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DATE

Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 8 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chief Executive Officer — Vincent Sadusky
  • Chief Financial Officer — Massimiliano Chiara

TAKEAWAYS

  • Total Revenue -- $587 million, up 1% as reported and 3% on a constant currency basis, driven by strong performance in Italy and a favorable U.S. mix, partially offset by the U.K. transition.
  • Adjusted EBITDA -- $287 million, growing 15% as reported and 5% at constant currency, with a reported margin near 49% (approximately 42% excluding license amortization).
  • Italy Same-store Sales -- Increased 3%, supported by new product innovations, including EUR 5 and EUR 10 Infinity Instants and the EUR 30 Milione Di Manta ticket.
  • U.S. Same-store Sales -- Flat, with performance varying by jurisdiction and growth seen in Florida, Indiana, and Michigan, while California faced more challenging comparisons.
  • Global iLottery Wagers -- Rose 30%, with U.S. iLottery wagers up 36% and Italy iLottery wagers up 27%, reflecting broad momentum and new game launches.
  • Shareholder Returns -- Over $70 million returned through $30 million in share repurchases and a $42 million cash dividend ($0.23 per share); dividend yield approaching 7% on a last twelve months basis.
  • Net Debt Leverage -- Ended the period at 2.4x, noted as one of the company's lowest levels, but guided to a near-term peak around 3.5x post-Italy license payment before resuming a downward trajectory.
  • New Jersey LMA Shortfall -- $10 million shortfall booked in the quarter, with a projected $20 million total shortfall for the first half of 2026, representing the maximum contract penalty.
  • Capital Expenditures -- $110 million, with approximately two-thirds allocated to rollout of new terminals in Italy.
  • Liquidity and Debt Actions -- Total liquidity around EUR 1.8 billion post-license payment; renewed revolving credit facility with maturity extended to March 2031 and repaid EUR 200 million term loan.
  • Full Year Outlook -- Reaffirmed guidance for revenue, profit, and cash flow targets, with expectations for H2 improvement in revenue and margin as retail and digital initiatives accelerate.

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RISKS

  • Chief Financial Officer Massimiliano Chiara stated, "we are currently trending towards incurring a similar LMA shortfall in New Jersey in the second quarter." The expected combined shortfall for the first half of 2026 reaches approximately $20 million, representing the contract's maximum penalty level for the fiscal year.
  • Management indicated that "Second quarter revenue is expected to be below the prior year, primarily due to higher service revenue amortization," and adjusted EBITDA is "currently expected to be modestly below the prior year." These reflect ongoing effects from the U.K. transition, continued New Jersey LMA shortfall, and heightened investment spending.
  • Persistently weak Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot activity, referenced as "really unprecedented" and structurally underperforming, is contributing to US retail softness and directly affecting New Jersey contract financials.

SUMMARY

Brightstar Lottery PLC (BRSL 9.55%) reported first-quarter results with modest reported growth masking stronger constant currency momentum, especially in Italy and iLottery segments. Management emphasized strategic execution, citing initiatives in game innovation, retail optimization, and digital expansion as H2 revenue and profit catalysts. The balance sheet strengthened after the Italy lotto license payment, with management expecting leverage to peak around 3.5x before declining in subsequent quarters.

  • The company deployed 11 iLottery platforms globally, and content is active in 12 jurisdictions, supporting a broad digital footprint.
  • Rollout of self-service vending machines, retail partnerships with a new national chain, and completion of upgraded Italian point-of-sale terminals are expected in H2 to support sales growth.
  • Digital direct-to-consumer functionality in Italy is slated for full mobile launch later in Q2, targeting conversion of about 1 million monthly app users to active digital players.
  • Sao Paulo market entry is underway, with digital launch planned for H2 2026 and retail rollout from early 2027, representing a new market for integrated retail-digital lottery operations.
  • Management updated its FX guide for the year to EUR 1.17, reflecting recent currency moves.
  • AI and the Optima efficiency program are contributing incremental cost savings, notably in game development, recommendation engines, and field operations.
  • Ordinary dividend has increased by about 15% over the last two quarters, though further increases paused temporarily due to the lotto payment.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • LMA (Lottery Management Agreement): Contractual arrangement in which Brightstar operates a state lottery, assuming both upside incentive and downside shortfall risk on net income performance.
  • eInstant: Instant‑win digital lottery games, distinct from traditional draw‑based or retail scratch tickets.
  • Optima program: Brightstar’s internal operational efficiency and cost-saving initiative, leveraging technology and AI.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Vincent Sadusky: Great. Thank you for joining us today. Well, we delivered a solid start to the year with first quarter results reflecting the strength of our global portfolio and disciplined execution against our strategic priorities. While reported revenue growth was modest, underlying performance was stronger and profitability expanded, demonstrating the resilience of our business model and the impact of our operational initiatives. Revenue for the quarter was approximately $590 million, increasing 1% as reported and 3% on a constant currency basis, excluding service revenue amortization. Growth was driven by strong performance in Italy and a favorable mix in the United States, partially offset by the impact of the U.K. transition.

