Category Archives: Lottery

Massachusetts Senate weighing plan to give Lottery 'broad mandate' for online games

If the Massachusetts State Lottery is to continue to thrive and return hundreds of millions of dollars to cities and towns, it must have the ability to move online in some fashion, its executive director said, but it first needs permission from the Legislature to test the World Wide Web’s waters.Massachusetts, Technology, Online Ticket Sales, Government

Massachusetts Senate weighing plan to give Lottery 'broad mandate' for online games

If the Massachusetts State Lottery is to continue to thrive and return hundreds of millions of dollars to cities and towns, it must have the ability to move online in some fashion, its executive director said, but it first needs permission from the Legislature to test the World Wide Web’s waters.Massachusetts, Technology, Online Ticket Sales, Government

Intralot Q1 revenue drops 3.6% despite lottery growth

Greek gaming operator and supplier Intralot SA saw its revenue drop by as much as 3.6 percent in the first quarter of 2016, partly due to the company’s performance in the Australasia market.

On Wednesday, the company reported that consolidated revenue for the first three months ending March reached €335.2 million compared to €347.7 million in the same period last year.

Intralot attributed the decrease in revenue to lower sales in Azerbaijan, where “the local currency suffered a severe devaluation last February and December.” The company also experienced softer sales in South America, particularly in Jamaica, Argentina and Brazil. The revenue drop, however, was partially offset by increased sales in Peru, Bulgaria in East Europe, North America, Africa and West Europe.

Intralot didn’t include its Italian operations in the calculations since it is still waiting for its merger with Gamenet, in which Intralot will receive a 20 percent share in the combined entity—to be completed. Including revenue from Italy, the group said its overall turnover would have amounted to €499.5 million, which remains flat compared to the €499.4 million reported in the same period in 2015.

Lottery service provider China Vanguard revenue plummets 92% in Q1

China Vanguard Group, a company that provides services to the Chinese lottery market, saw its revenues fall by as much as 92 percent in the first three months of 2016, thanks to China’s industry-wide suspension of online lottery sales.

The Hong Kong-listed company reported a revenue of HK$4.34 million (US$559,000) for the first quarter of the year, down from HK$55.13 million (US$7.1 million) in the same period last year. Unaudited revenue for the nine months until March 31 also plummeted by 79.2 percent from HK$122.4 million (US$15.76 million) in 2014 to HK$25.5 million (US$3.28 million).

China Vanguard chalked up the huge drop in its revenue to its voluntary suspension of part of its self-service lottery operations following Beijing’s ongoing suspension of online lottery sales.

In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company said, “On the eve of an official policy framework from the Central government that would allow the online distribution of Internet lottery, most lottery administrative offices have opted to adhere to the strictest guidelines according to the latest official commentaries and acting on a more conservative approach, that is the traditional approach through the over-the-counter paper lottery ticket distribution. Thus the Group’s has voluntarily suspended part of the self-service lottery operations.”