Lotteries around the world are attempting to make the claim that they are becoming recession proof and the numbers from the World Lottery Association (WLA) seem to back up that claim this year. Lotteries continued to perform strongly in the second quarter of 2011, resulting in a strong overall performance for the January–June period of 2011, compared to the same period last year.
The WLA reported that all major lottery markets witnessed increases in sales of between 5 and 25% for the first half of 2011, versus the corresponding period of 2010. Worldwide, sales were up 12.4% for the first six months of 2011 as compared to the first six months of 2010.
Latin American lotteries saw a 24.9% increase in sales in the first half of 2011, against the first half of 2010. As the WLA reports, the strong showing in Latin America was largely due to Argentina’s Lotería Nacional Sociedad del Estado, which saw revenue growth of 30.6% for the first half of 2011 over the first half of 2010.
Asia Pacific lotteries also recorded strong rates of growth, with a first half on first half increase in sales of 17.3% for 2011 compared to the corresponding period in 2010. According to the WLA, growth in the Asia Pacific region was driven by participating mainland Chinese lotteries, which collectively witnessed an increase in sales of 30.9% for the first six months of 2011 against the first six months of 2010.
European lotteries saw an aggregate increase in sales of 8.8% for the first half of 2011 against the first half of 2010. The WLA says the aggregate growth in sales across Europe was driven by excellent results from Lottomatica, which reported an increase in sales of 22.1% for the first half of 2011 , but revenue growth was offset by a 20.1% decline in sales at OPAP, Greece, for the half of 2011 against the first half of 2010.
Participating North American lotteries recorded an aggregate increase in sales of 5% for the first six months of 2011, as compared to the first six months of 2010. According to the WLA, growth in the North American market was driven largely by the California Lottery, which reported an increase in sales of 19.5% for the first six months of 2011 over the first six months of 2010.
African lotteries held steady for the first half of 2011 versus the first half of 2010.
Unlike land-based casinos and gambling in places in like Nevada and New Jersey, which have really felt the pinch of poor economic times, the lottery markets are seeing growth. It almost seems like when times get tough, people turn to lady luck and start playing the hardest gambling game to win, the lottery.