Adjusted EBITDA grew 15% as reported and 5% in constant currency, reflecting both operating discipline and continued benefits from our Optima efficiency program. This level of increase and associated margin expansion is a clear indication that we're executing well while continuing to invest for long-term growth. Our balance sheet remains a source of strength. We ended the quarter with net debt leverage of 2.4x, one of the lowest levels we have achieved, positioning us well ahead of the final lotto payment completed last month. Capital allocation remains consistent and disciplined. In the first quarter, we returned more than $70 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

These actions reflect our confidence in the durability of our cash flows and our view that the current share price does not fully reflect the intrinsic value of the business. Now let me turn to our strategic priorities for 2026 and the progress we've made in the first quarter. Game innovation and portfolio optimization continue to be key drivers of performance, particularly in Italy, where same-store sales grew 3%. Scratch & Win performance benefited from the successful launch of new Infinity Instants at EUR 5 and EUR 10 price points as well as Milione Di Manta, our first EUR 30 ticket. We are seeing continued consumer demand for premium offerings, reinforcing the strength and evolution of the Italian market.

In draw-based games, product enhancements are also gaining traction. In March, we launched [ ByPay by Quattro ], expanding our portfolio with format modeled on proven U.S. game mechanics. In the United States, same-store sales were flat and below our expectations. Performance varied significantly by jurisdiction. We saw growth in markets such as Florida, Indiana and Michigan, where innovation cadence and price point expansion remains favorable. In contrast, large markets, including California, faced more challenging comparisons. One notable highlight was the February launch of Millionaire for Life, a multi-jurisdiction draw game with an enhanced price structure. Early results are encouraging, and we see meaningful long-term potential as distribution expands. Turning to digital and iLottery, where we continue to lead globally.

We now have 11 iLottery platforms deployed worldwide with e-instant content available across 12 jurisdictions. In the first quarter, global iLottery wagers increased 30%, reflecting broad-based momentum across our portfolio. In the U.S., wagers grew 36%, led by strong performance in Michigan, Georgia and Kentucky as well as the expansion of eInstant in Virginia. In Italy, wagers increased 27%, supported by new game launches and continued strength in established franchises. Milione Di Manta contributed to a strong finish to the quarter, including a new single day wagering record. Beyond iLottery, we're making important progress in our direct-to-consumer digital strategy in Italy. Our offering now includes a full suite of lottery products, about 500 casino games and newly launched sports betting.

We are particularly focused on converting our approximately 1 million monthly app users into active digital players. Full wagering functionality will be introduced on mobile later this quarter, and we expect those efforts supported by our retail network to begin contributing more meaningfully in the second half of the year. Finally, channel expansion and new content -- contract opportunities remain important growth levers. In the U.S., we continue to expand and enhance our retail footprint through investment in self-service vending machines. These upgrades, including cashless capabilities and optimized game mix, are driving strong engagement and are now being scaled beyond the success we've had in California into additional states such as New Jersey and Indiana.

We are also expanding distribution through new retail partnerships. Our initial rollout in a new national retailer with thousands of locations is currently underway with additional states expected to follow. This represents a meaningful opportunity to broaden access and drive incremental sales. In Italy, we are progressing on the rollout of upgraded point-of-sale terminals under the new Lotto license with completion expected in the third quarter. Another growth initiative is Sao Paulo, where we are currently building a full-service lottery from the ground up, integrating retail and digital capabilities into a modern, scalable platform. A digital launch is planned for the second half of this year, followed by a retail rollout beginning in early 2027.

In summary, we are executing well against our strategic priorities with solid first quarter performance and continued momentum across key growth initiatives. We expect these investments to contribute more meaningfully to revenue and profit as the year progresses. With that, I'll turn the call over to Max to discuss our financial results and outlook in more detail.

James Hurley: Please bear with us. It seems like we're having some technical difficulties with Max's mic.

Massimiliano Chiara: Can you hear me now? Okay. I apologize. We have some connection issues connecting here from Italy. So I would like to pick up from Slide 10. So thank you, Vince, and hello, everyone, joining us on the call today. Our first quarter results reflect modest reported growth, stronger underlying momentum at constant currency and outcomes broadly in line with our expectations for the quarter, demonstrating the resilience of our portfolio and the effectiveness of our operating focus on disciplined cost management, especially as we continue to invest in long-term strategic initiatives. First quarter revenue of $587 million increased 1% as reported.

