The Pennsylvania Lottery has announced a finalized contract agreement that ensures Scientific Games Corp., the company that implemented the state lottery’s iLottery system, will continue to provide iLottery technology, online and mobile games, as well as services and support to the Pennsylvania Lottery for seven years. Additionally, three one-year renewal options are available to Scientific Games to continue the agreement in the future.
Scientific Games already provides Pennsylvania’s instant lottery games and retail technology. The tools and knowledge imparted by Scientific Games have helped Pennsylvania rank among the 10 best performing lotteries in the United States and among the top 20 worldwide, according to La Fleur’s Almanac.
Lottery contract details
The contract provides that Scientific Games will deliver implementation, operations, maintenance and support services. This includes iLottery and web applications alongside the Pennsylvania Lottery’s web-based presence. Beyond these services, Scientific Games delivers responsible gambling tools for problem gamblers. It also offers a robust customer relationship management software suite, and the resources needed to deliver on customer expectations and expand engagement opportunities online. There will be an affiliate program for Pennsylvania Lottery retailers to take advantage of, as well. Pennsylvania has over 9,800 lottery retailers throughout the state. These retailers are incentivized for every player they register for the state’s iLottery program.
The Pennsylvania iLottery has endured as the most commercially successful online/mobile lottery game offering in North America since its launch in May of 2018. In just one year, the Pennsylvania iLottery amassed a sales record of $342 million (May 2019 sales figures). The tally climbed even further to $642 million by December 2019. The iLottery offers many popular games that follow traditional casino game themes and modern pop-culture motifs. Some of its most successful titles include Monster Wins, Foxin’ Wins and Volcano Eruption, and Grumpy Cat™.
Pennsylvania Lottery growth
Drew Svitko, the Pennsylvania Lottery executive director, praised the iLottery’s success, saying, “Our iLottery games have proven a fun, new way to play the Pennsylvania Lottery. Selling lottery online is a big part of our effort to modernize the lottery, appeal to new customers and meet our players where they already are, which is online, while generating new funds to benefit older Pennsylvanians. Sales of these new digital products as well as sales for our instant and draw-based games at Pennsylvania Lottery retailers grew beyond all expectations over the last year.”
With the iLottery’s record-breaking sales, the Pennsylvania Lottery enjoyed more than $4.5 billion in total sales for the fiscal year of 2018-19. The vast majority of those sales came from instant scratch games, which provided $3 billion in revenue. These revenues contributed more than $1 billion to benefit older Pennsylvanians for the eighth consecutive year.
On the topic of the newly finalized contract, Scientific Games’ chief lottery executive Pat McHugh said, “We thank the Pennsylvania Lottery for its trust in our iLottery technology, games and expertise to drive the most profits for programs benefiting older Pennsylvanians. Beyond the tremendous growth of instant and draw games, our iLottery partnership has generated significant incremental revenue. Scientific Games will continue to invest in innovation that keeps the Lottery relevant to consumers, and ultimately maximizes its returns to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
