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European Gaming Congress 2024

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Scientific Games’ SCiQ Ecosystem Is Revolutionizing Retail

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Scientific Games set out to solve the fundamental problem that plagues the growth of the $45 billion lottery instant game industry. The company has innovated a retailer-friendly industrial solution to selling instant games. Its new SCiQ™ ecosystem eliminates accounting headaches, prevents theft and improves product promotion for retailers through the use of highly advanced technology.

Scientific Games decided that the issues the lottery industry is facing with retailers are not going to get fixed at an industrial level until we wrap technology around the products. That’s what we did,” stated Jim Kennedy, EVP, Group Chief Executive, Lottery at Scientific Games.

SCiQ solves the accounting and branding problems associated with how instant games are currently sold. “It takes away the major pain points, improves the technology, and dramatically enhances the aesthetic execution—the branding. It allow us—the collective industry—to treat the lottery as a media channel,” he added. “Lottery touches 70% of the adult population on an annual basis. It gathers people together in a community. But lottery as a retail product category has been slowed down and inhibited because of its inability to be properly executed.”

SCiQ is a dispensing robot—a retail brainiac—that monitors all activity associated with selling instant games. “SCiQ provides insight, visibility and data for lotteries to better understand what the product is doing at every retailer,” stated Randall Lex, Director, Program Development at Scientific Games. “It allows us to reach new players through both mobile and brick-and-mortar, provide a better in-store retail experience, and attract new retailers that have stayed away from lottery products due to the laborious operational requirements. The SCiQ ecosystem will allow us to expand lottery’s footprint in areas that are vastly underserved, and attract new players who don’t come in contact with lottery today.”

The ecosystem starts with a SCiQ bin dispensing system that can sit on, in, under or beside a retailer counter to display instant games. Each individual game is assigned a number. The customer can pre-order games using a mobile app, or just tell the clerk. Then the games automatically dispense, and the retailer collects the payment. Behind the scenes, two separate data streams simultaneously track game sales and reconcile game sales.

There are two very different data paths within the SCiQ ecosystem that converge to provide enhanced overall insights,” said Kennedy. “The first is the game information path, which is Scientific Games’ MAP™ System Analysis Insight data. The second path is the transaction details at the single game level for the supply chain, which includes the retailer’s shift accounting and approvals.”

Scientific Games currently is working with the 7-Eleven, Circle K, Kroger and Big Apple retail chains on pilot tests of SCiQ. “Circle K runs in multiple regions; their Southeast region is running the pilot now in North Carolina, and soon in South Carolina and Georgia. In Ohio, the pilot is running with Kroger,” said Lex. “In Maine, we are working with Big Apple.”

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Kennedy added that “The Texas Lottery has been supportive with the process of getting 7-Eleven up and running with the pilot. Another major U.S. lottery is engaged with SCiQ at retail. Initially, we are intentionally very focused on a few key retailer relationships. It’s really important for us that the retailers are advocates of SCiQ, especially the key retailer relationships that we have developed over the years.”

It’s too early to do an in-depth analysis on the SCiQ pilots. “At participating retailers in Maine, we saw significant increases over the same period last year, in addition to operational efficiencies and full bins. At Circle K in North Carolina, instant game sales are up almost 20% over the same period last year. The only thing that changed at Circle K is the way games are displayed using the SCiQ system, and the instant game product is now front and center when you walk into the store. At Kroger, SCiQ systems were added to new distribution points within the store, augmenting the existing vending solution.”

What we are doing is improving retailers’ financial performance by providing technology that saves them money,” added Kennedy. “The initial results show that the technology generates higher sales for retailers because of better execution, and gives the lottery transparency into the transactions. It’s hard to overstate this.”

Kennedy said a reality in the lottery business is that once a $300 pack of instant games is activated, it is cash. “Then, the retailer’s job is to manage risk —which becomes operationally complex.”

This puts a huge security burden on the 219,000 retailers that sell lottery games in the U.S. today. Scientific Games’ VP Retail Sales Development Jeff Sinacori ran the most successful lottery retailer outlet in New York before he sold the enterprise and joined Scientific Games. Jeff has spent the last 12 years working with lottery retailers to improve their sales through the firm’s SalesMaker™ program.

As a retailer, I had a lot of loss and theft within my business—not only of tickets and cash, but also with my employees scratching game tickets, and fishing to try to win medium prizes of $100,” said Sinacori. “Overall, theft of lottery games accounts for $900 million a year in lost revenues just in the U.S. It’s a huge number. The more high-priced games a lottery offers, the more that number grows. It is big money. We needed to solve this issue and finally, we have a highly advanced technology-based solution.”

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Kennedy said the $900 million represents about 2% of total instant game sales. “Plus, lotteries probably spend about 1% to keep this number at 2%. Unburdening the retailers of these operating challenges is key to improving their financial performance. That’s why SCiQ is so revolutionary.”


Source: European Gaming Media and Events

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What makes Turbo Games’ provably fair games so special?

