The Early Years
We started in Providence, Rhode Island in 1976 as a small group of entrepreneurs who saw hints of the promise that the rise of technology would bring to lotteries. That group would soon emerge as GTECH—the iconic lottery technology company.
We progressed quickly, launching the first central system and terminal—setting a standard for future-forward innovation that continues to drive the company nearly 50 years later.
Shortly thereafter, we unlocked the growth side of the lottery’s potential by designing and introducing Quick Pick which revolutionized lottery play by dramatically increasing player engagement.
Reliability has always been our top priority. It’s the DNA of our systems, terminals, equipment and, of course, our people. It continues to be hard-coded into everything we do.
Helping the nascent lottery industry grow, drove our business success. Early on, we won major state contracts across the U.S., and soon after, international expansion cemented us as industry leaders and long-term, trustworthy partners.
Finding the Perfect Partner
Around that same time in 1990, Lottomatica was formed as a consortium of Italian public and private companies. With the aim of automating LOTTO services in several thousand stores and serving millions of people, this ambitious effort led to wagers surging over 400%.
This kind of success quickly manifested itself across the market and it was listed publicly on the stock exchange.
In 2004, Lottomatica expanded its operations into the instant lotteries market becoming the first B2C lottery operator in the world.
During the same time span, GTECH reimagined lottery communications and, in the process, became the world's biggest user of satellite technology. While continuing to expand our capabilities, we launched the UK Lottery and installed 10,000 terminals in an unprecedented six months.
Meanwhile both GTECH and Lottomatica leveraged their success into a series of strategic acquisitions that grew their capabilities and footprints including machine gaming. With that, the potential combination of two leaders—one an operator and the other a technology provider—became real. In 2006 we combined to form the largest lottery company in the world.
Over the next few years, as a united entity we put our back into innovation and expansion—introducing sports betting platforms, developing digital channels, and licensing online games in markets around the world. With our footprint now global and a supply chain that ran from the back-room servers to the tickets in the customer's hand, in 2015 we joined forces with IGT, a multi-national gaming technology giant, to create the world’s leading gaming company.
During the next nine years we gained new insights into players, developed games and technology. We also watched lotteries enter a new era—requiring more technically sophisticated solutions, while also growing increasingly vital to government funding.
Looking Ahead
Seeing the growing value of our investments in gaming and digital, we decided to unlock its value for our shareholders and focus on innovating and growing the potential of the lottery business—both for the enjoyment of players and the good of the communities our customers support.
The future forward mindset. The focus on reliability. All distilled into a single-minded purpose: to sustain and advance the lottery industry’s progress for generations to come.
This is Brightstar.