.

“This ‘second stage’ of implementation was put in place in a couple of hours. It was helpful having gone through the trial as this gave us a base level of knowledge.  Implementation was very quick too,” continued Mike Pellett.

“The product was extremely easy to delve into and learn all the different aspects to it. We told Gomez what we wanted and which URLs they should monitor to provide appropriate comparisons to the lottery website – then they implemented that to get the ball rolling. The emphasis is now on us, as we can subsequently make those changes ourselves.  Things can be altered as and when needed, but Gomez is on the end of the phone to help if we’ve got questions.

“We’re happy that what Gomez is providing is helping us to constantly enhance and improve the services we provide for our players, and in turn help us to maximise those all-important returns to Good Causes.”

 Camelot uses the product to test a few of its larger web pages, for example, The National Lottery homepage (www.national-lottery.co.uk). The company is able to track response time and the process of a player requesting this URL from their browser.

 Camelot has also set up a benchmark to compare the National Lottery homepage to other sites of a similar make up. Using the weekly reports from this benchmark, Camelot generates a report that gets distributed to key IT personnel within the company. These are used to gauge the overall performance of the site and keep track of any issues.

Results:

A key figure that shows the sheer weight of sales generated from Camelot’s website is the increase in sales from interactive channels for 2006/7. Sales rose 35.3% on the previous year, from £214.8 million in 2005/6 to £290.8m in 2006/7, helping to boost returns to Good Causes to over £20 billion.

When Camelot first purchased the Gomez software, it helped identify a number of improvements that could be made to ensure a quality web experience. For example, one of the enhancements was to introduce ‘keep-alives’ during the HTTP session set-ups, because it was discovered that each player transaction or log-in to the website was generating around 120 different call set-ups. Instigating ‘keep-alives’ meant that Camelot ensured a substantially more stable web environment. This took a huge amount of load off the front end network equipment and produced a more stable, predictable response time.

As another example, Camelot found that the format of the content was not as efficient as it could be - a problem that could easily be fixed.

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Mike Pellett said: “We’re constantly looking at what we can do to improve the service we provide to our players. In the beginning, we used Gomez’s basic level Backbone monitoring to gain an idea of response times, but we needed a more in-depth view of the customer experience. After implementing Last Mile testing, we started using the dashboards so that we can have all of our tests on one monitoring screen. This is a great time-saver for our support teams and operators, as they can view all the information in a single place.

“But most importantly it’s helped us identify where we can make improvements to the website – and players now enjoy a more consistent experience. Even at our busiest times, for example in the run-up to the Saturday Lotto draw, players can now be confident that they will have the same experience on the site as they would at any other time.”

Camelot is exceeding its commitment to make the National Lottery website available at least 99% of the time. This is a target set by its regulator, the National Lottery Commission, and is reported on publicly in the Annual Report.

The next phase for Camelot is to roll out the service internally - and provide key personnel within the company with a better visibility of the product - via access to the Gomez portal. Camelot has also started to build in the ‘event’ alarms service, so that if response time drops below a certain level, an email makes them aware immediately of when the website slows down. This cuts down on time and manpower that would otherwise be wasted keeping a constant track of the website.

 David Flower, VP EMEA for Gomez said: “Camelot has established The National Lottery as an essential part of the fabric of UK society, and it is very exciting for us to be able to play a role in further enhancing the most successful interactive lottery in the world and supporting those all-important returns to Good Causes.”

Summary:

Gomez has provided an easy to use SaaS product suite for Camelot, which was implemented within just four weeks and supported by full support and training. Gomez’s web performance monitoring has played a part in ensuring a quality web experience for players using the National Lottery website. It highlighted several key improvements which were easily implemented and resulted in an improved experience for National Lottery interactive players.

 Camelot’s relationship with Gomez has been positive, contributing to a rise in National Lottery interactive sales of 35.3% to £290.8m in the financial year 2006/7. Camelot’s use of Gomez benchmark reports and testing has also contributed to achieving the target of making www.national-lottery.co.uk available for more than 99% of the time – which definitely isn’t down to luck alone.

SOURCE: Camelot Group plc.
CONTACT: Robert Byrne, Media Relations Manager, Camelot Group plc, Tel: 020 7632 5711, Fax: 020 7836 5971.

