Pollard Banknote Limited (TSX: PBL) ("Pollard Banknote") is pleased to announce a one-year extension to its contract for instant lottery tickets, game designs, and marketing services with the Massachusetts State Lottery. Under this agreement, Pollard Banknote will continue to provide the Lottery with instant products and related services through October 2016, with the possibility of another one-year extension at that time.
Pollard Banknote's relationship with the Massachusetts State Lottery dates back to 1999. Through the years, the company has successfully worked with the Lottery to help strengthen its instant game portfolio—particularly the development of its Crossword category. As the Lottery's exclusive supplier of crossword games to date, Pollard Banknote helped the Lottery launch its first $2 Cashword ticket in 2007. The category has since expanded to include offerings at the $5 and $10 price points and has seen an increase in annual sales of 159% since FY 2009—from $165 million to $427 million in FY 2015. The use of Pollard Banknote's industry-leading translucent marking system, combined with the company's expert product knowledge and unsurpassed extended play programming capabilities, have contributed to the success of these games.
Michael Sweeney, Interim Executive Director, Massachusetts State Lottery, said, "Our partnership with Pollard Banknote over the past 16 years has contributed to our record-setting success, particularly with the company's expertise in extended play games, which have experienced significant growth in recent years, helping us achieve our goal of maximizing the revenue that we deliver to cities and towns statewide."
"Pollard Banknote is pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with the Massachusetts State Lottery," said Jennifer Westbury, Executive Vice President, Sales & Customer Development, Pollard Banknote. "We are dedicated to working with the Lottery to continue to develop market-specific strategies that will leverage our unique and innovative products to foster sales growth in the State."
The Massachusetts State Lottery was established by the legislature in 1971 in response to the need for revenues for the 351 cities and towns of the Commonwealth. Each year, the Massachusetts State Lottery returns money to the Commonwealth to help aid the local communities. The Lottery is the Commonwealth's single largest source of unrestricted local aid, returning an estimated $983.5 million in net profit to the state in FY 2015.
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