8 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 From the Publisher We look forward to seeing everyone at PGRI Lottery Expo Nashville (Sept. 11-13) and then NASPL Milwaukee (Oct. 30 to Nov. 1). For one thing, we are celebrating Michelle Carney, IGT and Jeanna King, Scientific Games for their selection by Rebecca Paul, president of the World Lottery Association and the Tennessee Lottery, and her lottery director colleagues to receive the Major Peter J. O’Connell Lottery Industry Lifetime Achievement Award. That will be at 4:30 pm Sept 12 at PGRI Lottery Expo Nashville. Then there is the ceremony to induct Sarah Taylor (Hoosier Lottery), Jennifer Welshons (Scientific Games), and Keith Cash (IGT) into the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame at NASPL Milwaukee at 2:00 pm. Nov. 1. See their bio’s on pages 10 and 12. Congratulations to all! I am so pleased that everyone is so excited about our focus on Artificial Intelligence as the theme for PGRI Lottery Expo. Only kidding, as I have had a little pushback on the basis that AI is not in widespread use within the lottery industry right now and that its future applications are uncertain. It is hard to argue with the fact that the future applications may be uncertain right now, but I still respectfully hold fast to the conviction that the impacts of AI will indeed be transformational and that the time to get clarity on the nature of those impacts and the power of AI, and how it will in fact apply to lottery … is now. I so appreciate the leadership of Drew Svitko (Exec Director Pennsylvania Lottery and Chair of MUSL’s Powerball Group) for exploring the ways in which Intelligent Systems will transform the way business and commerce are conducted, the way goods and services are produced, the way value is added, the way the consumer behaves, the way we live our lives, and what this all means to Team Lottery. Drew’s panel discussion kicks off PGRI Lottery Expo on Sept. 12. Intelligent Systems, predictive and data analytics and much more are already being applied within the lottery industry, but even these are merely setting the stage for the explosion of a new technological era that is in its infancy. The articles in this issue focus not on AI but on the ways our industry is positioning itself for the changes that technological innovation is changing our world. The impact of technological innovation is an old story that has been told before. And the rejoinder of “yes, but this is different” has also been voiced many times before. The difference now is not just in the scale and impact (which will be decisively bigger than anything that has preceded it) but the speed at which it will happen. Some of you know that I am not a technologist. So who am I to presume to render predictions with such conviction. Frankly, a science degree is not a prerequisite for studying the current literature on these topics. And that is what we are trying to do, i.e. study the ways in which the transformational impact that Intelligent Systems will have on the world and then, more importantly, how Team Lottery can harness the power of AI/ Intelligent Systems to preserve its place in the hearts and minds of the hundreds of millions of consumers it serves. A big theme of the feature interviews (Jean-Luc Moner-Banet, Moti Malul, Julian Tietz) in this issue is the importance of IT platforms that support the flexibility to integrate new technologies and solutions going forward. The somewhat over-wrought missive that “the pace of change has never been this fast, yet will never be this slow again” is more apt today than it was when it first appeared five years ago. That is why it is more important than ever to always be running the most advanced technologies, integrating the most effective solutions, and constantly evolving to maximize the value we deliver to players and to lottery stakeholders. We can be sure our competition in the other game categories will be doing everything they can to entice lottery players to come over to their space, and that will include applying the most advanced tools to appeal to the next generation of consumers. A little aside: A recent survey conducted by the Consulting and Research behemoth McKinsey & Company, encompassing 1,684 participants found that 79% of respondents acknowledged having some level of exposure to generative AI (like ChatGPT), and that 22% of the participants indicated that they have already integrated generative AI into their regular workflow. Of course, Gen AI is just one of countless AI tools being created as we speak. Forging the pathway forward that serves the stakeholders of Lottery is a team effort. Thank you for your support, for coming to Lottery Expo Nashville and NASPL Milwaukee, and for sharing your thoughts and insights with me and our audience. Paul Jason, Publisher Public Gaming International Magazine
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