The New Mexico Lottery board has voted unanimously to move forward with the creation of a game tied to the outcome of sporting events (sports lottery) as well as to grant a two-year extension on its existing online systems contact with Intralot.

The New Mexico Lottery will be the first in the US to authorize a sports wagering lottery game to be available through its entire retail network, comprising approximately 1,100 retail terminals. Players will be able to make their selections from a wide menu of sporting events made available to them together with their possible outcomes (Parlay wagering game).

Specifically, the agreement includes the deployment and customization of Intralot’s holistic and cross-channel sports lottery gaming platform along with the terminal software for the operation of its 1,100 terminals. Intralot will also provide the lottery with its suite of fully managed services related to the sports lottery game including risk management and trading services guaranteeing the payout of the game as well as product and marketing services.

The firm will also offer dedicated training to all of New Mexico’s retail network and lottery personnel, as well as related system operation, software maintenance and supporting activities.

David Barden, New Mexico Lottery CEO, stated: “Today we reinforced our strong partnership with our systems vendor, Intralot by extending our contract for another two years.  We also moved the lottery industry forward as we took the approval from our board to launch a sports lottery game throughout our retail network.

“We are convinced sports lottery games will provide new and exciting experiences for our players while significantly increasing dollars being transferred to our scholarship fund for student beneficiaries.  We are always looking for games that strengthen our Lottery brand by attracting Millennials and other new players.  Lottery games of this type are fun to play and will move us in that direction.”

Intralot group CEO Antonios Kerastaris stated: “This is a special day for us, not only because we renew our partnership with a great client but also for breaking ground with a new sports lottery contract, leveraging our extensive experience and our latest technology on sports prognostics, our first such venture in the US in the post-PASPA period.  I look forward to the new era bringing in all our lottery modernization expertise while extending my sincere thanks the New Mexico Lottery for their trust and continued partnership.”