Press Release

Pollard Banknote Awarded Players’ Loyalty Program Contract By The Kansas Lottery

New PlayOn® Loyalty Program Powered By Leading Technology Partner, Stellar Loyalty

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, December 15, 2016 /CNW/ Pollard Banknote Limited (TSX: PBL) (“Pollard Banknote”) is pleased to announce it has been awarded a six-year contract to provide the Kansas Lottery with a new Players’ Loyalty solution and program, including development of new mobile and web apps, hosting, operating, and ongoing program optimization of the Kansas Lottery’s new PlayOn® Players’ Loyalty Program. The contract also includes the option of four additional one-year extensions.

The Kansas Lottery’s Players’ Loyalty Program will leverage Pollard Banknote’s PlayOn® player engagement solution, which is powered by a modern, big data cloud and mobile platform from Pollard Banknote’s partner Stellar Loyalty. The program is designed to support lotteries in achieving key business objectives such as acquiring and engaging players before, during, and after ticket purchases across all channels, including web, mobile, and social player engagement channels.

The program will evolve the Kansas Lottery’s existing program by providing a new points and rewards-based player engagement solution, adding value to both winning and non-winning instant and draw game tickets. Players will be able to use the Lottery’s new mobile app to scan tickets for easy points accumulation and entry into second chance contests. Additional features include rewards for social engagement, interactive surveys, fun free play, and more. PlayOn® enhances the lottery experience by further engaging players, in particular a younger tech-savvy demographic, across all lottery touchpoints.

As the most functionally-rich loyalty and engagement platform on the market, the solution provides sophisticated business analytics and insights, enabling the Lottery to capture valuable player data and interactions. The accumulation of these insights can then be transformed into personalized communications to deliver meaningful and contextually-relevant communications, providing added value and incentives to lottery players.

“The primary objectives of our Players’ Loyalty Program are to deliver more interactive features for players, build our player base through increased player sign-ups, and support our retail network by using the unique tools of the Players’ Loyalty Program to drive players to retail,” said Terry Presta, Executive Director, Kansas Lottery. “Pollard Banknote has proven experience producing innovative entertainment products and services, and we are eager to incorporate their technology to enrich our player experience.”

“We are excited to continue our successful relationship with the Kansas Lottery on a new front as their player loyalty partner,” said Doug Pollard, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Pollard Banknote. “The lottery industry currently faces a common barrier—anonymous players. Unlike other industries that are able to develop intimate levels of understanding about their consumers’ preferences and purchase behaviors, lottery consumers remain largely unknown due to the anonymity of purchases at retail. Our PlayOn® player engagement solution acts as a first step to acquiring consumer information, capturing interactions, and providing lotteries with in-depth insights and analytics about their players’ preferences, behaviors, and expectations. This information will enable the Kansas Lottery to better understand its customers in order to market to them more effectively and interact with them in more meaningful and personalized ways.”

Pollard Banknote’s PlayOn® player engagement solution is powered by Stellar Loyalty—the world’s most technologically-advanced loyalty software company. PlayOn® leverages the company’s Stellar Consumer Relationship Cloud applications to facilitate the functionalities of the platform and provide analytical insights to lotteries. Together, Pollard Banknote and Stellar Loyalty bring added value to a lottery’s customer experience by rewarding and engaging players and delivering consumable/actionable business insights to our lottery partners.

“We applaud the Kansas Lottery’s commitment to reimagining its consumer experience and bringing a fresh new approach to lottery engagement, one that’s built to keep pace with digital consumer expectations,” said Kevin Nix, CEO of Stellar Loyalty. “We are honored to have been selected along with Pollard Banknote as their strategy and technology partner, applying our experience and expertise from a host of consumer-facing industries, such as retail and hospitality, to take player engagement to a whole new level with fast and agile solutions. Together, we aim to redefine state lottery player engagement for the modern era.”

Since its inauguration in 1987, the Kansas Lottery has continuously provided revenue in support of several state programs, including the Economic Development Initiatives Fund, which works to create and retain jobs in Kansas. Lottery revenue also supports activities of the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. In addition, Lottery revenue provides direct funding for programs that benefit Kansas military veterans, such as the Veterans Enhanced Service Delivery Program, which brings services to veterans and their families where they live. For more information about the Kansas Lottery, please visit www.kslottery.com.

About Pollard Banknote

Pollard Banknote is a leading lottery partner to more than 60 lotteries worldwide, providing high quality instant ticket products, licensed games and strategic marketing and management services for both traditional instant games and the emerging iLottery space of web, mobile and social channels.  The company is a proven innovator and has decades of experience helping lotteries to maximize player engagement, sales, and proceeds for good causes.  Pollard Banknote also plays a major role in the charitable pull-tab and bingo markets in North America. Established in 1907, Pollard Banknote is owned approximately 73.5% by the Pollard family and 26.5% by public shareholders and is publicly traded on the TSX (PBL). For more information, please visit our website at www.pollardbanknote.com.

About Stellar Loyalty

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Stellar Loyalty is a fast-growing consumer relationship company with a mobile-best SaaS loyalty and engagement solution. The company’s mission is to bring delight and value to every consumer experience by enabling brands to instantly recognize, engage, and reward their loyal customers across the network of digital, physical, and human interactions. Founded in 2014 and funded by InterWest Partners and TDF Ventures, Stellar Loyalty is privately held with offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more details please visit www.stellarloyalty.com or follow Stellar Loyalty on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter @StellarLoyalty. Stellar Loyalty is a trademark of Stellar Loyalty Inc.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward-looking” statements and information, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. When used in this document, such statements include such words as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “plan,” and other similar terminology. These statements reflect management’s current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date of this document. There should not be an expectation that such information will in all circumstances be updated, supplemented, or revised whether as a result of new information, changing circumstances, future events, or otherwise.

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Doug Pollard
Co-Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: dpollard@pbl.ca

John Pollard
Co-Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: jpollard@pbl.ca

Rob Rose
Chief Financial Officer
E-mail: rrose@pbl.ca

Pollard Banknote Limited
Telephone: (204) 474-2323

Narina Sippy
Chief Marketing Officer, Stellar Loyalty
E-mail: narina.sippy@stellarloyalty.com
Telephone: (415) 690-3381