More importantly, growth at constant currency and before noncash service revenue amortization, which is about $50 million higher per quarter with the start of the new lotto concession was 3% or 5% net of the U.K. transition. As a reminder, the U.K. transition started in August 2025. So we have 1 full quarter plus 1 month left to anniversary the transition in year-to-year comparisons. As for the components of reported revenue growth, instant ticket and draw wager-based revenue was in line with the prior year at constant currency as strong more than 3% Italy same-store sales growth and favorable mix in the U.S. was offset by the impact of the U.K. transition.

Other service revenue increased 14%, primarily on LMA dynamics. There are 2 drivers at play. The first is higher pass-through revenue, which has no profit associated with it. The second is a lower shortfall accrual in Q1 '26 compared to the prior year period. This outcome differed from our expectations. Initially, we were expecting a breakeven LMA outcome in the quarter.

Instead, we booked a $10 million shortfall, specifically associated with the New Jersey LMA due to the combination of 2 factors affecting the New Jersey incentive calculation, a constant increase in the contractual annual net income target, which was known and since the large -- the last large jackpot in late December '25, Powerball hit 2x at or below $250 million. This phenomenon, in addition to the continued subdued Mega Million performance in the period, prevented any large jackpot formation in Q1.

Since Powerball has also hit multiple times at very low levels to date in Q2, we are currently trending towards incurring a similar LMA shortfall in New Jersey in the second quarter as there is not enough time left in the period to develop a jackpot above $700 million, the level at which we tend to see jackpot sales inflect. This results in an approximate $20 million New Jersey shortfall for the first half of 2026, which is in line with the prior year and represents the maximum cat penalty in this contract fiscal year. Our team has developed several strategies to help mitigate the New Jersey LMA jackpot sensitivity going forward.

One is improved payout on new instant ticket games, which is already driving stronger sales in March and April. Another is the increased deployment of self-service vending machines, which have delivered immediate sales lift. Outside of the New Jersey LMA contract, modest jackpot activity did not have a meaningful impact to our sales, demonstrating its limited exposure in the overall business. Moving now to our very resilient profit performance. We delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $287 million in the first quarter, a 15% increase as reported and up 5% at constant currency with a reported EBITDA margin of nearly 49%.

The increased upfront license fee amortization artificially bolstered the EBITDA margin, which would have been approximately 42% in Q1 '26, and about 40% last year, excluding that item. Contributors to the strong profit growth included high flow-through of strong Italy same-store sales growth, the reduced LMA shortfall, continued progress on our Optima cost savings initiatives and certain expense recoveries. Partial offsets to growth were the U.K. transition, human capital investments tied to retention, execution and long-term value and significant investment in growth initiatives during the quarter. In fact, approximately $20 million of the year's $50 million investment spend was incurred in Q1. We also experienced inflationary pressures impacting postage and freight and other costs.

In addition, we saw a nice year-over-year improvement in income from operations driven by 3 main items: the adjusted EBITDA growth just mentioned, FX, which is a noncash positive impact from a change in the euro-dollar exchange rate on debt balances at the parent company and a lower tax provision resulting from various strategic actions we have taken to lower our effective tax rate in the last 2 years. For the full year 2026, we currently expect an effective tax rate in the high 30% range compared to 55% in the prior year and heading closer to our normalized rate in the mid- to low 30s.

We expect full year '26 cash taxes in the range of around $150 million versus $220 million in the prior year period. First quarter cash from operations of $165 million was in line with our expectations and reflect an over $50 million negative impact from timing of working capital items, primarily reflected to the day of the week that the quarter ended on in Italy and the associated collection cycle. While this tracks behind the full year run rate, the timing impacts are expected to reverse in the second quarter. And we are reaffirming our expectations for full year 2026 cash generation.

Capital expenditures totaled $110 million with about 2/3 of the investments related to the rollout of new terminals in Italy. We returned over $70 million to shareholders, including $30 million in share repurchases and a cash dividend of $42 million or $0.23 per share. Our LTM quarterly cash dividend yield is nearly 7%. While no payments were due on the Italy lotto upfront license fee in the quarter, I just want to remind you of the funding requirement. The first 2 installments totaling $926 million were paid in 2025 and the final installment of $1.67 billion was paid on April 24.

While the full amount of the license fee is reported in cash from ops, Brightstar is only responsible for its 61.5% share with the balance funded by our minority partners. As a matter of fact, Brightstar balance sheet and credit profile are strong with net debt leverage of 2.4x. We expect leverage to peak around 3.5x midyear and anticipate that it will subsequently restart a more favorable trajectory thereafter. Total liquidity following the payment is around EUR 1.8 billion, providing substantial support for our capital allocation plans.

