Venezuelans love to bet, with more than six million of them participating regularly in the country’s numerous lotteries. Grupo Selco is one of Venezuela’s largest providers of lottery games, equipment and support services. And Wincor Nixdorf is a key technology partner, having supplied the group with 500 Xion/M terminals in 2005 to bring the total to more than 2,000.

The company focused on the design, development and merchandising of lottery games, including online games for horse racing and other sports. Its Triple Gordo product is the leading lottery game in Venezuela. In addition, the group services a nationwide point-of-sale network for lottery tickets, working closely with eight state-run lottery organizations.

Together with its IT support unit Sistemas y Máquinas On Line, Grupo Selco serves more than 1,600 sales points, all connected to its nationwide data network. Most ofthese are independent lottery operators, although the group owns and operates lottery shops of its own. Its service portfolio is extensive, including not only the provision and installation of hardware and software but also service and maintenance, free hotline support and backup systems. Video is a planned new online feature of the terminals. Availability and security ensure each bet. To ensure fast, reliable and secure computing, the Venezuelan lottery group uses QNX, a real-time transaction-oriented operating system. The system was designed not only to use few hardware resources but also to run critical applications in complex real-time lottery environments, such as horse racing. It also meets the group’s high security requirements.