Behind the growth of its global lottery business, International Game Technology (IGT) boasted a solid first quarter of revenue.
The company reported $1.07 billion in Q1 revenue, up 1% from the first quarter of 2023.
That was aided by global lottery revenue being up 6% for the quarter, including global iLottery sales being up over 20%. North America plays a big role in that success as multiple states with online lotteries work with IGT.
With the success of the first quarter, IGT is raising its yearly financial expectations. IGT’s Chief Financial Officer Max Chiara detailed why lottery sales should continue to grow throughout 2024 during the quarterly investor call.
“The one thing that is more important to mention for lottery is the year over year, difference in the new game launch cadence. So last year (in Q1), we were on the verge of having launched new high-ticket games. So that initial momentum was very strong, obviously. This year, the launch cadence has a different tempo, and we expect that to happen later in the year.”
Following the Q1 results, IGT has increased its guidance for full-year revenue from hitting between $4.3-4.4 billion to now at least reaching $4.4 billion.
Cash Pop, iLottery growth leads to increased revenue
Global iLottery sales for IGT were up over 20%, led by success in the US market.
Overall lottery revenue reached $661 million in the quarter for IGT, up 6% from a year ago.
The lottery division of IGT has now seen revenue growth in six consecutive quarters.
Success in North America was driven by new game introduction, increased play frequency in many of the multistate draw games, and multichannel success.
Big jackpots came through at the end of March for both Mega Millions and Powerball.
IGT also has been able to expand on its Cash Pop, another multistate lottery draw game that gives players chances to win multiple times a day.
Cash Pop has been a big hit for IGT, recently expanding into Maryland in February and Michigan in April. The game is currently available in 13 states with Maine coming soon.
The draw game is held multiple times a day in a majority of the states. Most hold five drawings per day, while states like Kentucky and New Jersey hold over 300 a day.
“Cash Pop, a proprietary IGT draw-based game recently expanded to a 13th jurisdiction. The highly customized gameplay and multiple daily draw times creates an engaging player experience, which explains Cash Pop’s popularity and success in helping to drive lottery sales growth,” said IGT CEO Vince Sadusky during the call.
IGT recently received the “Lottery Product of the Year” award from ICE London 2024. The International Gaming Awards also recognized them for the same honor in February.
Everi merger won’t impact IGT lottery division
IGT is merging its gaming & digital division with Everi, another gaming service provider.
The merger should close in late 2024 or early 2025. However, the lottery division of IGT will not be impacted by this deal.
Everi will be rebranded as International Game Technology Inc. and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under “IGT.”
Image by PlayiLottery
Graphic from IGT
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