Multi-State Lottery Association Request for Information March 2023

Introduction
The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) is an unincorporated non-profit association owned and operated by thirty-eight lotteries (member lotteries). MUSL assists both members and additional lotteries licensed to sell multi-jurisdictional lottery games (licensee lotteries), in performing a wide range of services, including game development, drawings, and financial and accounting support.
It is important for entities interested in the projects listed in this RFI to understand that MUSL is not a lottery; it does not sell tickets for any lottery games, nor does it pay prizes. Operations are funded through annual contributions from each Member Lottery and is not funded by lottery game sales.

Information Requested
MUSL is interested in developing new services to assist lotteries in several areas, including improvements to reconciliation of ticket sales and winners both pre- and post-drawings through internal controls/auditing functions, a centralized jackpot communication system, and a centralized customer management system that can collect and analyze customer data.
MUSL is inviting comments and suggestions through this Request for Information (RFI) so that we can gain valuable insights and suggestions from companies with expertise in software development, implementation, and system management. We are interested in obtaining information regarding solutions to the projects listed below. It is the intent of this RFI to gain information from submissions from various companies that will assist MUSL in writing specifications and project management steps to ensure we receive a robust solution for the projects if an RFP is issued, and responses are evaluated. We are inviting companies to respond with information and recommendations for any or all the projects.
MUSL is requesting information on how your company can provide software and ongoing support services that address and/or establish these three functions and services overseen by MUSL personnel located at its offices in Iowa:
1. A centralized customer management system for second chance entries into multi-jurisdictional game promotions.
2. A jackpot communications system for multi-jurisdiction lottery games.
3. A centralized internal control system to support auditing of play and winner data both pre- and post-drawings.
It is anticipated that interested companies will be invited to provide presentations and demonstrations regarding their systems and services. Demonstrations / meetings may be scheduled as provided in the Schedule of Events below. The meetings are intended to provide an open and constructive dialogue on the services and products that address the needs provided in this RFI. MUSL will contact you to schedule a meeting date and time should a presentation/demonstration be requested of your company.
Multi-State Lottery Association Request for Information March 2023

Qualifications
Your submission should include the following information:
Number of years your company has been in business, and a sample list of customers that require one or more of the above systems (central data repository; jackpot communications system; and/or auditing/internal control systems).
Number of software developers and 24/7/365 support service personnel employed by your company (W2 employees and independent contractors, listed separately).
Experience developing and implementing systems that are multi-functional and will need to integrate with separate systems managed by other companies.
Submission Details
MUSL is requesting information on how it can achieve the maximum level of success in offering centralized, new, or improved services to its members and licensee lotteries. The information you provide in your submission should explain:
• The services you can provide.
• An estimated length of time a project will take to implement.
• The expectations of MUSL when developing and implementing any of the initiatives.
• All possible functions each system can offer to assist MUSL and its members in developing, maintaining, and operating any of the projects listed in this RFI (CMS, jackpot communications system, and/or an internal control system).
• Detailed information regarding how you will provide the software functionality and support services for any, or all three projects.
Lottery and gaming experience is not necessary.
Companies interested in providing information on these projects are strongly encouraged to develop a detailed response that addresses how you can provide information that will assist MUSL to write and issue an RFP that will not favor one company over another but that will provide sufficient technical and other requirements to interested vendors.
All systems/functions listed in subsections 1, 2, and 3 of this RFI (and any additional future functions that may be contemplated) must seamlessly and securely operate 24/7/365 and must be capable of data creation and collection in real time across multiple jurisdictions, while interacting with multiple other information networks and platforms. Sales brochures and information merely copied from your websites may not be helpful.

Your submissions should identify each initiative you are interested in pursuing and should address those initiatives in separate sections.

