IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Michigan Gaming Board Will Integrate 19 Legacy Systems in Unisys Online Solutions

The board, which regulates aspects of casinos, horse racing and charitable gaming, is working to unify its data and file management through one platform.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), which regulates Detroit casinos, horse racing and “millionaire party” charitable gaming, and oversees Native American casinos’ compliance with state-tribal provisions, will integrate data from 19 legacy systems in a new automated platform with cloud-based storage.

Global IT services company Unisys, which does business with U.S. agencies including the federal Transportation Security Administration and the states of Minnesota and Pennsylvania, announced the five-year contract worth an estimated $9.3 million with Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget (MDTMB) on Wednesday, April 26.

A state contract summary describes it as being awarded from an RFP “to establish an enterprise IT system for MGCB to replace the legacy applications [it] uses to license and regulate its various industries” and “move to one agencywide solution for all data and file management needs for mission-based business processes.”

Caleb Buhs, MDTMB public information officer, confirmed via email the contract was approved in February by the State Administrative Board and has been “officially executed.”

The exact rollout is unclear, but its solutions should represent a dramatic change to operations at MGCB, which over the past 20 years has seen its responsibilities expand significantly. Each of its areas of focus “seemed to have its own system which made regulatory compliance very burdensome. Even when they went to e-government solutions it was very ‘paperwork-online,’” Mark Forman, Unisys’ global head of public sector, told Government Technology.

In a statement, MGCB Executive Director Richard Kalm said his agency “has worked diligently to improve internal processes, but multiple legacy systems limit our progress.”

“This is great news for the gaming and horse racing businesses and charities we license and regulate and the citizens of Michigan we are sworn to protect,” Kalm said. Through a communications specialist, he declined an interview with Government Technology.

Unisys has worked with the Secretary of State’s office on vehicle and driver licensing, and supplied Michigan with its Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System. The state identified it as a potential vendor through market research, Forman said.

It will “create a modern, collaborative operating environment” for the agency and digitize its records and documents, making it easier to find and share information internally and to the public, Unisys said in its news release.

That includes migrating data to the AMANDA Case Management and Process Automation platform from Canada-based contract partner CSDC Systems and through the Microsoft Azure government cloud.

MGCB will also utilize Unisys’ InfoImage enterprise content management software to streamline workflows and centralize data architecture originally tailored into 19 separate, dated systems.

“By using InfoImage and an enterprise content management approach, we abstract out that data architecture problem and we can then take advantage of the content,” Forman said. “It literally is the framework by which you cut across these various siloed approaches.”

The solution’s optical character recognition ability will also update document scanning for the agency, letting employees in the field photograph documents on their cellphones, then upload them to case management files digitally as text.

The extent to which the contract will transform MGCB’s workflow and processes is unknown, but Forman said integrating 19 systems into one platform could represent a “huge” savings in time and money.

“I think the easiest way to imagine this is when you have new people coming into a workforce and they have to learn all these different systems, as opposed to something that is more intuitive,” he said.

Theo Douglas is assistant managing editor for Industry Insider — California, and before that was a staff writer for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes covering municipal, county and state governments, business and breaking news. He has a Bachelor's degree in Newspaper Journalism and a Master's in History, both from California State University, Long Beach.