Canada’s BCLC pushes digital transformation with Intralot
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) has renewed its partnership with Bally’s subsidiary Intralot Canada, signing a new contract to accelerate the integration of Shared Services across the province’s gaming operations.
Traditionally, lotteries relied on on-premise infrastructure. However, this limited their scalability and complicated integration. The move to cloud-based platforms is changing the landscape by enabling faster upgrades, seamless interoperability, and greater resilience during peak demand, resulting in reduced costs while allowing operators to innovate more quickly, according to PublicGaming.com.
Operational and technical support
Under the agreement, Intralot Canada will provide end‑to‑end operational and technical support for BCLC’s regulatory framework. The company will also lead ongoing enhancements and the rollout of new digital capabilities.
By integrating Shared Services, core functions are combined, duplication is eliminated, and workflows are streamlined. This merged framework strenghtens system reliability and disaster recovery, while cloud-based infrastructure enables easier addition of features such as online lottery platforms and sports betting, thus better customer satisfaction.
Leadership perspective
BCLC President and CEO Pat Davis described the collaboration as a milestone in the corporation’s digital transformation. As quoted in Canadian Gaming Business, he emphasised that Shared Services will deliver a more efficient, resilient operating model that promotes the player experience.
The move reflects a broader industry shift toward centralised, scalable solutions. Upcoming initiatives, which include an online lottery platform and the digitalisation of land‑based networks, align with the global trend toward omni‑channel experiences, where players engage seamlessly across physical and digital environments.
Still, cloud migration must comply with strict provincial and federal regulations. Thousands of retail partners will require training and support to adapt to the new systems, while safeguarding player data and financial transactions remains paramount.
A partnership built since 2019
Since 2019, BCLC and Intralot have worked closely, beginning with the replacement of the lottery’s legacy retail system. Their partnership expanded in 2023 with a retail sports betting overhaul powered by the Intralot Orion platform.
Two years ago, BCLC migrated its retail lottery system to Intralot’s Lotos X Omni ecosystem, becoming one of the first lotteries globally to adopt a fully cloud‑based system. Later that year, the crown corporation announced plans to launch an online lottery platform and accelerate the digitalisation of its land‑based network.
Scale of operations
Today, Intralot supports approximately 8,000 terminals across 3,400 retail locations in British Columbia, underscoring its central role in modernising the province’s gaming infrastructure.
Additionally, cloud‑based Shared Services has spurred the emergence of other technologies. For one, real‑time data analysis enables personalised promotions, tailored game recommendations, and loyalty programmes that improve engagement while maintaining responsible gaming standards.
However, digitalisation also carries heightened risk, making AI‑powered fraud detection, biometric authentication, and blockchain‑based transaction tracking critical to ensuring trust and regulatory compliance.
Aside from Canada, other countries are migrating to cloud-based Shared Services. In Poland, the Totalizator Sportowy, for instance, collaborated with IGT in 2023 to migrate its entire iLottery platform to the cloud, making it the first European lottery with a fully cloud-based end-to-end system. Some benefits include scalability, faster system enhancements, and improved player engagement.
Meanwhile, in the United States, a growing number of lotteries are exploring Azure Arc migrations to replace ageing systems that are already two or three decades old. They currently produce bottlenecks and high maintenance costs, as reported by several media outlets. Once upgraded, they would benefit from security, scalability, and cost reduction, while ensuring compliance with strict gaming regulations.
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