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Hill & Partners Brings GTECH to NASPL
2006
QUINCY, Massachusetts, USA (December
1, 2006) -- Hill & Partners, Inc., the award-winning tradeshow management
and three-dimensional marketing company, developed a new streamlined display
for GTECH's participation in the
North American State and Provincial Lottery Show
(NASPL) in Chicago October 10-13, 2006.
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GTECH turned to Hill & Partners
for a display solution that would leverage this leading gaming technology and
services company among the competition. Hill & Partners developed an
exhibit sure to entice passersby, utilizing frosted wall panels to tease
attendees without revealing GTECH offerings with a simple glance. The walk
around structure showcased product and service offerings segmented by category,
providing the opportunity for attendees to speak with product managers for
related products and services in the same area. An LED programmable lighting
system added color and visual interest to the exhibit. By invitation only,
attendees could experience the "Innovation" center, a closed room
display featured the latest in lottery solution technology. Although behind
closed doors, activity within the Innovation center was apparent through the
frosted plexi wall inserts, generating curiosity among tradeshow attendees.
GTECH handles all aspects of lottery
product and transaction management. The company is located in West Greenwich,
Rhode Island. GTECH has been a Hill & Partners client for over ten
years.
About Hill & Partners,
Inc.
Hill & Partners, Inc., is a full
service tradeshow exhibit design company specializing in three-dimensional
marketing solutions. The company services a wide range of clientele from all
over the world, including Exact Sciences, Mountain Hardwear, Malden Mills,
Corning and the GTECH Corporation. Hill & Partners is headquartered at 124
Old Colony Avenue, Quincy, MA 02170.
To request additional information or
photos, please email Libby at lleung
@ hillpartners.com. More information can be found at
www.hillpartners.com and by calling
617.471.7990.
SOURCE: Hill & Partners,
Inc.
The MDI Zone is a Big Hit with Lotteries; Innovative Website
Celebrates 1st Anniversary
ALPHARETTA, Georgia, USA (November
30, 2006) -- The “MDI Zone” -- the website launched by
MDI Entertainment to easily communicate
property assets and guidelines and expedite the approval process when
developing a licensed game -- is celebrating its first anniversary with almost
2,000 creative elements having been processed in just its first year.
The MDI Zone website, launched
worldwide in November last year, was developed to act as a Lottery’s
personal source to enhance communications and approval processes between
MDI, lotteries and their agencies. MDI was the first lottery vendor to
develop such a system.
“The creation of a
lottery game is a complicated process,” said Steve Saferin, MDI president.
“There are many people and factors involved in designing a licensed
lottery ticket and The Zone simplifies that process from start to
finish.”
In the past, lotteries and agencies
would have to physically send ticket art, POP, television and radio creative,
as well as a game’s property assets and elements, to the vendor for
approval. After changes were made, the pieces were again physically sent back
and forth. Many times, the files were too large to send in e-mail format.
MDI Entertainment, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS), recognized the
inefficiency in that process and sought to offer customers a modern,
interactive and economical system. And after just one year, it’s been
determined The Zone has been successful in reducing the overall time it takes
to process licensor artwork approvals.
“It’s an
innovative website that just makes sense and has made life easier on the
lotteries’ product managers and key staff,” Saferin said.
“We’re very proud of the Zone and that we are able to offer this
service to our customers.”
Glenn Strong, instant game product
manager for the Michigan Lottery, said,
“Having the ability to submit game assets for approval online has been
a tremendous time-saver. Instant notification on the approval status also
ensures that all the people I have to work with at the ad agency and ticket
printer don’t have to wait for me to convey that information to them. They
get the information as soon as I do.”
Anne Lewis, product marketing
specialist for the Delaware Lottery, agreed. “As a single resource
point for all parties involved in the legal, creative, development, and
approval stages of a licensed property lottery game, the MDI Zone dramatically
improves the time it takes to usher a game to market,” she said.
To check out The Zone, go to
www.mdientertainment.com and
click on The Zone.
