IWG and Inspired partner to deliver instant win virtual sports to North American Lotteries

IWG, the award-winning supplier of online, instant win games, and Inspired Entertainment (Nasdaq: INSE), a world leader in virtual sports, have partnered together to deliver a brand new vertical for North American lotteries – instant win versions of virtual sports.

This innovative collaboration will see IWG lean on its expertise to create unique and engaging instant win games that feature Inspired’s award-winning ultra-realistic virtual sports content.

Each predetermined game will be tailored to ensure best practices in instant win game mechanics are intact, while also capturing the exciting gameplay that has made virtual sports grow to become an important product for lotteries and operators around the world.

The first iteration of instant-virtual sports will allow players to view single virtual football plays and win prizes based on the result of that play. The new game, which will go live later this year and in time for NFL playoffs, will be accessible online via the Progressive Play RGS across IWG’s lottery and commercial operator network.

Rhydian Fisher, IWG CEO, said: “We are very excited about this collaboration. These games are beautifully simple, and with the advent of sports betting in the US landscape, we feel they are a good entry point for customers who are interested in sports betting but may not have experience in doing so.

“We are confident that the instant win game play mechanics, coupled with the rich virtual animations, will prove to be popular with players and drive further revenue for good causes. It’s a great complement to our instant win portfolio and we could not be more excited to offer this to all our lottery partners.”

Digital consumers consume content at a much faster rate than in the offline world, and this has only accelerated with the growing use of mobile devices.  Instant Virtual Sports help lotteries address this by combining the worlds of e-commerce and entertainment, offering consumers the chance to win money and be entertained in the process.

Lorne Weil, Inspired Executive Chairman, said: “With the proliferation of mobile wagering and sports betting throughout North America, lotteries need to get creative to stay competitive, now more than ever. We see a huge opportunity in the North American lottery market for these products, where the instant gratification and digital format have the ability to reinforce current offerings and attract new players.

“We can’t wait to showcase these new games and, while we are starting with instant-win virtual football, we are excited to leverage additional Inspired content to grow this category with IWG.”

IWG has provided a full online instant win service to lotteries for more than 15 years, producing more than 250 high quality instant win games. It won Online Lottery Supplier of the Year at the 2017 EGR B2B Awards.

Inspired has more than 15 years of visual effects experience and has been the EGR Virtual Sports Provider of the Year for the past three years. Inspired’s life-like games appeal to a new player genre, providing fun betting options and more chances to win.

To view a demo of the new Instant-Virtual Sports games, please click here.

About IWG

IWG is a world leader in supplying online, instant win games to lotteries and commercial brands and platforms in the online gaming industry. It has over 15 years’ experience of making top selling, high quality instant win games and the strategic know how to make them work.

IWG has launched over 300 games that perform consistently at the highest level, engaging and retaining players while driving excellent results for customers. It has the knowledge to deliver a winning portfolio of games, the experience to make it grow and the sales figures and data to back this knowledge up.

IWG delivers an end-to-end solution covering all aspects of game development and portfolio management and a Remote Game Server (RGS) delivering content in multiple regulated jurisdictions from data centres in the UK, Gibraltar, Canada and North America. It has a broad library available via the RGS with games covering many proven themes and mechanics that can be developed into an ideal offering for a partner’s instant win portal.

About Inspired Entertainment, Inc.

Inspired is a global games technology company, supplying Virtual Sports, Mobile Gaming and Server Based Gaming systems with associated terminals and digital content to regulated lottery, betting and gaming operators around the world. Inspired currently operates approximately 30,000 digital gaming terminals and supplies its Virtual Sports products through more than 40,000 retail channels and over 100 websites, in approximately 35 gaming jurisdictions worldwide. Inspired employs approximately 800 employees in the UK and elsewhere, developing and operating digital games and networks.