NZ Lotto’s July Winter Promotion

75 Winter Warmers Coming Your Way This Winter

NEW ZEALAND (July 8, 2007) -- It won’t be the cold that 75 lucky Triple Dip players remember when they look back on Winter 2007, after they win a share of $1.4 million in prizes in Lotto’s July Winter promotion.

All Lotto players who purchase a Triple Dip between Sunday 8 July, and 7pm, Saturday 21 July 2007, will go in to the draw to win one of 75 extra prizes in Lotto’s Winter Promotion draw, held on 21 July.

“This winter, we have another fabulous promotion for all those Lotto Triple Dip players, on top of the weekly Lotto, Powerball and Strike Four prize pool,” says NZ Lotteries’ Chief Executive, Todd McLeay.

“With 75 extra prizes being given away, worth over $1.4 million, Lotto is sure to help cure those winter blues.”

The 75 extra prizes include:

5 x Audi A4 Avant 3.2 FSi Quattro

10 x $30,000 holiday getaway packages

15 x $25,000 cash prizes

20 x Luxury Hot Spring spa pools

25 x Sony home entertainment systems

“It’s the time of the year when most New Zealanders are dreaming of a tropical holiday getaway, and the dream will become a reality for 10 lucky Winter promotion winners this July,” says Mr. McLeay.

“Plus, when luxury spa pools and brand new Sony home entertainment systems get delivered around the country this July, even some lucky friends and neighbours might get the chance to escape the cold - how great would that feel?” he adds.

Official promotion results will be available after 9pm on 21st July at: www.nzlotteries.co.nz.

For more information: Cheri Nelson, (04) 802 7095, 021 686 892, Email: cheri.nelson@nzlotteries.co.nz

Research Camp Adds States/Attendees

CHICAGO, Illinois, USA (July 11, 2007) -- The second annual Research Camp, developed by Independent Lottery Research (ILR), will be held July 16-17, 2007 at ILR’s offices in Chicago. Representatives from state and provincial lotteries, as well as private companies, will gather over two days to learn about innovative research techniques designed to maximize lottery sales and profits.

Seminar topics include: recent research on consumers’ reactions to privatization, how to

ensure that sampling gives an accurate picture of your audience, how to measure and involve young adults in lottery play, how best to use media in an ever changing media landscape, and a complete presentation on the most promising new method of researching and evaluating new games.

Matthew Smith, one of ILR’s Directors, will present the major findings of two years of ILR National Polls and discuss the findings by talking to both Joe (core players) and Jacks (infrequent, lapsed, and non players).

“Almost all the rhetoric surrounding the privatization debate raging in state capitals stems from perceptions of lottery sales and profit stagnation. ILR has found and reported on the potential inherent in existing lottery games among a much broader audience for the last two years. We will present data suggesting that lotteries have a bright future, a more profitable future, no matter who runs them,” said Smith.

Key advertising executives will continue the discussion from last year’s camp on how best to use research in marketing plans. The founder of Leo Shapiro & Associates, one of the leading consumer and product research companies in the world, a partner company of ILR, will again give his unique views on actionable research and the lottery business in a presentation that was the hit of last year’s conference.

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ILR Director and author of the Lottery Insights columns, Margaret Mueller, will explain how, and why, MAX-DIFF could revolutionize your new product plans. Mueller explained, “In many meetings over the last few years with lotteries and lottery vendors, I have heard horror stories of disastrous new game introductions. There are newer tools to mitigate the potential of months of planning and millions of dollars being wasted on the wrong product at the wrong time aimed at the wrong audience. I think all campers will leave this year’s convention with skill to avoid a reoccurrence of a failed product introduction and a means of organizing their instant products more rationally.”

Details on the camp’s schedule, attendees, and registration can be found at ILR’s website: www.ilresearch.com. Or contact Brooke Hendricks directly at: (312) 546.5925 x6 or brookeh@ilresearch.com.

Campers will also attend a rooftop Chicago Cubs game Monday night and perhaps see Major League baseball history made as the Cubs take on the San Francisco Giants and Barry Bonds seeks the home run title.

CONTACT: Brooke Hendricks, Independent Lottery Research, Email: brookeh@ilresearch.com, Phone: (312) 546.5925 x6