About Scientific
Games
Scientific Games Corporation is the leading
integrated supplier of instant tickets, systems and services to lotteries, a
leading supplier of fixed odds betting terminals and systems, interactive
sports betting terminals and systems, and wagering systems and services to
pari-mutuel operators. It is also a licensed pari-mutuel gaming operator in
Connecticut and the Netherlands and is a leading supplier of prepaid phone
cards to telephone companies. Scientific Games' customers are in the United
States and more than 60 other countries. For more information about Scientific
Games, please visit our web site at http://www.scientificgames.com.
MDI
Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scientific Games Corporation,
is the worldwide leader in licensed lottery games and promotions.
SOURCE: MDI Entertainment.
CONTACT: Jeff Schweig, Phone: 678-297-5212.
Veikkaus.fi Celebrates Its 10th
Birthday
VEIKKAUS, Finland (December 4, 2006)
-- In December, ten years will have passed since
Veikkaus introduced the option of gaming
on the internet to its customers. During the past decade, internet gaming has
developed from a marginal phenomenon to a success story. Today, Veikkaus
website has around 100,000 daily visitors. This autumn we attained the weekly
sales record on the internet, EUR 4.8 million. It represents nearly 17 percent
of Veikkaus' total weekly sales.
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Veikkaus started its career on the
web in 1995, when we opened our first website. Games were not offered on the
net at that time. The actual pilot gaming website was opened in December 1996.
During its first week of existence, the internet gaming service attracted 393
players, posting sales of 55,000 Finnish marks.
The option of playing games on the
net was introduced to our customers officially three months later on the 10th
of March 1997. In the beginning, we only offered betting games, and the
selection was increased gradually. Lotto was launched in June 1997 and on round
3/1999, our entire game selection was made available on the net.
In the course of the years,
www.veikkaus.fi has taken huge steps
forward. The latest reforms were introduced last year. In the summer of 1995,
we launched our first eInstants, and the option of playing Lotto, Keno, and
Fixed Odds Betting by SMS was offered. In December 2005 we introduced a game
folder, which our customers must open if they wish to play one of the games. At
the same time, the contents of the website were made more versatile, as the
Dreams Site was opened. The reforms were received well - the number of
Veikkaus' active players increased rapidly from 110,000 to 125,000.
SOURCE: Veikkaus' eNews distributed
by Veikkaus Communications.
Wincor Nixdorf AG - Proposals to the AGM
Dividend to Rise to
€2.80 – "Stock Split" – Conversion of Appropriated Into
Unallocated Additional Paid-In Capital
PADERBORN, Germany (December 1,
2006) -- At its meeting on November 30, 2006, the Supervisory Board of
Wincor Nixdorf AG passed a resolution
approving the dividend proposal for fiscal 2005/2006 put forward by the Board
of Directors. The proposal to be put forward to the AGM on January 29, 2007, is
for a dividend payment of €2.80 per share (previous year: €2.10). In
addition, the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board have decided to
propose to the AGM that the Company's capital stock be doubled through the
issuance of new shares. Shareholders are to receive, without payment, one
additional share for each share held (bonus share). This corresponds to a stock
split in a ratio of 1 : 2. As part of this measure, a proportion of
appropriated additional paid-in capital is to be converted into unallocated
additional paid-in capital. This is to be implemented by means of a capital
increase out of company reserves and/or retained earnings, followed by an
ordinary reduction of capital.
The proposed dividend reaffirms
Wincor Nixdorf AG's commitment to a dividend policy that allows shareholders to
benefit directly from the Company's solid performance. Within this context, the
aim is to pay out approximately half of the net income for the year, having
adjusted for the effects of amortization of product know-how on earnings (cash
net income). In total, an amount of approx. €46.32 million is to be paid
out as dividends for fiscal 2005/2006.
The issuance of bonus shares is
aimed at lowering the current price of Wincor Nixdorf shares. Reducing the
share price to an investor-friendly level will make Wincor Nixdorf shares more
tradeable.
