Lottomatica and IGT enter Italy egaming partnership
Companies extend existing deal whereby IGT provides the Italian operator with land-based VLT gaming content.
Lottomatica Group and International Game Technology (IGT) have expanded their partnership to launch the US gaming machine manufacturer’s full suite of online games in Italy.
The two companies have previously partnered in the jurisdiction to provide content and gaming machines to the Italian VLT market.
Under the new agreement, Lottomatica will offer IGT’s entire online slots offering and game content online and on mobile, with a particular focus on casino games after Italian regulator AAMS “ now merged with the country’s Customs Authority “ issued the first authorisations for the product in December.
Since then, several operators have gone live with the first dot.it slots, with Microgaming-powered Prima Networks among the more active software providers, bringing online slots to 32Red, Betway and Neomobile, while Greentube has launched a number of Novomatic slot titles through its Starvegas.it brand.
Net Entertainment has also become one of the first movers on the software provider side, with Intralot Italia among the operators to go live with its dot.it titles.
Robert Melendres, IGT executive vice president of emerging businesses, said of the deal: “The combination of Lottomatica and IGT in the Italian market is exceedingly exciting. When you add the existing land-based VLT agreement with Lottomatica, we are delivering true game convergence to the player, with IGT’s top-performing casino content in their homes and on their mobile devices.”
Guglielmo Angelozzi, senior vice-president of gaming machines and online at Lottomatica, added: “In addition to IGT providing game content for VLTs in Italy, Lottomatica will also be able to distribute IGT’s leading egaming products in an integrated manner through diverse gaming channels, such as smart phones and tablets.
Lottomatica’s online wagers suffered a 8.9% year-on-year decrease as the operator recorded disappointing third quarter results primarily due to a decline in its core Italian operations.
Online wagers totalled 485.4m in comparison to 533m in the corresponding period last year, although overall revenues only dropped 0.1% year-on-year from 740.9m to 740.2m. The decrease was attributed to lower Lotto wagers, higher sports betting payouts and higher taxation on video lottery terminals.