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A partnership between game developer Turbo Games and iGaming solution provider and aggregator Slotegrator began in November 2022 via the APIgrator game integration solution. Since then, the collaboration has been developing successfully — and now it’s time to analyze what made it successful.

Turbo Games has noticed how the new technologies spreading throughout the industry can work for the good of brand transparency and player loyalty: “We can already see how blockchain technology has made it possible to make betting checks more accessible to players. All you need is a blockchain-hash and a decoder service. We think we will continue to move in this direction. Many traditional online casinos do not offer the possibility to check the bet. Sooner or later we all have to come to this. Perhaps the development of artificial intelligence will help here, because we are already seeing its involvement in all spheres of human life.”

Turbo Games specializes in provably fair games. Provable fairness is a concept where players can verify their wins or losses using blockchain technology — the outcome of the game is dictated by a smart contract and is absolutely random, barring the possibility of any human involvement. Using cryptographic hashing algorithms, the gambling site and the player’s device both generate seeds (random strings of numbers). Players receive a key that allows them to check the results; if the results are the same as the game round they witnessed, it proves that there was no foul play.

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According to statistics from Turbo Games, the audience for provably fair games is mostly between 18 and 25 years old. However, there are also players aged 35-40 who prefer traditional games but would like to try something new, and have turned their attention to provably fair games.

There are good odds that the technology of provably fair games will become more popular, if not even commonplace, because it gives players a feeling of transparency and proves that the business is trustworthy without the need to search through dozens of reviews. Whereas many innovations in iGaming simply add entertainment, provable fairness addresses security concerns and reassures players that they’re not being exploited, which is invaluable.

Provably fair games are beneficial for both players and online casinos. Vadim Potapenko, Head of Sales at Turbo Games, comments: “It often happens that the users are not satisfied with the result, because gambling is not only about big wins, but also possible losses. By allowing them to check the fairness of a bet, we make life easier for platforms and players. Of course, this allows us to communicate with partners and users that we work honestly and that’s why they should trust our games.”

Ayvar Gabidullin, Business Development Manager at Slotegrator, adds that “this type of game is now becoming more and more popular and has great potential for both players and game providers in the future. On the part of the player, the advantage is that the player can always be sure that his game is fair and he can independently check any of his bets. And for the game provider, this also simplifies the process of implementing casino games, since now it will not be necessary to obtain the appropriate certificates from independent laboratories before launching new games, they can immediately enter the market with these games and where anyone can check the result and make sure that that there is no cheating with players. Many game providers are starting to look towards this type of game. And as far as I see, many operators are starting to think about adding these games.”

What do players in 2023 need? The iGaming industry is all about reputation and trust. Players have a huge number of platforms to choose from, making them pickier and pickier. There’s an abundance of forums where players leave reviews, so if players view a brand as untrustworthy, there are plenty of places they can share their opinion. Provable fairness not only stops that from happening, it provides evidence to the contrary, giving players something else to talk about.

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Slotegrator also recommends investing time and effort into localization and creating an effective and detailed marketing strategy — before trying provably fair technology players need to get to the platform, and there is no acquisition without marketing.

 

 ABOUT SLOTEGRATOR

Since 2012, Slotegrator has been one of the iGaming industry’s leading software and business solution providers for online casino and sportsbook operators.

The company’s main focus is software development and support for online casino platforms, as well as the integration of game content and payment systems.

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The company works with licensed game developers and offers a vast portfolio of casino content: slots, live casino games, poker, virtual sports, table games, lotteries, casual games, and data feeds for betting.

Slotegrator also provides consulting services in gambling license acquisition and business incorporation.

More information: https://slotegrator.pro/

 

ABOUT TURBO GAMES

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Turbo Games — a provably fair games provider that belongs to Turbo Stars company — has an ambitious goal to establish widespread recognition throughout the iGaming world. Even though it is young, the company consists of professionals who have been working on the brand for over five years and are even planning to introduce a new brand for a wider audience soon.

Turbo Games also works in Europe, India, and South Africa, where the company sees the most potential and expects the same “hype” as in Brazil.

The portfolio of Turbo Games consists of 21 titles, including well-known games like Mines, Crash X, DoubleRoll, Hi-Lo, and Plinko. The studio releases a game every month. However, not all games are developed from scratch. Wicket Blast and Spin Strike, the last two releases, are based on cricket and the Indian Premier League. Crash X remains the most popular fast game in the Turbo Games portfolio, and the studio reports that crash games enjoy stable levels of popularity. Overall, the main focus of the brand is provably fair games.

More information: https://turbogames.io/

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Games Factory Talents has teamed up with Nordic Game to bring you Nordic Game Talents.

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Looking to take your career to the next level in the games industry? Then, Nordic Game Talents is the place to be! Games Factory Talents has teamed up with Nordic Game to bring you Nordic Game Talents.