In April, we successfully refinanced our revolving credit facility, moving its new maturity date to March 2031, with improved terms and subsequently fully repaid the EUR 200 million outstanding principal amount due under the euro-denominated term loan due 2027. We have a sound profile on our debt with no near-term maturities and very competitive terms on our senior note. Turning now to our outlook. Second quarter revenue is expected to be below the prior year, primarily due to higher service revenue amortization.

Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter is currently expected to be modestly below the prior year as underlying growth in the business and continued cost discipline is more than offset by the impact of the U.K. transition and the likelihood of a higher New Jersey LMA shortfall in addition to investments in growth initiatives. We are reaffirming our full year 2026 revenue, profit and cash flow outlook. As Vince outlined, we are executing on many initiatives to drive accelerated revenue and profit growth in the second half of the year and beyond. We believe that diversity mitigates the risk associated with any single area of focus as our Q1 clearly demonstrated.

In addition, our LTM sales and adjusted EBITDA performance, coupled with the proven resilience of lottery in the face of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty gives us confidence we can deliver on our financial target for the current year. Now we'd like to open the call for your questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Jeff Stantial with Stifel.

Jeffrey Stantial: Maybe just starting off, Max, that last point that you raised of some initiatives to try to drive reacceleration in the back half of the year. If you think about sort of bridging between the, call it, 1% of growth in global same-store sales for Q1 and then last quarter, I think you sort of talked about 3-ish percent, 2% from retail, from iLottery. If you think about how you go from 1% to 3%, you mentioned some initiatives, retailer, self-service terminals, you mentioned sort of the timing of product. Can you just sort of walk through or help us think about rank ordering, which of these is most material?

And then if you could also help us think about sort of like which ones you feel like you have the cleanest line of sight to, which ones might require sort of state or lottery partner approvals to roll out and sort of your degree of confidence in this back half acceleration?

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes. So to ground everyone up around the 5% organic growth projections for the year, we anticipate effectively 2026 to behave more or less similarly to '25, where we see a second half that will be more prominent or expected to be more prominent than the first half of the year. As a result of a couple of factors, not least the U.K. transition, which is still negatively affecting our revenue growth by about 1% -- sorry, 2% each quarter negatively. While instead in the second half, we anticipate product sales to be a significant positive contributor with between 3% and 5% contributions for each of the 2 remaining quarters of the year.

So again, that is backed by an order backlog with deliveries expected to be completed between Q3 and the majority in Q4 of the year. From a same-store sales trajectory, we expect the same-store sales to pick up in the second half as well on the back of those retail initiatives that Vince and I mentioned during the call, more prominently the game innovation with the introduction of the new price point, the vending machine expansion, the new retailer contracts that are also providing additional point of sales overall in the second half as we roll out the initiatives.

And so all of that together is supposed to give us a little bit of pickup in the second half of the year versus the first half of the year. Then obviously, we would anticipate a sort of a normalization of the multistate jackpot. Again, similarly to what has happened last year, the sequence of jackpots in the first 4 months of the year -- 4.5 months of the year has been extremely negative, even worse than a year ago. And so again, we think that some sort of normalization may occur in the second half that should help us contribute favorably to kind of get to a total retail performance in the year, up 3% versus the previous year.

And then we have the 2 growth initiatives, mainly the iLottery that continues to overachieve our projections in terms of growth rate to contribute 1% as well as the Italy B2C initiative also to start ramping up more decisively in the second half of the year and finishing up the year with about a 1% contribution on a total year basis.

Jeffrey Stantial: That's great. And then maybe switching gears, you talked about in the release notes some margin pressure from higher postage and freight costs. Can you just help us think about sort of the magnitude of impact here resulting from the spike we've seen in crude? And on the guidance piece, did you assume sort of a consistent impact through the remainder of the year? Did you anchor to the forward curve? Just how do you sort of think about the impact through the remainder of the year?

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes, the inflationary pressure per se is not super significant. We're talking about a few million dollars in the quarter, mostly concentrated in the postage and freight activity. So we think that this is a manageable number within our cost initiatives. We think we can absorb that impact relatively easily during the year.

Jeffrey Stantial: Perfect. And then if I could just squeeze in one quick housekeeping. Apologies if I missed this, Max. Did you say what the embedded euro assumption was for the full year guide? Is it still 115? Or did that move just given I think spot moved a little bit higher since reported?

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes. I mean, fair questions. I think at this point, with 4.5 months in, it's probably the right thing to do is to update the FX to the EUR 1.17. There is still some volatility associated with that, but we believe the EUR 1.17 is more appropriate than the EUR 1.15 at this point.

