It’s been just over six months since the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) in Canada launched a new omni-channel gaming system in its mission to offer players in four Canadian provinces a unified gaming experience across multiple gaming channels—and early results are proving the Lottery’s technology strategy was right on.
The new gaming system from Scientific Games went “live” in early fall of 2017, supporting traditional lottery retail, and mobile and internet gaming sales in the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island and is already producing results.
From mid-September 2017 to the end of March 2018, ALC’s eCommerce active player base increased by more than 56%, and eCommerce sales were up more than 40% versus just a 5% sales increase in the same period the year prior. The growth is a strong testament to players’ reaction to the seamless play experience.
“We wanted to stay competitive in the Canadian gaming marketplace, and our new gaming system allows us to be nimble and continually bring fresh content to our players,” says Brent Scrimshaw, President and CEO of Atlantic Lottery Corporation. “We’re now managing a portfolio of gaming entertainment products that can keep pace with the ever-changing consumer.”
Player Account Management
Using one wallet, ALC players enjoy a convenient, seamless gaming environment for draw games, digital instant games (often called einstants), iBingo and sports wagering. It’s all possible through the Lottery’s new Player Account Management System.
Scientific Games’ AEGIS® gaming system and Sciplay® iLottery platform are key components of the technology involved, allowing secure integration of Scientific Games content and third-party content.
“Sciplay is the central hub for our single account/single wallet solution integrating a variety of iLottery products and platforms from various third party vendors,” says Joey Cormier, Director of Marketing, iLottery for ALC. “The platform integrates well with our new mobile-responsive customer portal and mobile apps. Our ability to launch new games has improved in both speed and cost.”
Speed to Market Matters
The new digital instants are off to a wildly successful start. In fact, the $3.6 million (CAD) the Lottery projected for the first year of digital instant sales was surpassed in just 16 weeks. With 20 digital instants offered initially, the product category was immediately popular with players. A social media ad campaign has launched to promote the games.
“Now that we have established our new omni-channel system in the marketplace, the foundation is there for us to continue to grow product categories like digital instant and draw games,” says Scrimshaw.
In addition to the new digital instant game program featuring instant games played via mobile and internet, ALC launched three all-new draw games, Daily Grand, Poker Lotto and Lotto 4.
“The quick-to-market launch of these three new draw games on the new system is unprecedented and demonstrates our ability to launch games with much more agility,” says Scrimshaw. “Poker Lotto sales have doubled our expectations in the first few months.”
ALC teams and product managers are monitoring sales analytics and planning ahead to add to and improve the selection of games offered based on consumer response.
Sports Betting & Cross-Channel Marketing
“It’s exciting that through this new, advanced systems technology, ALC can continue to grow responsibly by offering all kinds of new content and experiences to their players,” says Pat McHugh, Senior VP, Global Lottery Systems for Scientific Games. “Although we are the Lottery’s primary gaming partner, they can securely add content from third-party providers.”
And it’s about to get even more exciting. Through Scientific Games’ early 2018 acquisition of NYX Gaming Group, both the digital and the sports betting content offered by the company has expanded to a much broader offering—supported by Scientific Games’’ world-class lottery gaming systems technology.
“ALC players were already experiencing one of the best sports platforms in the world with NYX’s OpenBet™ platform, and we are delighted to now have OpenBet in the Scientific Games’ product portfolio so we can work with ALC to bring the next generation of sports betting to ALC,” says McHugh.
The lottery, which has always been a strong advocate of responsible gaming, also plans to introduce some additional responsible gaming features through its new Player Account Management system.
ALC’s new systems launch is part of a five-year contract awarded to Scientific Games. McHugh says the company is working closely with ALC to enhance the Lottery’s strategic marketing plan and game innovation across its entire consumer network—retail and eCommerce.
Since the 1990s, Scientific Games has provided products and services to ALC to help drive proceeds to its beneficiaries. The company has a highly experienced team based at the Lottery’s headquarters in Moncton, New Brunswick.
“We applaud ALC’s strategic vision for their players to have an omni-channel experience, and we could not be more honored that ALC chose Scientific Games technology to make their vision a reality,” says McHugh.