ROME and PROVIDENCE – GTECH Corp., which is gearing up to open a new instant-ticket printing facility next year in Florida, has been picked to provide a new online lottery system to South Dakota.

“We are excited about, and appreciative of, the opportunity to partner with our new customer,” GTECH President and CEO Jaymin B. Patel said in a statement. Besides a new central system and about 620 online lottery terminals, the company will provide the South Dakota Lottery with ongoing training, support and lottery and marketing consultancy services.

“We look forward to helping them grow their business with innovative technology, enabling a holistic approach to optimizing and growing their existing game portfolio, and applying global, field-proven best practices in flexible retail solutions,” Patel said.

Terms of the deal are not yet final, GTECH noted. But the company expects to receive $10 million to $12 million over the term of a planned five-year contract. The deal, slated to begin in the third quarter of next year, would include five options to extend, each good for one more year.

“The new online system from GTECH will benefit our retailers and players with a number of state-of-the-art features,” said South Dakota Lottery Executive Director Norman Lingle. “Those features, and the savings GTECH offers over our current contract, should result in higher revenue transfers to the state for important programs and projects. That’s the kind of great business partnership everyone looks for.”

Meanwhile, the gaming giant’s GTECH Printing Corp. (GPC) subsidiary is moving ahead with construction of its new instant-ticket facility in Lakeland, Fla.

“We have received a very warm welcome from the Lakeland community business leaders and look forward to growing our business and creating new jobs here,” Ross Dalton, senior vice president of GTECH’s Printed Products and Licensed Content group, said in an address yesterday at the Lakeland Economic Development Council (LEDC)’s monthly board meeting. “In addition, this new facility will allow us to offer our lottery customers far greater capabilities.”

GPC, a wholly owned subsidiary of GTECH, is the fastest-growing instant-game manufacturer in the gaming industry, the parent company said. It now serves 17 U.S. customers and another 18 abroad.

Its new facility is expected to open this spring, with a staff of more than 100, and the ability to produce about 11 billion tickets per year, GTECH said. Over the next three to five years, that staff is expected to double as the company invests $45 million in developing its Lakeland-area production capacity. The current printing facility in Plant City, Fla., will continue to function as a redundant operation, GTECH added.

“GTECH is a high-skill employer,” said Steve Scruggs, executive director of the LEDC. “GTECH’s capital investment, number of jobs and the quality of those jobs, make this project a home run for Lakeland, Polk County and the State of Florida.”

“Working with a world leader such as GTECH has been a tremendous experience,” added Florida Governor Charlie Crist. “Contributing to economic development and job creation in our state is a top priority, and we are accomplishing this through our partnership with [GPC].”

Also yesterday, GTECH parent Lottomatica S.p.A. announced it has obtained a new line of credit.

The company “has appointed Barclays Capital, Intesa San Paolo, Mediobanca, and Unicredit to arrange a five-year senior unsecured term loan facility,” Lottomatica said. “Subject to the terms and conditions of the mandate letter, the banks committed an aggregate of 300 million.”

Lottomatica will use the loan proceeds, plus additional cash, to cover the 360 million euros in bonds that will come due on Dec. 22, the company said.

GTECH Corp. – a wholly owned subsidiary of Italy-based Lottomatica S.p.A. (Pink Sheets: LTTOY; Milan Stock Exchange: LTO), which posted revenue of 1.7 billion euros in 2007 – has provided lottery technology and services to the R.I. Lottery since 1978. Together, the gaming technology, services and lottery operations companies have 5,900 employees in more than 50 countries. More information is available at www.gtech.com or www.GruppoLottomatica.it/eng.