Operator: Your next question comes from Barry Jonas with Truist.

Barry Jonas: I wanted to start on the multistate lotteries. I believe Powerball is going to be expanding internationally. So I wanted to get your thoughts on any potential upside there and walk us through the timing? And then just on the other side of the coin, clearly, Mega Millions hasn't achieved the results we were hoping with the increase to $5. So there's been some talks about tweaks from the consortium and just wanted to get your thoughts on those potential tweaks.

Massimiliano Chiara: We cannot hear you.

Barry Jonas: Sorry, did you not hear the question?

Operator: This is Ellen operator. Barry, if you could please repeat your question to confirm our speakers can hear it.

Barry Jonas: Great. Can you guys hear me now?

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes.

Barry Jonas: Okay. Great. So my question was a 2-parter on the multistate lotteries. First, Powerball is expanding internationally. So I wanted to get your thoughts on potential upside there and timing. And then for Mega Millions, I believe the consortium is talking about making tweaks to potentially improve results. So I was hoping you can give us some color on those tweaks and expectations there.

Massimiliano Chiara: Sorry, I cannot hear, Vince, unfortunately. So I hope Barry you can hear me, and I apologize, but...

Barry Jonas: I can hear you.

Massimiliano Chiara: We are connecting from different locations. So yes, the Powerball game is expanding internationally and is scheduled to go live in the U.K. later this summer, pending final regulatory approval. The game will cost GBP 4 and the jackpot will be the only share element of the price structure. The anticipation is that about GBP 0.68 for every U.K. ticket will go towards the jackpot, consistent with an absolute value per the U.S.-based game contribution. So again, we think that overall, the game will provide some support to the formation of the jackpot in the U.S. and this is the positive information that could provide an upside again to the game overall.

And so I think this is a positive development at the end of the day because it will create additional support to the development of the jackpot. So we are not per se forecasting any significant sales increase as this type of expansion is unprecedented. So we would like to be very conservative. And we need to understand, first of all, how the U.S. players will react to this expansion before we really can take some significant upside.

Barry Jonas: Okay. Got it. And then just for Mega Millions, are there actions the consortium can take to maybe improve trends there? Or is it just a waiting game to get the jackpots at a sufficient level?

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes. So again, as we all now realize, I mean, the sales on the Mega Millions are below the prior year levels. And it's very clear at this point, consumers don't appreciate the value proposition of the $5 price point. As a reminder, the higher price point was introduced in April of '25. Since then, the jackpot, to be fair, has been hit 6x, which has not allowed the formation of a jackpot exceeding $1 billion so far. We got one time barely just below the $1 billion. So again, when you take this statistic and compare it to previous years, based on wagers on average, the jackpot would have been hit 2 or 3 times in the same period.

So again, the frequency of hitting has been much, much greater than what we have experienced in the previous years. And again, yes, as you said, there has been some discussions around evaluating options to optimize the game. But so far, nothing has been decided from the consortium point of view.

Vincent Sadusky: Sorry, we had some technical issues. It's been a morning of technical issues here in Rhode Island with otherwise a beautiful day here in New England. Max, I assume you took the question on Powerball and it sounds like multistate jackpots in general. So if there's anything else I can help out with there. But otherwise, I think we're back.

Massimiliano Chiara: Very good. So I want to -- Barry, just to finish up on this important commentary. As you can imagine, we were grounded on 2 games. Now 1 of the 2 games is definitely structurally underperforming. So there is more -- that puts more pressure on the game, if you want, left, Powerball to perform. And unfortunately, again, also on Powerball, 5 hit since the beginning of the year, all 5 below $250 million or 1 of the 5 at $250 million is really unprecedented from the last few years of statistic. And so that also has put a lot of pressure on the game.

Having said that, our own exposure to the multi-state jackpot on a year-over-year basis has been very, very limited with the only exception of the New Jersey LMA contract, as I explained in my prepared remarks.

Barry Jonas: Understood. Maybe just one more follow-up. Now that pro forma leverage after the last Italy payment is 3.5 and the shares are still depressed. How are you thinking about capital allocation here? And maybe just timing to hit that mid-cycle target of 3x or less?

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes. So I think with the payment behind us, we're probably going to see the peak of that leverage on or around 3.5, probably on the low end of 3.5 potentially. And since then, we anticipate that leverage to come down gradually over the next few quarters. And so definitely, we are very cognizant of the fact that we have an ability to bring the leverage back to our long-term target of 3x over the foreseeable future without compromising our investments, our core investments and/or our support to the balanced capital allocation plan that we launched July last year and that we are in full execution mode.

