The French national lottery has inked a seven-year agreement with IGT to upgrade its core infrastructure to use the advanced Aurora platform, that was developed by IGT.

FDJ is the official operator of France's national lottery, which is the second largest lottery in Europe, and the third largest lottery worldwide. Following this agreement, FDJ's central system will be upgraded to IGT's advanced Aurora platform, which is designed for high-volume gaming.

“Now that we have successfully scaled FDJ’s digital offer, thanks to our new omni-channel architecture and our proprietary iLottery platform, it is time to launch the upgrade of our central draw games engine to next-level, omni-channel capabilities,” said Xavier Etienne, FDJ’s Executive VP of Technology & International.

“It is a major program in FDJ’s strategic plan, and we are pleased to pursue our longstanding collaboration with IGT to make this important step a success.”

In addition to providing the operator with instant ticket vending machines, immediate tickets, technological training and maintenance, IGT has supplied FDJ with lottery central systems for more than two decades. As a result of this improvement, FDJ's capabilities will stay updated and in line with changing consumer expectations.

According to developer IGT, Aurora's framework will be integrated to FDJ's player and retailer account management systems, facilitating end-to-end integration of classic draw games into FDJ's modern digital omni-channel infrastructure.

Jay Gendron, IGT’s COO of Lottery, remarked: “Omni-channel lottery experiences enhance player engagement and are what consumers will come to expect as part of the overall player journey as lotteries continue incorporating more digital solutions.

“The enhanced omni-channel aspects that IGT will add to FDJ’s lottery infrastructure, combined with the exceptional reliability, performance and flexibility of our Aurora platform, will help FDJ maintain the French National Lottery’s standing as one of the most successful lotteries in the world.”