Worldwide lottery performance is continuing to flatter with sales up 13.4 percent compared with the last year. The World Lottery Association (WLA) released the figures that showed sales in Q1 2012 were driven by growth across all regions. Most impressive of these was Asia-Pacific, leading the way with an increase of 27.9 percent compared to 2011 and thus reflecting the remainder of the gaming industry at large. Chinese Mainland lotteries made a large contribution to this with sales growth of 30.1 percent and Japan’s latest reconstruction lottery saw their sales increase 52.6 percent.
North American lotteries had a boost in the form of huge growth from both the Powerball and Mega Millions games – contributing to an increase in sales of 16.3 percent. In the period mentioned, Powerball increased its price by one dollar and Mega Millions had that mega jackpot of $640 million which had everyone going Lotto crazy.
Latin America is an area that saw a solid increase of 11 percent as Argentina (up 11.2 percent) and Brazil (up 11.9 percent) both contributed to the region’s fortunes. Africa, meanwhile, saw sales rise by 14.5 percent with Morocco’s two participating lotteries, La Marocaine des Jeux and Loterie Nationale, collectively increasing sales by 31.8 percent.
One region that suffers conflicting fortunes depending on the country you’re in is Europe. Lotteries that were included in the survey recorded sales increases of 4.3 percent with VLT sales growth at Italy’s Lottomatica and Norwegian Norsk Topping increasing sales by 10.9 percent. Much of this, however, was offset by the poor economic situation in Greece that meant a flattening out of sales across Europe as a whole.
Mexico’s National Lottery will be able to benefit from automated tickets after a deal was struck with Sorteo Games. Mexican customers will be able to print out tickets from Sorteo’s wireless Agent Lottery Terminals and shows the Lotería Nacional is serious about modernization. Benjamin Gonzalez Roaro, President of the Lotería Nacional added: “As we move forward with our automation programme, we will be able to enhance our efficiency and distribution channels to make an even greater contribution to public and social welfare throughout Mexico.”