1. A centralized customer management system (CMS). This project will act as a repository for customers and players to enter personally identifiable information into a secure website to gain a second chance or other type of entry into multi-jurisdictional promotions offered by all or a subset of MUSL members and licensee lotteries. This system may need to communicate with existing lottery gaming systems to verify lottery play data, and lottery second chance drawing systems, and other information collected and maintained by lotteries. The ability to manage ticket submissions is required (i.e., certain tickets may be eligible for participation in a second-chance drawing). The system will need to be capable of operation 24/7/365 with lottery and player support services.
MUSL is interested in collecting meaningful customer data by using a unified customer management system. Your submission should provide information on how your company can assist MUSL in establishing this system, either through a CMS landing page or other options that will provide information necessary to accomplish a repository of customer data. Solutions should be scalable, accessible, and require minimal maintenance. Submissions should also include ways to address privacy issues related to customer data, including opt outs, preference selection, age-verifications, and other matters.
2. A central jackpot communications system. MUSL is exploring options to manage a centralized jackpot communications system to be operated 24/7/365 to be used in conjunction with multiple multi-jurisdictional lottery games. The communications system should be able to, in real-time perform these functions: 1) track prize fund contributions from lotteries offering the game as reported by those lottery’s gaming systems; 2) update centralized prize amounts and communicate those to the lottery vendor systems; 3) receive reports of winners, determine prize amounts won including parimutuel prizes, 4) communicate prize win information including jurisdiction of win and reset prize amounts to lottery vendor systems; 5) provide reports to MUSL to support MUSL’s prize pool transfer calculations; and, 6) provide various reports to lotteries and MUSL regarding prize notifications and additional information as may be determined by the lotteries and MUSL.
Additionally, the system should include “back office” reporting that will be available to all lotteries participating in a game or games, with reports including sales and shares for all draws on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis, as well as by prizes won. Interested parties should include in their responses to this RFI how communication links can be achieved with participating lotteries and their vendor systems, and the best solution for secure, complete, and real-time data transmissions.

3. An internal control system that will act as a centralized auditing function (ICS). This project will provide importing and processing of all multi-jurisdictional game transaction data from various lottery central gaming systems and reporting the transaction data to MUSL. MUSL desires to assist lotteries in ticket sales reconciliations and winning combination confirmations as compared to the lottery central gaming systems. Daily and pre-drawing reporting on sales reconciliations will be required, with imbalances identified and resolved. Data retrieval from multiple lottery gaming systems will be required. Submissions should include how development and test environments should be set up, and how the system would be parallel and integrate with various lottery systems. MUSL’s focus will be on a system (both software and hardware) that will be furnished, installed, maintained, and supported 24/7/365 and routinely upgraded by the supplier, as well as quality assurance and user acceptance testing processes. Companies interested in providing information in response to this RFI should also highlight time-synchronizing mechanisms that will ensure consistent time recording and reporting for all transactions.
MUSL requests information about how to implement each of the projects, what technical expertise is needed, how your company can assist MUSL in pursuing the projects, and any additional relevant information.
Submissions to this RFI should explain how your company can assist in any or all of the projects listed above and should provide information on technical and other requirements MUSL needs to establish and manage the systems.
Please also include this information for each project you are interested in pursuing:
• Your approach to, and oversight of software development and implementation.
• Information addressing your management of security concerns related to software development, implementation, systems, and platforms used to support the services through internal and independent outside testing.
• Experience in the lottery and gaming industries.
• Estimated recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) offered by your systems.
• Describe your support and customer service availability.
• Provide details explaining your company’s expertise in developing software that is reliable, secure, and function is critical to the evaluation of proposed solutions. These categories will be most helpful in evaluating a proposed solution:
o Significant application software development and expertise specific to a single piece of hardware.
o Expertise in integrated application auditing software design and development to process real-time and off-line media produced from a different, online computer.
o Ability to produce high-speed data platforms.

Schedule of Events – 2023 (dates subject to change at MUSL’s discretion)
1. March 6 - Request for Information issued
2. March 30 - Companies interested in providing information should submit a response (PDF) no later than 4:00 PM CDT (email only: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
3. April 10 – 13 – Demonstrations / Meetings
4. June 30 – Anticipated date a Request for Proposal may be issued, and new Schedule of Events provided
Note:
The terms “submission” and “response” are used interchangeably in this RFI.
By issuing this RFI, MUSL is not committing to issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for any of the projects listed and is not offering to enter into a contract with any interested Party. Acceptance of a Response or Submission to this RFI does not constitute a commitment to issue an RFP, or an agreement to enter into a contract with any interested Party.