The planned conversion of
appropriated additional paid-in capital to unallocated, i.e. uncommitted,
additional paid-in capital will cover a volume of €95.35 million and is to
be used for the purpose of future dividend payments to shareholders from
capital reserves currently committed. Under German legislation, in order to
convert appropriated additional paid-in capital to unallocated capital
reserves, the entity in question is obliged to perform a capital increase out
of company reserves and/or retained earnings and a subsequent "ordinary
reduction of capital". The proceeds from the ordinary reduction of capital
are to be allocated in their entirety to uncommitted additional paid-in
capital.
SOURCE: Wincor Nixdorf International
GmbH.
CONTACT: Andreas Kohlmann, Director Retail Division Lottery
Solutions, Tel.: +49 (0) 7531 / 94226-40, Fax: +49 (0) 7531 / 94226-99,
Mobile: +49 (0) 170 / 2283121, Email:
Andreas.Kohlmann@wincor-nixdorf.com
Colorado Lottery Launches New Retailer Link
DENVER, Colorado, USA (December 1,
2006) -- Retailers in Colorado have a wealth of Lottery information at the
click of their mouse. In October, the Colorado Lottery launched Retailer Link for
more than 2,900 retailers statewide and has received nearly 5,000 clickthroughs
in a month.
“Since our relationship
with our retailers is vital to our success, we continually work to provide the
most accurate and timely information to them,” said Peggy Gordon, director
of the Colorado Lottery. “Through this new section on our Web site, we are
able to offer them a wide range of tools, which are all easy to access at any
time of the day or week.”
One aggressive goal of the
Lottery’s staff is recruiting 200 additional retailers during the fiscal
year, so the Retailer Link is one tool that can help achieve this target. The
objectives of the Retailer Link include enhanced external communication,
improved training, excellent customer service as well as providing accurate
information in a more timely manner.
In August, Lottery staff
members began getting feedback from dozens of key corporate accounts such as
Safeway, 7-Eleven, ConocoPhillips and Loaf ‘N Jug and independent
retailers to determine their needs and the items that would help improve the
Lottery components of their business. The overriding message was clear: make it
simple but comprehensive.
The topics covered in the
Retailer Link are broad:
- Retailer application forms
- Point-of-Sale plan-o-gram
- Retailer newsletter
- Proceeds information
- Retailer compensation
- Upcoming games
- Quick reference cards
- How-to-play literature
- Contact information
- MyLottery VIP Club
information
- Accounting reconciliation
forms
Information is updated, and
topics are added throughout the month. Since ease and convenience are
essential, the Retailer Link does not require a password for access. The
feedback on the new information has been very positive, according to Lottery
staff members, so look for additions and improvements in the near future.
To access the page, visit
www.coloradolottery.com and click
on the Retailer Link icon.
SOURCE: Colorado
Lottery.
CONTACTS: Linh Truong (303) 759-6872 or Kristen Shew (303)
759-6846.
Massachusetts State Lottery and Boston Celtics Present Check to
“Boston Celtics Green’s” First $1 Million
Winner
Amanda Matthews Of Melrose
Receives Prize in a Center Court Ceremony at the TD BankNorth
Garden
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| State Treasurer Tim Cahill
(right) and Boston Celtics COO Rich Gotham (left) present Amanda Matthews of
Melrose and her fiancee Brandon with the $1 million prize she won playing the
Lottery’s Boston Celtics Green instant game. |
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA (November
30, 2006) -- State Treasurer Tim Cahill yesterday joined Boston Celtics COO
Rich Gotham at the TD BankNorth Garden to present Amanda Matthews of Melrose
with a check representing the $1 million prize she won playing the
Massachusetts State Lottery’s new
Boston Celtics Green instant game.
Matthews – the first player to
claim a $1 million prize in the Boston Celtics Green instant game - received
the check in a center court ceremony during halftime at last night’s
Celtics game.
Matthews claimed her prize on
November 13 at the Lottery’s Braintree headquarters. She will receive
annual prize payments of $50,000 (minus taxes) for 20 years.