Since then, we have been able to deliver about 60% on the buyback program, the $500 million program. And the rest of the program is still open for execution. And we anticipate that you will see from time to time, the company being able to continue to execute on the remaining part of the program. Plus in addition to that, we have been able to also increase our ordinary dividend to the tune of about 15% over the last 2 quarters. We have taken a pause on the increase this quarter because, again, we had to absorb that large last lotto payment in April.

But with that in mind, I think we have the ability to continue to support our capital allocation plan going forward.

Operator: Your next question comes from Chad Beynon with Macquarie Capital.

Chad Beynon: I was wondering if you could elaborate just a little bit more just in terms of opportunities on the AI front in this business, either from a cost savings standpoint or just from an efficiency standpoint, if any of that has improved as we've kind of worked through the year thus far?

Vincent Sadusky: Yes. Chad, I'll take the question. So we've done a lot of work in this area, including using third-party consultants to assist us and then also assess where Brightstar stands relative to others in the industry and then more importantly, I think, outside of the industry. And I think we've -- we're in pretty good shape in terms of our evolution. So I think I've mentioned in the past, a while back, we put in a governance structure for the management and utilization of various AI tools. So we've got the tools in place. We've got our controls and guidelines. We've got a structured program. We had an innovation committee where our senior executives sit on that committee.

I chair it. And we've got just a lot of best-in-class techniques, including really robust training programs for our managers. So I think we've talked about some of the examples of our initiatives, including the game creation, especially in the area of art. Our eInstant game launches are leveraging AI, our game recommendation engine, which we believe is best-in-class, utilizes a fair amount of AI in its technology stack.

We've done things like become more efficient and effective in an area such as field services, which utilizes a terrific amount of resources on a daily basis in each one of our major jurisdictions to canvas the state and be able to provide strong customer support in the area of troubleshooting and repair as well as kind of a lot of the typical stuff that other companies are doing in the corporate area. So I think a big part of what we've been able to deliver in the first quarter in terms of incremental efficiencies and cost reductions, a lot of that is based upon innovation and AI.

And as the team each quarter is more and more engaged, it's really been the team that's been super helpful in incrementally identifying opportunities for improved services as well as efficiency. So our Optima program, which Max continually updates that we continue to grow the -- what our projected opportunity is over the next several years. And much of that is based on the utilization of AI, especially around the area of efficiency on software engineering, which is a significant part of our business, right down to the delivery and maintenance of the servicing.

Those are the areas that we primarily benefited, and we see benefits increasing over time as we get smarter and better at this and take on more projects and refine our execution.

Chad Beynon: That's great. And then last quarter, we opened up the window a little bit more in terms of M&A opportunities, whether it's iLottery or other areas of the business. Can you just kind of talk about your appetite in M&A given the second payment will be made in your free cash flow and cash position is maybe just a little bit more understood at this point.

Vincent Sadusky: Yes, sure thing. So as we report every quarter, the growth opportunities and the growth -- the high-growth areas that we've experienced have, of course, been in the area of iLottery. We've got the -- we are the leading global provider of iLottery platforms and content. Our games are performing great. We've got 11 or 12 platform customers out there. We have platform customers coming online in 2027. And we've also added our content to customers that don't deploy our platform. So we've invested for years. We feel like we've got a best-in-class team. And our acceleration, I think, of the delivery of top-performing games as well as platform refinement has been really impressive.

So I think we've got the capabilities that we've built organically that have enabled us to achieve that 20-plus to 30% iLottery growth quarter after quarter. And now it's becoming more meaningful as the absolute number is getting larger. And now we've got a couple of big deployments that are pretty exciting. We go online with Sao Paulo in July. And of course, it will take time before those numbers become meaningful. But I think it's exciting because it's a mobile-first community. It's got a decent amount of economic activity. And it's a place where you could see a different paradigm with digital exceeding retail right from the start.

So the team has been actively involved in the development of that platform and is excited about that launch of eInstant in the third quarter. And then, of course, the B2C area in Italy. That's, of course, our home turf. We've got a very, very good team of veterans that have been working on putting together the best-in-class platform and are excited to really launch full functionality around our MyLotteries app in Italy in this particular quarter, end of the second quarter as well as all of the marketing that goes along with it. And we've increased our iLottery market share a couple of points from a year ago.

So still early days in terms of that focused activity around digital in Italy. And as you know, we've been building up our game library there such that we've got about 500 iCasino games available now, including live casino games, skill-based games and sports betting. So I think we're in good shape. And if there's an area where we'd be looking to potentially engage in M&A, I don't expect it would be anything massive. But the ability to gain some incremental expertise or market share, I think, would be something that we would be open to, where we could quickly synergize and have both the cost opportunity and pick up some incremental market share.

