Pollard Banknote is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract to provide a full turnkey iLottery solution for the Kansas Lottery (“the Lottery”), powered by its proprietary, natively omnichannel Pollard Catalyst™ Gaming Platform (“the Platform”), which will begin generating revenue for the State of Kansas in early 2025.
Pollard Banknote has been a key player in iLottery since the inception of this channel in the United States, and in 2021 made a strategic decision to invest in its own end‐to‐end iLottery technology, beginning with the acquisition of the Next Generation Lotteries’ group of companies (“NGL”), formerly subsidiaries of Novomatic AG, one of the largest gaming technology companies in the world. This acquisition supplemented Pollard Banknote’s organic growth in the digital space with proven lottery technology, an experienced team of industry leaders, and significant software design and development resources. NGL was an iLottery pioneer in Europe and a trusted supplier since 1996 when it built the first‐ever e-commerce solution for a national lottery. Combining Pollard Banknote’s learnings from its decade of North America iLottery experience with NGL’s software and expertise, Pollard Banknote upgraded the technology to meet the latest standards as well as the needs of the U.S. market, culminating in the Pollard Catalyst™ Gaming Platform. The Platform is a fully cloud‐native, modular, and API‐first solution that is uniquely positioned to revolutionize the lottery gaming systems space by leapfrogging the competition. The Platform’s modern design easily integrates with other solutions, accelerates roadmap development, and enables cutting‐edge features such as fully automatic scalability with no constraints for jackpot runs.
Pollard Banknote’s history of iLottery success fuels its approach in Kansas. Pollard Banknote and its technology partner launched the Michigan Lottery’s iLottery program in 2014, which grew quickly to become, in 2020, the first in North America to exceed $1 billion in annual sales. Shortly after that program’s launch, Pollard Banknote formalized that partnership in a joint venture, NeoPollard Interactive LLC (“NPi”). NPi would ultimately launch four of the most profitable iLottery programs in the United States: Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, and New Hampshire, markets representing more than 70% of iLottery gross wagers in the United States, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC, a leading research and consulting firm in the global gaming industry.
Pollard Banknote’s state‐of‐the‐art iLottery solution offers the complete catalog of products and services required to run a modern iLottery program. At launch, it will initially enable players in Kansas to play popular draw‐based games including Powerball® and Mega Millions®, and eInstant games from the Pollard Digital Games Studio specifically customized for the Kansas market. Pollard Banknote’s robust Player Account Management system will provide the functionality required for registration, age and identity verification, wallet transactions, and responsible gaming features. Geolocation services will be provided through Pollard Banknote’s proprietary GeoLocs™ technology, among the most mature and reliable commercial solutions available today. GeoLocs™ has been implemented with over a dozen operators, including several lotteries in North America. Pollard Banknote will also provide a suite of business services to the Kansas Lottery including marketing, draw operations, risk management, and a player support center.
The Pollard Catalyst™ Gaming Platform will be fully integrated with the Lottery’s existing PlayOn® Player Loyalty Program, a Pollard Banknote proprietary loyalty solution. This integration offers a number of benefits that will ensure a strong launch of the program, including an established player base that already engages with the Lottery online. The included iLottery support services will help maximize returns to the State while operating within a responsible gaming framework.
Marketing support from Pollard Banknote’s experienced team will include providing insightful, data-driven recommendations for player acquisition and retention. Pollard Banknote’s Marketing Engagement Platform is powered by Bloomreach, a leader and visionary in the digital experience platform space, serving over 1400 global brands. The deep integration with Bloomreach, enabling lotteries to use real-time data to identify player actions in the moment to deliver highly personalized communications across both the loyalty and iLottery programs, sets Pollard Banknote apart from the competition in terms of marketing capabilities. This approach solidifies Pollard Banknote’s position as an iLottery leader that supports all the Lottery’s sales channels.
“These are exciting times for the Kansas Lottery and for Pollard Banknote. Our decades‐long relationship with the Lottery combined with our game‐changing Pollard Catalyst™ technology and what we believe is the strongest team in the industry will deliver the best player experience and is a winning combination for the Lottery and its players,” said Doug Pollard, Co‐Chief Executive Officer, Pollard Banknote. “We look forward to delivering an exceptionally strong iLottery program.”
The Pollard Catalyst™ Gaming Platform and the turnkey iLottery solution are provided to the Kansas Lottery following the exercise of an option under the Lottery’s existing Player Loyalty Program contract, which currently runs through October 31, 2026.