20 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 the vendors,” he said. “Portfolio management is so important and ticket printers have the data to help us with our planning. And they can provide us with information from lotteries across the world. How we work together, including management of our contracts, is critical to a healthy ongoing relationship.” As North Carolina’s primary instant game partner, Scientific Games is constantly looking for ways to responsibly drive sales and streamline the planning process, Jeremy said. “Portfolio management and optimization is a constantly evolving journey and lotteries should lean on their partners to guide them on that journey,” he said. “In North Carolina, for example, we set up games to have a conservative quantity at the start as we don’t want to over-produce a product and have it in-market longer than intended. We then work with Mark’s team to make sure there are no gaps, consider re-orders, and decide when to pull a ticket from the market. And the relationship between us and the lottery and our goals is outlined in our contract. We are aligned for growth. When the lottery does well, we do well. That seems to be the intelligent path for a successful partnership.” Matt continued on the contract discussion. “I think that lotteries that provide for secondary vendor contracts see great benefit because it allows innovation from a variety of sources,” he said. “At Pollard, we bring things to our clients, both primary and secondary, that have worked in other jurisdictions in the U.S. and around the world and show how they can be used in each lottery. We might have sales strategies that are different from the other printers but would work well in a certain jurisdiction. The more information a lottery can receive from different sources the better decisions that can be made that drive sales and revenue.” Ryan said that Texas has successfully employed the “all three” ticket vendor strategy and it has worked for them. “All three vendors come in and bring us all their best ideas, and we then pick which ones work for us irrespective of the vendor,” he said. “We weigh an array of different factors – licensed brands, printing innovations, product nuances, press availability. I’m not sure anyone can grow a category by leaving any ideas on the table which is why I like this model. We get the best ideas from the experts in the ticket printing field, and then we choose the ones that fit best with the needs of the Texas Lottery.” As someone who has worked for both vendors and lotteries, Tom brings a unique perspective to this type of discussion. “We’re a small industry so we can’t exclude anyone from business discussions because good ideas come from everywhere,” he said. “Look at the iLottery industry. They use different game developers to create different games with an array of play styles. Why can’t that model work for instant tickets? In the end, we need to listen to our players. We are wringing our hands because of the drop in sales of $1 and $2 tickets. Well, since our players are telling us they don’t necessarily support those price points, why continue to force the discussion on how to grow those sales? Let’s focus on providing players with the products they do want and support the retail network with the information they need to reach players and increase sales.” Mark wrapped up the discussion by harkening back to his opening comments. “Data, data and more data,” he said. “We can’t have enough data to make the decisions that are so critical to our businesses. And we can’t just look at the ‘easy’ data like pricepoints and game attributes. We need to look at seasonality and timing of releases. When to pull games and put others in their place. This can only be done by working with our printing partners who work with lotteries across the world. Once we have the data, we can make informed decisions and create balanced portfolios for the future. The success of our industry depends on all of us working together towards one common goal.” n “Let’s focus on providing players with the products they do want and support the retail network with the information they need to reach players and increase sales.” In her current role leading a team responsible for the development of IGT global marketing and communications strategies, Michelle also leads the management of IGT’s relationships with industry associations such as the World Lottery Association (WLA), the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) and European Lotteries (EL). Her contributions in this role have included helping to establish the framework for WLA partnerships between lotteries and vendors, and developing innovative concepts for retail and product execution through the North American and EL Design Partner Programs. She has served on numerous industry panels and committees, and collaborated with lotteries around the world on new game development efforts, new product introductions and market execution, as well as working with the late Buddy Roogow on industry monitor game and price-point innovation for U.S. draw games. “Michelle consistently brings her critical thinking ability and keen business acumen to industry executive-planning and decision-making sessions while masterfully delivering complex execution plans,” said Jay Gendron, IGT Chief Operating Officer Global Lottery. “She respects the diversity of competing perspectives and is tenacious about chasing the details to get the job done.” Before joining IGT (formerly GTECH) in 2000, Michelle began her career with Comcast Wachovia Center, working for the Philadelphia Flyers, and The Vanguard Group in Pennsylvania, followed by the Fleet Financial group. She was determined to succeed in what were then male-dominated business environments. Her early mentors taught her the importance of honesty, integrity, and perseverance, and she has always focused on understanding issues from the customer’s point of view as well as demonstrating sensitivity to the consumer journey. Michelle’s career in the lottery industry has truly grown from the ground up, starting with her earliest role as a senior market analyst at GTECH. By applying an entrepreneurial spirit of innovation and her commitment to building mutually beneficial, long-term business relationships, she contributed to the execution of the first in-lane solution in U.K., and, in 2005, the Florida Lottery’s terminal rollout retail-optimization plan and first digital signage implementation in the U.S.; led the development and execution team for Game Pro, a standalone system to test new monitor games, deployed in Rhode Island; the initial launch in Illinois of Pick n Play as a new category of instant online games; the execution of e-scratch in Kansas; and the launch of G3 (Generation 3) games, the precursor to today’s Fast Play games, in Minnesota. “Customer First is a core IGT belief that has always inspired me,” said Michelle, “and that is genuinely how I feel about what we do for lotteries and for the industry.” n Michelle Carney, continued from page 12
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