From Oct 27-29, the online and interactive event is dedicated to recruitment and career building in the creative & games industry within the Nordic region. The event empowers participants to be part of a bigger community and motivates them to explore new paths in achieving their career goals.

Hiring creative & games studios – Supercell, Funcom, Panzerdog, Tactile Games, Gamecan, Fingersoft, Dazzle Rocks, Redhill Games to name a few from the Nordic region will be participating in the event. These studios will share information on their latest projects, work culture and what it takes to be part of their team. The individual games associations from Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Estonia will share insights through live sessions on the booming games industry in their respective countries. Career development topics pertinent to job seekers like – How to have a successful first interview, Creative Portfolio reviews will also be discussed.

Experienced game industry professionals and individuals beginning their careers from around the world are welcome to join the event. One-to-one interviews with the hiring studios can be scheduled through the event platform. A great opportunity to get to know the studios and network with game professionals from around the world.

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Participating in the event

As a job seeker attending Nordic Game Talents, take a few minutes to fill out a simple registration form. After filling the registration form you will receive a link to the online event platform – PINE, to join the event on 27th October. Participants joining Nordic Game Talents will also receive a free-of-charge pass to the Nordic Game Conference.

To view the complete agenda, please click here and to learn more about the event please visit Games Job Fair

About Games Factory Talents

A Helsinki-based talent attraction agency dedicated to the games & creative industry. Our services include direct recruitment, organizing game job fairs and managing a community of game industry professionals through our GameDev Talent Board.

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To learn more about Games Factory Talents visit – Games Factory Talents

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810 THE SPREAD

Cumulus Media Launches 810 THE SPREAD, the Bay Area’s First Sports Station Focused on Sports Betting

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Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) announces that it has launched the Bay Area’s first Sports radio station focused on sports betting, 810 THE SPREAD. The new station brings sports and sports betting news, information, and insights to the burgeoning and underserved sports betting audience in San Francisco. 810 THE SPREAD will deliver behind-the-book perspectives from experts in a highly entertaining and engaging format. 810 THE SPREAD goes live today on the legendary 810am frequency that has been the 80-year home of historic Talk Radio KGO-AM. Cumulus San Francisco also launched the station’s new website at www.810thespread.com. Kevin Graham, Program Director of Cumulus’ sister sports stations KNBR 680AM/104.5FM and 1050 KTCT, adds Program Director duties for 810 THE SPREAD.

Larry Blumhagen, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus San Francisco, said: “810 THE SPREAD joins our sports brands KNBR 680AM/104.5FM and 1050 KTCT for a trifecta of dynamic sports content across four signals and streaming everywhere. We are excited about this new chapter and look forward to serving the Bay Area’s passionate sports fans in an incomparable way.”

Blumhagen added: “This is a bittersweet day for us, as it’s hard to say goodbye to the legendary KGO, which has been a part of listeners’ lives for so many years. We want to thank all the people who have been a part of KGO’s historic run these many years – and the listeners who loyally tuned in to the station. Times change, and we must change with them.”

Kevin Graham, Program Director, 810 THE SPREAD, said: “810 THE SPREAD will be the Bay Area’s best bet for sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts, and we are pleased to introduce sports-betting radio to our community. The station will feature a lineup of expert personalities that deliver unique sports talk and sports betting insights that entertain, inform, and engage, along with Cal Football and Basketball as well as select professional and college sports play-by-play events. While 810 THE SPREAD will feature specific gambling information, we believe our entertaining presentation will make it a favorite for all Bay area sports fans and a perfect complement to the legendary KNBR and KTCT. With its addition, it truly shows Cumulus’ commitment to the Bay area as ‘The Sports Leader’!”

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The weekday programming lineup for 810 THE SPREAD includes:

6am-9am – Bet QL Daily – The must-consume show for sports fans and betting fans alike. Hosted by Joe Ostrowski, Joe Giglio, and Erin Hawksworth.

9am-12pm – Jim Rome - Aggressive, informed sports opinions, rapid-fire dialogue, and plenty of sports smack. As one of the most prolific sports talk hosts in America, Rome draws massive tune-in with legions of fans known as clones, who live for Rome’s take on the day’s largest issues in sports.

12pm-4pm – You Better You Bet – Nick Kostos and Ken Barkley have you covered for the best bets on the biggest matchups, the latest line movement and updates in the futures market. We’ll have up-to-the-minute coverage of backdoor covers and bad beats, and the cheers and tears that come with them. It’s sports betting conversation like you’ve never heard before.

4pm-8pm – Bet MGM Tonight – Live sports betting updates for all the night’s games as they happen – plus live “look-ins” for Major League Baseball games in progress. Get the latest scores, sides, totals, props, parlays, futures, and much more with hosts Quinton Mayo, Trysta Krick, and Ryan Horvat.

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8pm-12 Midnight – CBS Sports Radio

BetQL Network programming is provided by Cumulus Media’s Westwood One through a partnership with Audacy.

For more information or to stream 810 THE SPREAD, visit: http://www.810thespread.com.

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