North Carolina Education Lottery Extends Fastest Growing Instant Game Program in U.S. with Scientific Games

Successful Partnership Positions Lottery for Future Growth to Benefit North Carolina Students, Serves as Model for World Lotteries

Scientific Games and the North Carolina Education Lottery have extended their partnership behind the fastest-growing instant scratch game program in the U.S. based on year-over-year growth. The partnership has propelled the NCEL to the No. 6 ranked lottery in the world for instant game performance (La Fleur’s 2022 Almanac per capita sales) and gained attention as the model for U.S. and international lotteries. The Scientific Games Enhanced Partnership helped responsibly grow NCEL Scratch-Off sales from $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2022. With this partnership, Scientific Games provides portfolio management across the Lottery’s entire scratch game offerings.

The Scientific Games Enhanced Partnership with NCEL began in 2017, aligning the Lottery for future growth to support education across North Carolina, including school construction and scholarships for students attending in-state colleges and universities.

Mark Michalko, NCEL Executive Director, said, “Our partnership with Scientific Games helps the N.C. Education Lottery achieve its goals, and we look forward to continuing our good work together. Last year, the success of scratch-off sales helped to raise $929 million to support education programs in North Carolina. We are aligned in our approach to maximize responsible growth in the coming years. Scratch-off games are the most popular games played in North Carolina and we look for continued success in our ongoing partnership with Scientific Games.”

Through the Scientific Games Enhanced Partnership, the company helps NCEL optimize its product portfolio through portfolio management and game design services, data-driven analytics, advanced logistics, licensed brand services, and retail sales and marketing support. The program is used by more than 20 lotteries, including six of the Top 10-performing instant game lotteries worldwide (La Fleur’s 2022 World Lottery Almanac).

John Schulz, President of Americas and Global Instant Products for Scientific Games, said, “The North Carolina Education Lottery is a great example of how Scientific Games and a lottery can partner on instant games to optimize the product portfolio and generate maximum revenues to benefit residents in the state. The program in North Carolina is a model for the world’s lotteries.”

With products generating more than 70% of global instant game retail sales, Scientific Games is the world’s largest instant games creator, producer and services provider in the world. The company provides retail and digital games, technology, analytics and services to 130 lotteries in 50 countries around the globe, including nearly every North American lottery.