Company Profile: Spielo

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Richard Swayze

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Company Profile: SPIELO


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In the history of the world, 20 years is a fleeting moment. But in the brief history of VLT gaming, 20 years is an epoch. SPIELO’s epoch began humbly in Moncton, New Brunswick, in June 1990, with a small group of innovators who witnessed public policy moving toward carefully managed, legal, and fair gaming programs. They responded to those needs with the agility that only a small startup can offer. Realizing the value of that responsiveness, over the last two decades, SPIELO’s leaders have worked to maintain that agility, even as the company has grown into a leading international design, manufacturing, and distribution company. SPIELO continues to keep its main focus on the government‐sponsored gaming market, and serves that market with an entrepreneurial drive.

“From Day One, we’ve been committed to the VLT business, as opposed to other companies who began in the commercial casino sector and then tried to enter the VLT market,” said Don Doucet, SPIELO’s Vice‐President of Business Strategy, Products, and Marketing, and who was among SPIELO earliest employees. We have a full two decades of experience in government‐sponsored VLT gaming, and no other company can make that claim.

New Brunswick is a picturesque, densely‐forested Canadian province once known for its wealth of natural resources more than its technology expertise. But that's changing, thanks in part to SPIELO and its 420‐plus workforce. Today, Moncton is a community that rivals Las Vegas, Reno or Atlantic City in terms of its advanced information technology workforce devoted to the gaming business. In fact, in 2009, SPIELO's home base was shortlisted as one of the world's seven Most Intelligent communities. Today, SPIELO combines its talented local workforce of employees who bring a powerful work ethic and a passion for innovation with the international clout of its parent company, Lottomatica S.p.A. These forces have merged to create products that perform with unparalleled service.

“We’ve been fortunate to be able to maintain complete control over our direction and our ability to address our clients’ needs, but with the strength of multi‐‐President of Sales. To even during the down cycle, we continue to invest in R&D and in our people. This allows us to consistent‐of‐the‐art products and solutions.

SPIELO now has more than 30,000 gaming machines in 36 jurisdictions across North America and Western Europe. Since SPIELO’s inception, it’s gained market share in the vast majority of Government Sponsored jurisdictions, and it’s the pre‐eminent supplier to distributed gaming markets. Among SPIELO many milestones, its earliest partnerships with its Canadian customers built the foundation for SPIELO success. SPIELOfirst customer was Atlantic Lottery, and it quickly became Atlantic Lottery痴 leading supplier of VLTs. By 1994, SPIELO had also forged the beginning of a successful and ongoing partnership with LotoQuebec. But 1996 marked the beginning of SPIELO international leadership, when it began providing solutions to Svenska Spel, the Swedish national lottery. Today, 100 percent of all Svenska Spel VLTs are SPIELO cabinets. Thanks to its experience in those markets (Europe and Canada), it subsequently was able to build partnerships with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Oregon.

That success prompted SPIELO to expand and enter the Gaming Operations market in the mid‐1990s. Today, SPIELO also operates thousands of gaming machines in the states of New York, Delaware, and Rhode Island. A banner year for the company, 2004 marked GTECH's purchase of SPIELO, as well as its entry into the Native American and Commercial Casino market. Soon thereafter, GTECH purchased the ATRONIC Group, creating a Gaming Solutions division unrivaled for its vertical integration across gaming markets and its full end‐to‐end solutions, including central systems. Today, SPIELO counts Kansas and Pennsylvania among the jurisdictions where its latest ing programs will join that list.

Recently, ATRONIC Americas took responsibility for all North American Casino sales and service, and is now distributing SPIELO gaming machines in the commercial casino market. SPIELO’s recently‐approved Nevada manufacturer and distributor licenses are the latest step in its expansion into the commercial casino sector. In 2006, Lottomatica Group, a market leader in the Italian gaming industry and one of the largest Lottery operators in the world based on total wagers, purchased GTECH. Last year, SPIELO became a direct subsidiary of Lottomatica, counting GTECH, ATRONIC International, and ATRONIC Americas as affiliates under their powerful parent company. Meanwhile, SPIELO's roots in government‐sponsored gaming remain as deep and firm as ever, and it continues to be the supplier of choice for jurisdictions and operators launching new gaming programs.

In late 2009, SPIELO signed agreements to provide its full end‐to‐end solution, including multiple INTELLIGEN Central Systems, VLTs, and game content, to Lottomatica Videolot Rete and Gamenet, two of the top three concessionaires in the new VLT market in Italy. SPIELO also expects to develop additional partnerships with other concessionaires.

This year, SPIELO will deliver several thousand VLTs to Italy, and these agreements will put SPIELO among the country’s top VLT vendors. “We know that our clients are making investment decisions, not just purchasing decisions. We understand that their investment has to translate into performance and longevity,” said SPIELO President and CEO Victor Duarte. “We’re here for the duration ‐‐ we support our customers for the full term of the contract. We continue to push to make sure we're delivering highest service and the best games, and that our customers get the investment value that they deserve.