Public Gaming International May/June 2020

72 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MAY/JUNE 2020 deliver a seasonal game that created a spark with players,” explains Jon Drysdale, Head of Product at IWG. “We saw tremendous success with our Jungle Payout game in Michigan, setting and holding records for many months after its launch. We decided it was worth our effort to build a holiday game with Jungle Payout’s mechanic. "Frosty Fun proved to be very popular with players. In fact, with Michigan’s impressive track record, we’re proud to say was the best-selling holiday game in the history of the Michigan’s iLottery program." Obviously, holiday games have a shorter selling window than your typical iLottery game. Committing resources to build such a powerful game that only lives for a few weeks during the year would assumingly be a hard pill to swallow from a game studio point of view. However, not the case for IWG, as Fisher explains. “Yes, the time and energy to build a powerful game takes time and investment. Frankly, a few years ago, such an exercise for our organization may have been dif cult. However, as we have grown and our Lottery partner list has increased, we know we can take shots like this because Since that integration, IWG has launched the majority of content for Michigan Lottery. Shannon DeHaven, Michigan Lottery’s Director of Digital Operations, touches on the importance of having an additional iLottery games supplier. "IWG’s content has steadily innovated over the years, which has been shown in their growing market share. They help us deliver games to our players every two weeks, which has really proven to be a sweet spot for our launch cadence, and really emulated throughout the industry as best practice." One of the most recent IWG successes in Michigan was to help deliver a string of holiday games in the run up to a festive season. While a launch every two weeks is a sweet spot for Digital Instants, introducing a urry of content on a weekly schedule for speci c periods of the year can be a real boost. In Michigan, they typically launch one game per week for a 4-week period during the holidays. This year, three of the four holiday games were provided by IWG, led by Frosty Fun, the latest concept from the IWG studio. “In our planning session with the Lottery, we wanted to IWG CEO, Rhydian Fisher, is proud of its success in the US market and beyond. “We have partnered with 21 WLA/ NASPL clients on a global level, giving us broader reach than any other supplier in the Lottery landscape,” Fisher says. “While we’re delighted of our market penetration, it’s more than just ags on a map. It’s really about the learnings that can only be had through real market experience. Future clients can greatly bene t from our expertise from a strategic point of view and our games are only getting better with this experience.” MICHIGAN LOTTERY EXPERIENCE Rick Weil, has over 20 years’ experience in the Lottery industry and is considered an expert in the space. He spent some time with Instant Win Gaming (IWG), leading digital instant supplier, to find out how IWG is a driving force in the online lottery market. IWG - BUILDING ILOTTERY INSTANTWINPROGRAMS THATWORK BYRICKWEIL IWG launched the rst remote game server in the US with Michigan Lottery in 2016. At this point, we all know that the Michigan Lottery set the bar for US iLottery success. The strategies that support its iLottery program have become best practice for those who aim to follow in their steps in the Internet Lottery space. Pennsylvania Lottery was the rst Lottery to really take hold of these best practices that were learned in Michigan and drive their iLottery program to great heights. Great partners, too, are obviously major reasons why a Lottery succeeds in the internet Lottery space. When one thinks of Pennsylvania, Scienti c Games comes to mind. Same for Michigan, with NeoPollard a driving force. What may not be as well- known in the industry is that IWG is the common thread in the successful Pennsylvania and Michigan iLottery programs. The third-party game supplier works with both lotteries daily, collectively delivering over 100 games to both iLottery behemoths.