On May 2, the entity responsible for overseeing the sale of lottery games statewide deployed a new system it told Techwire replaces a “dated legacy core gaming system” and offers lottery ticket retailers across California a new online way to conduct transactions. Among the takeaways:
- The Lottery had been using ES Dashboard from International Game Technology (IGT) but had begun mounting an initiative to seek its replacement in 2018. That project included more than 13,000 requirements and was used by the Lottery’s entire retailer network of nearly 23,000 retailers, Lottery Chief Information Officer Jennifer Chan told Techwire via email.
- The Lottery stayed with IGT but chose to migrate to its Aurora Navigator next-generation administration portal and application-management hub – an upgrade. The project formally kicked off at the Lottery back in 2018. The project consisted of over 13,000 requirements and is used by the Lottery’s entire retailer network, which is nearly 23,000 retailers. This deployment comes as a result of the highly dedicated efforts of the entire Aurora Navigator project team that spanned across all Lottery business units and consisted of more than 60 team members. The term of the Lottery’s contract with IGT is Oct. 14, 2003, to Oct. 31, 2026, and its maximum value is $2.25 billion.
- Lottery officials “worked closely” with IGT on all testing and validation of requirements and functionality during the project and were transparent on its progress in delivering ongoing communication to customers and stakeholders. After the go-live and once terminals were online with Aurora Navigator on May 2, retailers were able to do all transactions in that new system, which is transparent and functions similarly to the previous system for terminal transactions, point-of-service reporting and Scratchers inventory management.
“We are continuing to triage post go-live issues,” Chan said, “but overall, system implementation was very successful. As with any large, complex project, organizational change management is critical along with ensuring there is very close collaboration with your program counterparts to make sure their business needs and objectives are being met.”
