42 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2022 IGT supports customers in every aspect of their instants business. Beyond game innovation and printing, IGT teams work with customers to assist with portfolio planning, ticket design, and prize-structure development, instants warehousing and distribution, marketing and inside sales/ordering, retail execution, research and analytics, and more. In preparing to release Infinity Instants™, the company made sure to give customers suggestions about field support and retail execution tailored to this new game type, drawing on IGT teams’ experience launching new products. “We recognized that players would be looking at something completely new and different when they first encounter an Infinity Instants™ game,” said Matt Benoit, Senior Account Manager Instant Ticket Printing and Services. “In some cases, the designs are so vivid and such a dramatic step forward that we knew players could wonder, ‘Is this an actual scratch ticket?’” Beginning with a soft-launch in Rhode Island, an IGT team worked with the Lottery to develop an informational sheet to be distributed to retailers and the sales force prior to launch, to prepare them for any questions from players. Four U.S. lotteries have now offered players an exciting new experience via Infinity Instants™ games. The creative freedom enabled by the technology also promises to revitalize the instants proposition. “At the first scratch, the innovation is so visible that it becomes a self-selling proposition,” observed Giancarlo Perrotta, IGT Vice President Global Instant Ticket Innovation. “If the product itself establishes the idea in consumers’ minds that lottery is doing something new and even better than they remember, then that supports engagement and repeat play. We’re just beginning to explore the potential. For example, our team is working on new play mechanics that have been impossible until now. This is a very exciting new technology, and each market execution is a step in helping our customers understand what a particular advancement could mean for product designers and our customers’ consumer segmentation planning.” The Rhode Island Lottery had an exciting idea for its Mythical 7s game, and Infinity Instants™ technology provided a creative set of paintbrushes that allowed the designer to vividly expand on it. Mythical 7s launched on July 31, 2021, with a print quantity of approximately one million tickets bearing 10 different scenes per pack of tickets on the front and back – a feat that is not possible on a ticket this size with traditional printing methods. Among many enhancements, the display graphics for Mythical 7s extend beneath the scratch-off coating, and the tickets feature vibrant and highly distinguishable game symbols. The capabilities of Infinity technology also eliminated the need for symbol captions, which take up valuable space on the ticket. Mythical 7s has had strong performance during the first few months on the market, even without additional marketing support for the game. Rhode Island An exciting concept for the Rhode Island Lottery’s Mythical 7s game (left) was enhanced further with the capabilities of Infinity Instants™ technology (9 of 10 scenes shown right). Success with Optimizing Infinity Instants
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