47 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2025 "IGT has been committed to bringing best-inclass lottery solutions to the Tennessee Education Lottery since its inception," said Jay Gendron, IGT Chief Operation Officer, Global Lottery. "Through this nine-year contract extension, we are excited to bring new technological upgrades to the Lottery, providing them the systems and equipment needed to drive performance for its players and the good causes it serves in the state." The upgraded technology will provide the TEL with intuitive, user-friendly applications, tools, and reporting capabilities. Components of the central system, including Performance Wizard, Sales Wizard, Learning Wizard, and Retailer Wizard will streamline operations for optimal functionality. The introduction of IGT's high-performance, high-volume Retailer Pro S2 terminals with WinCheck S2 peripherals will enable the TEL to easily add new features across multiple point-of-sale terminals simultaneously and allow players to quickly and reliably see if they are draw game or instant ticket winners. IGT Achieves Improved ESG Score from FTSE Russell IGT Reaffirms Responsible Gaming Leadership in Italy with Sixth Consecutive European Lottery Recertification Lottery-Ticket Purchases at Checkout Make Iowa Debut at Fareway Stores Powerball® and Mega Millions® tickets can now be purchased in checkout lanes at select Fareway® Stores in Iowa, marking the state debut of this new convenience in lottery purchases. The new purchase process allows the printing of easy-pick tickets in Powerball and Mega Millions at the cash register. The tickets involved are produced on the same paper as store receipts, but printed separately. Called Easy Play, this new purchase option from the Iowa Lottery debuted Feb. 24 in select Fareway stores and is planned to roll out by the end of March to all Fareway locations in Iowa that sell lottery tickets. Customers at those stores will be able to buy easy-pick tickets (meaning the numbers in the play are randomly assigned) in Powerball and Mega Millions in any checkout lane staffed by a cashier. Prior to this month’s debut of Easy Play, Iowa Lottery tickets could only be purchased at a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk in a retail location. “Think of Easy Play as an express lane while the lottery terminal provides a full-service approach for all lottery products,” said Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn. “We recognize consumer expectations for convenience and are thrilled to work with a partner like Fareway to deliver that experience.” Mike McCormick, Chief Retail Officer with Fareway Stores, Inc., said his company welcomes the new option. “We are excited to partner with the Iowa Lottery to be the first retailer in the state to provide customers with the convenience of Easy Play,” McCormick said. “At Fareway, the customer experience is a top priority and adding Easy Play will elevate that experience for our lottery playing customers.” The Easy Play process allows customers at the cash register to buy easy-pick tickets with 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 plays for the next drawing in Powerball and Mega Millions. Easy Play tickets do not allow the Power Play®, Double Play® or Megaplier® options to be added and are not available at selfservice checkouts. Strawn said that development and implementation of the Easy Play technology has been a years-long endeavor for the Iowa Lottery. He emphasized that Easy Play tickets adhere to the same exacting security standards as those from a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk. And, any Fareway cash registers utilized for Easy Play transactions ensure that lottery purchases are made with cash or the equivalent, not credit. Easy Play tickets can be checked or cashed at any retail location in Iowa. Tickets printed from a store’s cash register look similar to those from a lottery terminal, but feature the Easy Play logo to help identify them. And as with tickets from a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk, excessive heat or light can damage Easy Play tickets. The technology that allows Iowa Lottery tickets to be printed from cash registers in Fareway stores involves technology from three distinct platforms: the statewide central gaming system that provides and tracks Iowa Lottery sales transactions in realtime; the point-of-sale system utilized at Fareway store cash registers; and a systems communications bridge that securely links the two. The systems bridge is provided through a technical partnership with ABACUS. Using the North American State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) API, the ABACUS Fusion Platform has been integrated with the lottery’s central gaming system provided by Scientific Games to enable in-lane sales of the two major national lottery games. ABACUS, in conjunction with its retail vendor partners, has built the connectivity that facilitates the sale of lottery tickets on the retailers’ pointof-sale systems. This solution enables the quick and seamless deployment of lottery products into retail. Simon Butler, the CEO of ABACUS said, “We are pleased to be working with the Iowa Lottery and Fareway Stores who will be the first U.S. lottery and grocer, and among the first in North America, to adopt this print-on-receipt lottery solution. ABACUS are innovators in the lottery industry and help lead the U.S. lottery market in improving retail lottery operations.” Scientific Games, the Iowa Lottery’s systems and retail point-of-sale technology provider, worked with the Lottery and Abacus to connect the solution to its central gaming system. Pollard Banknote maintains efficiency to break FY24 targets Pollard Banknote Limited (TSX: PBL) (“Pollard”) released its financial results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024. Full Year 2024 Results and Highlights • Established a new record for revenue at $557.1 million, up 7.1% from last year. • Combined sales(1) in the year, including our share of NPi’s joint venture sales, attained $665.9 million, up 10.9% from $600.6 million in 2023. • Net income was $35.2 million, an increase of $3.8 million or 12.1% over $31.4 million earned in 2023. • Adjusted EBITDA(1) achieved a record annual amount of $114.5 million, $23.2 million or 25.4% higher than the previous year. • Income from operations reached $69.8 million, up $23.8 million or 51.7% from the previous year. • Instant ticket margins increased throughout 2024 due to the ongoing impact of increased selling prices due to the success in repricing our contracts as they came up for rebid. The effect of repriced contracts had increasing impact during 2024 and the full effect will be reflected in 2025. • During 2024 we were awarded our first U.S. contract for our CatalystTM iLottery solution with the Kansas Lottery and subsequent to year end, on February 13, 2025 the solution successfully went live. • Our joint venture iLottery operations generated very strong results in comparison to last year, contributing $59.3 million in combined income before income taxes in 2024, 20.8% higher than the $49.1 million earned in 2023. • Expanded our product offerings with the acquisition of Clarence J. Venne, LLC during the year, a leading manufacturer of bingo daubers primarily used in the charitable gaming market. (1) See Non-GAAP measures for explanation Fourth Quarter Results and Highlights • Revenue reached $140.3 million, up 3.5% from the fourth quarter of last year. • Combined sales(1) in the quarter, including our share of our NeoPollard Interactive LLC (“NPi”) joint venture sales, reached $168.2 million, up 6.9% from $157.3 million in 2023. - 2 - • Adjusted EBITDA(1) attained $25.2 million, similar to the $25.7 million earned in the fourth quarter of 2023. • Adjusted EBITDA was negatively impacted during the quarter due to manufacturing issues related to our instant ticket production causing higher spoilage on certain large games. • Production volume of instant tickets during the fourth quarter was lower than the previous quarters in 2024 based on a lower order pattern typically experienced in the fourth quarter. “2024 was a very successful year for Pollard Banknote, not only through reaching a number of record financial results, but also with the achievement of a number of critical business milestones,” remarked John Pollard, Co-Chief Executive Officer. “Our core instant ticket business increased its margin significantly compared to 2023 as the success of our instant ticket repricing strategy continued to be reflected in our financial
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