With just a few weeks to go before its first ticket sales, the team at Win Jamaica Lotteries is working at full speed to launch the island's newest lottery games.
Bolstered by the installation of a high-tech online network and gaming terminals, and the active recruiting and training of dealers, the company is working at delivering new and entertaining ways to play the lottery.
Paul Hoo, president of Win Jamaica Lotteries said, "It's exciting to see it all take shape.
"This has been a long time in coming, and I am confident that when we launch, the public is going to love our games. We're a different kind of lottery in many ways, and our games will have more winners, more often."
In January 2001, Supreme Ventures Limited was awarded a ten-year contract to conduct and promote lottery games, and that company now operates as Win Jamaica Lotteries. The company's principals include businessmen, Peter Stewart, Ian Levy and Paul Hoo. Win Jamaica Lotteries is supported by an exclusive agreement with GTECH, the leading global lottery supplier, whose cutting-edge technology will provide an unparalleled level of security for the new lottery games.
Under the contract, GTECH will install a fully integrated and secure online lottery system including central system hardware and software. Additionally, GTECH will install a secure communications network, and will also provide a variety of services including system installation and maintenance, retailer training, software and marketing support. The GTECH team will operate from a data centre and administrative office in Kingston. With headquarters in Rhode Island, United States, GTECH provides lottery solutions to more than 80 customers in six continents around the world. In the Caribbean, the company has successful operations in Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago.
At launch, Win Jamaica Lotteries will introduce two exciting games - a version of the popular Drop Pan and a live daily lotto-type draw game. "Drop Pan is already a part of the Jamaican gaming culture, so we're coming in with the public already having a high level of understanding of the game. What we're doing is reinforcing the entertainment value of the games with some of the world's best technology, making ours a fun, easy, but secure game," said Peter Fallis, executive vice-president of Win Jamaica Lotteries.
"Our games are going to have some unique features, and we know that our players will not only be pleased by the odds of winning, but they will also appreciate our payment guarantees over the traditional Drop Pan game," he explained.
The games will be operated on GTECH's trademarked Tiffany terminals, which feature unmatched gaming technology never before used in the island. The terminals will be connected by an extensive custom-designed wireless telecommunications network, which will assure customers absolute accuracy, security and reliability in their transactions.
The new lottery company is backed by an initial investment of $400 million, which will be followed by an additional $100 million over the first five years of operation with expected increases. A team of approximately 70 professional and technical staff are working towards a June start-up date. About 700 sales agents are being recruited. These agents are expected to benefit from not only sales commission from the lotteries, but also a growth in consumer traffic in their established businesses.
