HiQ and GTECH extend Joint Development Agreement
GTECH Corporation, a leading global provider of IT solutions and services to the gaming and lottery industry, has extended its cooperation agreement with HiQ. The new agreement will run for three years and is worth SEK 43 million (4.7 MEUR). GTECH and HiQ have been working together for a number of years on joint development projects of integrated gaming platforms for several of GTECH's existing lottery customers.
“Our collaboration with GTECH has worked very well, and the new extended agreement is an acknowledgement of this. The agreement extends our existing three-year contract. Demand for our combined services is good, and we naturally hope to be able to continue working together for many years to come,” says Pekka Neva, MD of HiQ Softplan Oy in Finland responsible for the collaboration on HiQ's side.
Working within the framework of the new cooperation agreement, HiQ and GTECH will continue to develop gaming platforms for several of GTECH's existing customers
“HiQ is a strategic partner that aligns well with our products and services. HiQ's expertise has been of value to us in developing interactive gaming systems. ” says Lionel Turine, Senior Director, Software Engineering, EMEA at GTECH.
In 1996, Finish Veikkaus became the first national lottery and sports betting company in the world to launch Internet gaming. Today, www.veikkaus.fi is Finland's largest e-commerce site for consumers, enabling them to play a variety of games of chance and skill, such as Lotto, Keno and various forms of sports betting. HiQ has been working closely with Veikkaus on the development of their Interactive Gaming Platform since 1996.
For further information, please contact:
Lars Stugemo, President and CEO HiQ, tel +46 8 588 90 000
Pekka Neva, Managing Director, HiQ Softplan Oy, tel: +358 9 4355 8634
Anna Jennehov, Head of Corporate Communications, HiQ International, tel: +46 704 20 00 49
Lionel Turine, Senior Director, Software Engineering, EMEA, GTECH Global Services, tel: +32 2 678 13 24
GTECH is a leading gaming technology and services company, providing innovative technology, creative content, and superior service delivery. Lottomatica is one of the world's largest commercial lottery operators and a market leader in the Italian gaming industry. GTECH and Lottomatica together create a fully integrated lottery operator and gaming technology solutions provider – a combined company with worldwide scale, considerable financial strength, and industry-leading customer solutions. Lottomatica is majority owned by De Agostini, which belongs to a century-old publishing, media, and financial services group. Lottomatica is publicly traded on the Italian Stock Exchange (LTO), and in 2006, had more than €1.7 billion in revenues and 5,900 employees in over 45 countries when combined with GTECH.