When asked of her plans for her $1
million windfall, Matthews said she would like to purchase a home.
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She purchased the $5.00 the Boston
Celtics Green ticket at Spot Pond Mobil located at 2 South Street in Stoneham.
The store will receive a $10,000 commission for selling the winning ticket.
There are still four $1 million prizes, as well as millions in other cash and
merchandise prizes, waiting to be won with Boston Celtics Green.
Boston Celtics Green debuted at
Lottery retailers throughout Massachusetts on October 31. This exciting $5
instant game offers over $57.5 million in cash, merchandise and unmatchable
experiential prizes.
Five lucky winners will have the
opportunity to each win a pair of Celtics season tickets through the
game’s bonus drawing feature. Other prizes include game tickets, and
courtside seats, as well as team-related merchandise.
To learn more about the Boston
Celtics Green, pick up a brochure at any of the Lottery’s 7,500 retail
locations, or log on to the Lottery’s website at:
www.masslottery.com
SOURCE: Massachusetts State
lottery.
CONTACT: Beth Bresnahan, 781-849-5600.
Creator Capital Signs Letter of Intent with
Newmediacom
HAMILTON, Bermuda (November 30,
2006) -- Creator Capital Limited (CTORF:OTCBB) (“CCL” or the
"Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a Letter of
Intent with Newmediacom Limited (“NMC”), of the United Kingdom, for
the purpose of negotiating rights to certain services related to the provision
of live, streamed, and downloadable video services to mobile devices and other
video distribution and receiving technologies.
About
Newmediacom
Newmediacom Ltd.,
www.newmediacom.co.uk is one of five
companies, which comprise the Phones International Group
www.phonesintgroup.com. Phones
International Group was founded in 1998 by Peter Jones. The Group provides a
portfolio of core business offerings combining mobile logistics, distribution
and fulfillment, configuration, content products and delivery and other related
services within the mobile and wireless industries. Newmediacom was acquired by
the Phones International Group early in 2004. The company provides broadcast
quality services and solutions that can be utilized in the mobile phone arena.
About Creator Capital
Limited
Creator Capital Ltd., a Bermuda
exempted company, along with Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., introduced the
in-flight interactive gaming experience to international airline passengers as
a method of creating additional revenues for airlines in 1998. In addition to
providing interactive in-flight gaming entertainment software and services, CCL
also offers and distributes international entertainment and sports content for
broadband television over the internet. Through its division, Creator.tv, CCL
can now deliver not only its existing in-flight gaming entertainment, but a
wealth of additional content, to electronic entertainment platforms over the
Internet.
Website:
http://www.creatorcapital.com
SOURCE: On behalf of the board of
directors, Deborah Fortescue-Merrin, President. Email: info@creatorcapital.com,
Phone: (604) 947-2555.
Christmas Lights Switch On Festive Lotto
Campaign
UNITED KINGDOM (November 27, 2006)
-- Camelot this week launches a festive TV
ad campaign to promote Lotto over the holiday season. The new campaign, which
features a house decorated in Christmas lights, illuminating in time to music,
will run from 3rd December.
The 20-second advert starts with a
view of a dimly-lit suburban house. A snowman on the porch is the only allusion
to it being Christmas. The scene suddenly comes alive to a piano soundtrack
– and lights on the hedge in the front garden flash on and off in
rotation, in time with the music.
After a couple of seconds, the tempo
of the music picks up. Lights come on and go off all over the house in time
with the beat – from the roof, to the snowman, to a star on top of a large
outdoor Christmas tree, showering light down on its pine needles.
The white picket fence along the
front of the house takes on the form of a piano keyboard, with the fence panels
lighting up as the music scales up and down. As the advert progresses, the
scene gets more and more lively with an ever-increasing amount of objects
taking part in the musical light show.
