Take a look at the business page of your local daily newspaper and you will find it filled with stories about mergers and acquisitions – the trend of business consolidation and growth that has defined, at various levels, the global marketplace for the last two decades.
According to data compiled by The Economist, a leading global business publication, mergers and acquisitions in all sectors are hot again – and at record levels. The pace of deal making in the first quarter of 2006 was feverish. Globally, the value of M&A activity averaged $10 billion a day, the highest rate over the past six years – in other words, the highest rate since the height of the dotcom frenzy at the turn of the century. This time, however, Europe accounted for more activity than America. According to Dealogic, a data provider, purchases of European companies added up to $418 billion, the most ever in a first quarter and more than twice as much as at the start of 2005. In America the total was $311 billion, up by 5 percent on a strong quarter last year.
There are many examples of successful mergers and business partnerships that have improved service or provided value to consumers. For example, the pervasiveness of wireless computing has brought together seemingly unrelated companies like T-Mobile®, Starbucks® and Borders® books, to say nothing of the wireless presence in airports all over the world. Even convenience store giant Seven-11® has partnered with Boingo Wireless® to provide wireless service to customers in an environment no one would have imagined just a few short years ago.
Movie and animation giant DreamWorks® has joined forces with Hewlett-Packard® to advance the already rapidly-advancing computer animation technology that now dominates the entertainment industry. HP and DreamWorks are working together to discover the groundbreaking technologies that continually reshape the way films are created. Together they are establishing new benchmarks for the integration of hand-drawn and computer animation in film.
The ubiquitous sound of creative ring tones on cellular phones in seemingly every public place is yet another example of this partnership approach bringing value to consumers. Motorola® and Apple® computers, through their iTunes® product have worked together to bring popular content to the cell phone platform, extending what once was considered a simple utility to an entertainment platform as well.
The pattern is clear and defined. Some may be outright mergers in the classic sense, and others may be the result of strategic partnerships. In either case, companies are joining forces to innovate and improve performance, but also to spawn new solutions that better the lives of their consumers. But does this pattern have any real relevance to the lottery industry? Current lottery industry market forces – the convergence of players, technology, sales channels and content combining to compel lotteries and suppliers to critically evaluate their future – are the natural drivers for change. Partnerships are a natural part of this progression. Lotteries require far more than just technology to meet the needs of today's more demanding players. They require appealing, dynamic and relevant content that can be delivered through a multitude of channels.
Of course, the trend is obviously embodied in the lottery industry by the merger between Lottomatica and GTECH®. GTECH will continue to be the global lottery brand of the company, and by virtue of the combined strengths is better equipped to innovate and extend value to lotteries all over the world.
The result of the Lottomatica/GTECH transaction will be the same as the
other consumer examples cited above: namely, that the consumer will ultimately benefit from a better lottery or gaming experience, and the communities in which the consumer lives will benefit from driving up new revenues to benefit good causes that enrich and enhance the lives of others.
GTECH as well as the public. This allows the alert to be controlled by one trusted source.
Once the Amber Alert information is received and verified by GTECH Operations through the EAS and www.azamberalert.org, MYSTATEUSA’s web portal, it is sent
And the trend of partnership is evident in other ways in the industry as well. Throughout Europe, for example, lotteries have been teaming with lottery suppliers, companies from a variety of industries and even other lotteries to bring new technology and content to players.
Lotteries and vendors work diligently to contribute to local good causes and their efforts often go unnoticed. GTECH has recently been working with a number of customers to assist with a very important program around the US. The AMBER Alert Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, and transportation agencies to activate and publicly distribute an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. Today, Amber Alerts are being broadcast in 50 states, a giant increase from 2001, when only four states had statewide plans.
Broadcasters use the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to air a description of an abducted child and the suspected abductor. These alerts are broadcast in the same way severe weather emergencies are sent out to the public. The primary goal of an AMBER Alert is to immediately call on the entire community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of the child. Today, with the help of GTECH products, lottery retailers are able to broadcast Amber Alerts on monitor screens in retail locations via lottery terminals like ISYS® and Altura®.
In Arizona, the Lottery has partnered with the Arizona Broadcasters Association, the Department of Public Safety, Arizona Department of Transportation, and the hosting company called MYSTATEUSA. In order to ensure the alerts are successfully delivered through ES MultiMedia™ and displayed on the retailers’ monitors GTECH maintains both the lottery equipment and is a participant on the local Arizona Amber Alert oversight committee. ES MultiMedia is an innovative solution that provides IP-enabled lotteries with next-generation management, the distribution and the display of multi media gaming or messaging through a single point of control.
When an alert occurs, the GTECH site receives a notification via the EAS receiver. Additionally, MYSTATEUSA sends email, fax and cell phone alerts to GTECH’s Managers, GTECH Operations and Lottery personnel who choose to receive them. All alerts are managed by Department of Public Safety law enforcement who is responsible for validating this information to agencies such as
out over the Altura terminal network as an unsolicited message. Messages are sent by Operations to the Altura network every 15 to 30 minutes for up to 5 hours or until the Amber Alert is called off by law enforcement. This frequency of sending messages allows GTECH to provide the most up to date information of the missing child or pertinent details of the case. In addition to the unsolicited messaging, GTECH Operations posts an image (when available) of the missing child in two locations at the retailers point of sale. First, the image is displayed on the Altura terminal Home screen next to the gaming keys. Secondly, a conditional Amber Alert slide is turned on and put into the ESMM slideshow which displays 6 lines of text and an image of the missing child if available.
The Arizona Lottery and GTECH have also provided each retailer with a free-standing placard to post the unsolicited message on the retailer’s counter to assist in bringing attention to the alert as well as providing the most recent information in a central location easily visible by the public. Below this placard, the retailers are encouraged, and prompted by the Altura, to print multiple copies for distribution.
The spirit of partnership is alive and well around the world. Companies across all industries are teaming up to offer better products and services that meet today’s consumer needs. The lottery industry is seeing a significant growth in business opportunities as well as a chance to enhance their contributions to good causes.
© 2006 GTECH Corporation. All trademarks and logos contained in this document are marks owned by or exclusively licensed to GTECH Corporation. The Economist is a registered trademark owned by The Economist Newspaper Limited Corporation. T Mobile is a registered trademark owned by Deutsche Telekom AG Corporation. Starbucks is a registered trademark owned by Starbucks Corporation. Borders is a registered trademark owned by Borders Properties, Inc. AT&T is a registered trademark owned by AT&T Corporation. McDonald's is a registered Trademark owned by McDonald’s Corporation. Seven-11 is a registered trademark owned by Best Brewing Corporation. Boingo Wireless is a registered trademark owned by Boingo Wireless, Inc. Corporation. DreamWorks is a registered trademark owned by DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. Ltd. Hewlett Packard is a registered trademark owned by Hewlett-Packard Company Corporation. Motorola is a registered trademark owned by Motorola, Inc. Apple is a registered trademark owned by Apple Computer, Inc. iTunes is a registered trademark owned by Apple Computer, Inc. Lottery logos are owned by each respective lottery.
