"Scratch-offs continue to be the area where we believe significant growth will occur," said Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Tom Delacenserie. "We'll continue our focus on new product launches including a second $30 Scratch-off, increasing marketing and media support, and maximizing operational and field efficiencies through best practices. We'll also continue our work to expand awareness on the positive effects Lottery proceeds have on education in the Commonwealth, as this is a great story to tell and one in which we take immense pride."
New investors include PROOF and gaming industry veteran Gavin Isaacs. Existing investors BlueRun Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Conductive Ventures, DCM Ventures, Digital Currency Group, former NBA Commissioner David Stern and Subversive Capital also participated
Olli Sarekoski, Veikkaus President and CEO: ”Veikkaus’ year 2019 had a good start in terms of business. The result was affected especially by a Lotto jackpot, which rolled over for six weeks in a row. February also brought with it the biggest jackpot won in Lotto’s entire history, EUR 15.5 million.
"Our results for the quarter were in line with our guidance, driven by solid participation revenue, growth in Virtual Sports, and reduced overhead expenses," said Lorne Weil, Executive Chairman of Inspired Entertainment. "Most importantly, our high-margin Virtual Sports business, which includes Interactive, delivered a great underlying performance, increasing 11.0% on a functional currency basis."
Barry Cottle, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scientific Games, said, "We are incredibly proud that we have continued to build on our momentum and are looking forward to the year ahead. We are focused on effectively operating our businesses, reducing costs and building upon the strong foundation for profitable growth that we see today. Last week, we successfully took SciPlay public as a new company, which accelerates our ability to pay down debt. All of these actions support our steadfast commitment to smartly grow our business, drive free cash flow and create meaningful value for our stakeholders."
INTRALOT Group Chairman & CEO Sokratis P. Kokkalis noted: “The reported revenue and earnings contraction during 2018 points to the need for a wide re-organization of our production and operational capabilities towards significant cost reductions and operational efficiencies. This is why we recently conducted a management reshuffle in order to design and implement a new cost-reduction plan through better synergies between divisions and between headquarters and subsidiaries. I am personally committed and focused on our mission to best address the needs of our clients and to improve the cash flow generation of our business through a combination of new business and organic growth opportunities, coupled with cost optimization, while continuing disinvestments from non-core assets when market conditions are favorable.”
“2018 marked the 60th anniversary of OPAP’s foundation and the entire OPAP team is proud of what was achieved in this historic year, commented OPAP’s CEO, Mr. Damian Cope."
“Consistent with INTRALOT’s strategy of disinvesting from its non-core markets and focusing on the group’s strategic markets, such as the USA, we are very glad we can safeguard Totolotek’s continued growth within the strong Gauselmann Group and its European-market-focused sports-betting division Merkur Sportwetten. In my view, this transaction will create value for all involved parties – Gauselmann, Totolotek and INTRALOT – which was fundamentally important from INTRALOT’s point of view when deciding to proceed with this transaction,” explains Andreas Chryssos, CFO of INTRALOT Group, summing up the acquisition of Totolotek by Merkur Sportwetten.