So I think we're in fine shape with our balance sheet. I think we're -- even considering the payment on Lotto. And so I think any M&A of that magnitude would not be significant in terms of the impact to the balance sheet. And that's -- those are things that we're currently evaluating.

Operator: Your next question comes from Domenico Guilotti with Equita.

Domenico Ghilotti: Two questions. The first is on the retail same-store sales performance. You were mentioning so the 3% target. I wonder if this is something that you see well balanced between Italy and the U.S. So if you're expecting some kind of acceleration in the U.S. and/or any kind of additional acceleration in Italy? Second is a follow-up on the Italian B2C launch and activity. How are you going to exploit your retail network and so your opportunity for, say, omnichannel approach, if any? So I'm interested in understanding how do you want to exploit this asset? And third, just a clarification on the LMA shortfall that you were mentioning in the previous comments.

If you can just clarify so the impact in Q1 and Q2 and expected impact in Q2.

Vincent Sadusky: Yes, I can get started and hand it over to Max. Yes. So as we mentioned, I think we got off to a decent start for the year. Global same-store sales were up just over 1%. But given the mix, neutralizing for FX, our revenue was up about 3%. Italy was the driver of the same-store sales growth. They were up about 3% in the first quarter, really had a lot to do, once again, just another quarter of great game innovation and great vitality of the Italian market. I think the product launches, our EUR 30 ticket was very effective. The multi-bed pay slips, I think on Lotto have been effective.

And certainly, iLottery in that market being up almost 30% continues to be a driver. In the U.S., same-store sales for the first quarter were flattish compared to the prior year. But again, we had a good mix that enabled us to be up for the quarter. The driver there has also been iLottery. That was up about 30% for the for the quarter, actually more than 30% for the quarter. And we've, again, got this scenario with a very weak multistate jackpot. As Max mentioned, the number of hits was really remarkable for the first quarter this year. And then the rest of the world was fine.

Actually, we were up between 5% and 6% in the rest of the world, including Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic. When we look out to the second quarter, I think the trends are in line with what we've seen. They're kind of in the flattish range to up a bit. And as we talked about -- or Max really talked about, it's the second half of the year that we get excited about. When we think about all the initiatives that are to take place, including not only the lottery ticket sales, but also some of the categories in the product area that we feel very confident are imminent. And then shifting on over to your question around Italy B2C.

So I'd say the numbers that we've achieved so far have been -- have shown really good progress with minimal marketing efforts so far. A big part of the effort has been to assemble a group of games that we think is really, really optimizes the offering to consumers as well as putting together features and functionality so that when we do the full launch, the full capabilities launch, the ability to take wagers on the MyLotteries app that consumers are impressed and view this as a viable alternative. And the growth that we've had so far, as you'd expect, has been around the iLottery market share. And that was really the design of the plan.

That drives the success of the plan and then to a lesser extent, also offering consumers the ability to play iCasino games and sports bet. And I think what's most exciting about that opportunity is the ability to work with our retail network as well as leverage the folks that are using the app and the website on a daily basis. So we mentioned in the past, our -- the retail players primarily -- have used the app historically for checking winnings on tickets. And that number of monthly visitors here is somewhere around 1 million. So we have a lot of outstanding leadership position touch points with consumers.

And so I think when we get this full functionality in place, we'll be able to utilize all these channels, retail and digital to drive brand awareness and our thinking is that will help to drive player acquisition. And a lot of it has to do with the retailer engagement. And all that is coming very, very soon. And I'll hand it over to Max to handle the LMA question.

Massimiliano Chiara: Yes. Thank you, Vince. Thank you, Domenico, for asking that question. Obviously, we are very frustrated with the recent performance of our contract, particularly in New Jersey. There are very specific reasons why at the end of the day, this contract didn't perform. Some of those are related to some specificity associated with how relevant the multistage jackpot game is in New Jersey versus the rest of the country. We're talking about an exposure or a penetration of multistage airport games in New Jersey that is about 3 percentage points higher than the average of the United States. In addition to that, the payout on the multistage jackpot games is around 50% versus over 70% on instant games.

So any shortfall on same-store sales that comes to fruition as a result of lower multistage jackpot have an outsized impact to the net income generation for the state. And hence, that impact flow through at 50% to the kind of incentive shortfall scheme. Having said that, these are very lucrative contracts. I mean, in the last 13 years, we went back and look at what have we generated. Over the last 13 years, we've been able to generate, on average, at least $10 million per year on the New Jersey contract. So here, the question is really how to structurally reduce the exposure of the contract to the jackpot volatility by structurally enhancing the underlying fundamentals of the business.