Reindeer are lit up over the garage,
icicles of light are suspended from the sloping roof, a second snowman is
illuminated on the other side of the front door. What seems like a small forest
of mini Christmas trees are lit up in turn all over the front lawn. Baubles of
light are suspended on the porch roof and as they light up in syncopation to
the music, numbers can be seen in the middle of them – and they are
revealed as lottery balls.
Towards the end of the ad, in time
to a break in the music, all the lights go on at once. A large Lotto bauble
appears on the right hand side of the screen as the voiceover says:
“Imagine if you won this Christmas”.
Daniel Heale, Head of Media &
Marketing for Camelot said: “The ad is designed to capture the spirit
of what people might do if they won a Lotto jackpot this winter. In 12 years of
running The National Lottery we have seen people spend their money on so many
different things – and there’s usually at least one crazy and
spontaneous purchase in there somewhere.
“We’ve had a
millionaire tiling his winning numbers into the bottom of his new swimming
pool, another framing her big cheque and giving it pride of place in her living
room – so putting Lotto numbers up in Christmas lights on the front of a
house follows a Lotto tradition.”
The campaign was created by Abbott
Mead Vickers BBDO. The brief issued to them by Camelot was to create something
which brought together the optimism and good will that Christmas inspires,
while encouraging people to dream and about the possibilities a Lotto win could
open up.
“Imagine winning a
Lotto jackpot this December,” said Daniel Heale. “Buying
someone a ticket could be one of the best presents ever if it nets them a
festive fortune – or you could be a real life Santa Clause by winning big
and treating your friends and family to a Christmas day they will never
forget.”
The campaign is on air from Sunday
3rd December and will run through until the end of December. Media planning was
handled by MPG and media buying by OMD.
For further information, please
contact Charlotte Gibson, Corporate PR Manager: 020 7632 5716 Camelot Press
Office: 020 7632 5711
SOURCE: Camelot Press
Office.
All In Partners Announce Launch Of High-End Consulting And Strategic
Solutions Partnership
DUBLIN, Ireland (December 4th 2006)
– All In Partners is a network of highly talented professionals and is the
brainchild of Dr. Jim Mc Conway and Paul Barnes who together have many years of
senior international management experience across a broad range of public and
private business sectors, including online gaming, financial management &
consulting, mergers & acquisitions.
Barnes has spent many years dealing
with online lottery and casino operators in fully regulated jurisdictions in
Europe and Australia. He has also recently written the business plan and
launched an online poker site from scratch on behalf of a client, setting up
all commercial, contractual, legal and operational processes.
McConway was CFO of
Access Gaming Systems, brought on to lend
top level financial expertise to all matters related to the IPO, and has held
top financial, IT and operations director positions at leading multi-national
public and private organisations.
According to Paul Barnes:
“whereas the name “All In” gives away our love of the poker
business, All In Partners is actually about bringing together top level
experienced consultants with unique experience to offer our clients a high-end
consulting product. Our mix of know-how in marketing, finance and technology,
as well as operations, positions us well within organisations with the highest
standards of business compliance”
According to Dr. Jim McConway:
“All In Partners, through its network of associated individuals and
companies, is able to draw on several specialist associate consultants who can
provide high value in all areas of business development, legal advice, market
research, statistical data, software solutions, payment solutions, online
technology and risk management. We know that our experience will save our
clients money; we know what works, and what fails.”
All In Partners has a number of
projects running with land-based and online gaming companies, and has opening
for new associates. We provide our comprehensive business consulting services
to the lottery, casino, poker, bingo and sports-betting segments.
For further information please
contact Paul Barnes, Tel: +353 86 825 61 51,
paul@allinpartners.com; or Dr. Jim
Mc Conway jim@allinpartners.com,
Tel: +353 86 239 4828.
SOURCE: All In Partners: Dublin,
London, Paris, Munich, Stockholm.
New WLA Executive Committee
At the General Meeting in Singapore,
the membership elected Kentucky Lottery CEO Arch Gleason as WLA President and
voted in a new Executive Committee.
Executive Committee Members:
- Christophe Blanchard-Dignac,
President and CEO La Française des
Jeux.
