Lotteries to the fore

Date of the Article:

Monday, August 16, 2010

Online poker is in the doldrums, with the rake down across a wide number of operators. PartyGaming reported a half-yearly drop of almost 10%. Casino is treading water but sport betting is doing better thanks to the World Cup.

But one area continues to excite and it is the late entry of the National Lotteries to online gambling.

Interactive Sales of Traditional Lottery Games as % Total Sales

Lottery	% of Lottery Sales Interactively
Camelot	9.5%
La Francaise des Jeux	3.0%
Lottomatica	0.8%
Norsk Tipping	8.0%
ONLAE	0.1%
Svenska Spel	13.3%
Veikkaus	8.6%

Source: GBGC Analysis

Sweden’s Svenska Spel has tops the charts with 13.3% of their total ticket sales coming through Interactive channels. Svenska Spel also operates a wide range of products including poker, bingo and sports betting.

Camelot, on the other hand, has a restricted monopoly licence in the UK and only offers traditional lottery games approved by the National Lottery Commission. Camelot for pure lottery products is the global leader online.

Norsk Tipping announced its half-yearly results for 2010 in July. Norway’s state–owned lottery operator reported total revenues up 6% but online revenues were up a huge 43%.

From the customers perspective playing online with a lottery makes a lot of sense. Camelot once reported an unclaimed prize of £2 million. If the ticket is purchased online, this kind of unclaimed prize cannot happen because the customer is told by email when they have won. No chance of losing that ticket and missing out on the big win.

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), in an effort to reclaim some of the lost revenues going to offshore gambling sites, has launched an Internet casino powered by the UK’s OpenBet.

But not everyone is happy about Internet lotteries. The lottery agents such as filling stations, supermarkets and small stores see Internet lotteries plundering their income.

The advent of the lottery increased footfall for these small businesses and to lose out to the Internet is something they are very much against.

Lotteries are now starting to take off in Africa. Apart from South Africa and Kenya, the continent is practically Broadband free. This will change over time but that doesn’t stop some of the lottery companies looking to provide better customer experience.

Although African lotteries operate through agents there are problems with crime and cash collection. Ghana has introduced an SMS lottery solution and it has been a huge success with revenues doubling in its two years of operation. Rwanda, one of the economic success stories in Africa, also has an SMS lottery.

With mobile networks developing so quickly you have to speculate whether wireless technology will in fact slow down the introduction and eventual take up of Broadband on the African continent.

Looking at the table again the world’s lottery market has much to do to catch up the leaders, in the UK and Scandinavia. It is, however, the one sure growth market in the gambling industry at present.

Written exclusively for www.continen8.com by Warwick Bartlett, Chief Executive of GBGC (Global Betting & gaming Consultants - www.gbgc.com)