And the initiatives that Vincent and I have mentioned during the call, particularly the expansion of vending machines, the increase in retail point of sale as well as the game rejuvenation and also the combination of the modification of return to state, which have allowed us to effectively work around the payout. And that transition is underway. We have probably in the midst of it. We completed 50% of that game transition. So there is another kind of few months to go to fully rejuvenate the portfolio of games. We are confident that structurally, we will improve the sales performance of this contract overall and hence, reduce the exposure to the volatility of the jackpot games.

So once the jackpot games perform, there is definitely an opportunity to overachieve on that net income target and effectively generate an incentive overall down the road. So again, we remain positive and optimistic around the importance of this contract in our portfolio, and we continue to work on improving structurally the fundamentals of our business in -- within that contract.

Operator: Your final question comes from David Katz with Jefferies.

David Katz: I wonder if you could just talk about iLottery in the context of a TAM, longer-term view. Are we talking about, obviously, growth within what's on your plate right now, but future states, is there any update that we can talk about there that's realistic? And then some kind of a global walk around would be helpful there, too. Just get a sense for how big the opportunity could ultimately be for Brightstar.

Vincent Sadusky: Yes, David, it's difficult to say how quickly states will adopt iLottery and which ones they will be. Of course, we've got our Board that we're constantly following and tracking. But it's clearly -- as we've reported out the growth for years now quarter in and quarter out, it's been pretty impressive. And the research we've done shows it not only brings in existing lottery players, but brings in players that just don't have the habit of frequenting retail operations.

As you look at the courier services, for example, they charge a pretty hefty premium for the convenience of digital -- of purchasing tickets without having to go to the store versus the states that have full-fledged iLottery operations that don't charge an incremental premium. And yet the couriers have generated a fair amount of incremental sales. In fact, part of our challenge, part of -- one of the things in the negative column for us over this past year, continuing into the first quarter is the decline in sales of one of our big jurisdictions, Texas.

And we can attribute that largely to the reversal on couriers and the elimination of couriers, whereas courier sales have been pretty significant in that state that did not permit and still does not permit iLottery. So it's difficult for us to control that. So our focus has been to continue to deliver upgraded platform, including best-in-class game recommendation engine to continue to prove our superior capabilities in the marketplace. We've got the 11 customers live right now in U.S. as well as in Europe and also expand our content offering to the markets where we don't have the platform.

And we mentioned we've launched in Virginia as well as several other markets we expect to be online when Massachusetts launches, et cetera. So I think we're positioned really well. In terms of what else is going to be launched, we have the platform for a couple of markets, including New Jersey, and we think there's a good chance iLottery launches in New Jersey, Missouri that is coming up, we believe, in the future. And I think Sao Paulo is -- will be pretty interesting over time. And then also the development, I think, of the games, including progressive jackpot games and potentially multistate games as well. So we're busy constantly innovating.

We think that's the thing to do as we see how things progress. But as we've said in the past, we believe the lottery directors around the country are very aware of the success that the states who have launched iLottery, the success they've had and the accelerated growth profile that they've enjoyed. And clearly, that's -- I think that's something that they're very focused on. Exactly where the next ones come from, we're not sure. And I would say one other item as well. As you think about the digitization opportunity as being an area for growth for lotteries.

And of course, one of the reasons is it gives you -- in addition to convenience, which is what the couriers offered, what the couriers don't offer that we offer in a full-fledged iLottery market is the eInstant games, which are an experience that's very different from traditional scratch cards and pretty fun and exciting, different experience that players clearly enjoy. And just one other item around the area -- I'm not even sure if I would call it innovation, but just how lotteries could have potential incremental growth opportunity. And that's been in the area of cashless. So the cashless adaptation in markets is fairly low.

And when you think about digital as the way that everybody is transacting, most states aren't even permissive of noncash transactions, which is astonishing given its 2026. And again, I know the lotteries are aware of the trend among consumers to embrace cashless. And I think there are several states that are either adding or considering adding cashless starting off with the machines -- with the lottery machines. And I think that will also -- has the opportunity to significantly increase purchases. And we've seen the states that do provide for cashless have had a significantly greater amount of sales per transaction as a result of that.

And we're not -- the numbers are difficult, but we also believe that the number of transactions are greater as well.

Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Vince Sadusky, CEO, for closing remarks.

Vincent Sadusky: Yes, it was a solid start to the year based on the strength of our global portfolio and really good disciplined execution by the team. And again, we think that reinforces the continued resilience of lottery. As we look ahead, we're executing well against our strategic priorities. We're investing in our higher return growth initiatives such as iLottery and B2C in Italy. And we also believe that we have good visibility in the second half of the year for good revenue and profit drivers. We remain focused on our execution and our strong cash generation and long-term value creation, and we appreciate everybody continuing to support Brightstar and your interest in the company. Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.