- Carlos Augusto Borges, President,
Caixa Econômica Federal, Vice
Presidência de Transferência de Benefícios.
- Henry S K Chan, Executive
Director, HKJC Lotteries Limited.
- Idrissa Haidara, President and
CEO, Société de Pari Mutuel Urbain du Mali (PMU Mali).
- Ales Husák, President
& CEO, Sazka, a.s.
- David N. Loeb, President,
Western Canada Lottery Corporation.
- Verónica Montellano
Cantuarias, Presidenta Directorio, Polla
Chilena de Beneficencia Compañia 1085.
- Basile J. Neiadas, CEO,
OPAP S.A.
- Reidar Nordby, Jr., President and
CEO, Norsk Tipping AS.
- Dr. Rolf Stypmann, Managing
Director, Toto-Lotto Niedersachsen
GmbH.
- Dianne Thompson, Chief Executive,
Camelot Group PLC
Oregon Lottery Awards OCC™ Bike to Its Second Chance Drawing
Winner
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, USA (December 6,
2006) -- The Oregon Lottery® awarded
one lucky man and his wife a custom Orange County Chopper™
(“OCC”) at an awards ceremony held at the Lottery’s
headquarters. The Lottery ran the OCC™ Scratch-itSM game, an
Oberthur Gaming Technologies’
(“OGT”) licensed property, and offered a second chance drawing
allowing one lucky player to win a custom OCC™ bike.
The Lottery used the second chance
drawing bike as part of its OCC™ promotional bike tour throughout the
summer. Ironically, the lucky couple had just taken their picture next to the
bike at the State Fair a couple weeks prior to their award.
“This is one of the
most unique prizes we have given away,” said Jamie Davis, Oregon
Lottery’s Promotions Coordinator. “We still have two more choppers
that players can win instantly on the OCC™ Scratch-itSM
game.”
OCC™ is made up of three
principal stars, Paul Teutul Sr. and his sons, Paul Jr. and Mikey, who appear
weekly on The Discovery Channel’s top rated television show, American
Chopper. OCC™ is recognized for creating custom motorcycles, vastly
gaining fans and admirers worldwide. OCC™ recently held their own
OCC™ in America Tour bringing crowds of up to 40,000 fans at its
events.
About Oberthur Gaming
Technologies (www.oberthurgt.com)
With more than 35 years of
lottery-specific expertise and over a century's experience in the security
printing industry, Oberthur Gaming Technologies is the world’s leader in
the printing of innovative instant lottery tickets. Comprehensive services
include strategic game planning and innovative conceptual design with
OGT’s Dream Team®, Cyber Games™ (interactive) as well as
state-of-the-art Global Operations and Lottery Distribution System (GOLDS). OGT
currently supplies a full range of high quality products and services to 100
clients in some 50 countries. The company has production units or sales offices
in Montreal, Canada; San Antonio, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania in the U.S.; Paris, France; Madrid, Spain; and Sydney,
Australia.
About Orange County
Choppers™
Headquartered in Montgomery, N.Y.,
Orange County Choppers is regarded as one of the world’s premier builders
of custom motorcycles. The OCC brand has become one of the most recognizable
brands in the world and has produced a wide array of merchandise such as
t-shirts, hats, diecasts, assorted novelty items, and more. Orange County
Choppers is featured weekly on the Discovery Channel program, “American
Chopper” and continues to be the network’s number one rated
show. For more information, visit
www.orangecountychoppers.com
SOURCE: Lyse Trudel, Communications
Officer, Oberthur Gaming Technologies, (+1-514) 254-3600, ext. 101, Email:
lyse.trudel@mtl.oberthurgt.com
For information: Vicki Smith, Sales
Support Specialist, Liz Johnson, New Business Coordinator, Oberthur Gaming
Technologies, (+1-210) 509-9999 ext. 236, (+1-210) 509-9999 ext. 119. For
OCC™: Michele Paolella, Director of Public Relations, (+1-845) 457-1992
ext. 1006, michele@orangecountychoppers.com
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