GTECH extends HiQ contract

TOCKHOLM, Sweden --(PRESS RELEASE) -- 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.