Seriously, is there no form of gambling in which Asia won’t eventually dominate? The World Lottery Association (WLA) recently published stats on global lottery performance during the first half of 2013, which suggests that the China Welfare Lottery is poised to usurp Italian lotto titan Lottomatica (try saying that phrase three times quickly) as the world’s largest lottery operator by sales volume. Participating WLA lotteries across the Asia-Pacific region experienced 11.1% growth in H1, with the China Sports Lottery reporting a 19.6% sales bump and the China Welfare Lottery up 13.4%.
Latin America experienced the largest regional growth in global lottery markets, posting an aggregate sales boost of 24.6% in H1, aided by 31% growth in Argentina’s Loteria Nacional Sociedad del Estado. Despite all those massive Powerball jackpots, North American sales were flat, as the 9.4% growth in Q2 was barely enough to offset Q1’s 8.8% sales decline. The 11.1% growth in South Africa’s national lottery wasn’t enough to save the overall African market, which saw H1 sales fall 0.7%. The ongoing economic turmoil in Europe pushed the continent’s lotteries down 1.7%.
South Korea’s lotteries aren’t counted among the WLA stats, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t money to be made. The Korea Lottery Commission has authorized a five-year extension to the license it awarded in 2007 to the Nanum Lotto consortium, which includes Greek lottery operator Intralot. The new arrangement calls for the consortium to oversee instant and online ticket sales and the new “localized” electronic lottery set to rollout this December.
One month later, Intralot will commence its operation of the Taiwan Sports Lottery. Intralot won the 10-year contract last December as part of the LotRich Information Co. Ltd. consortium, which includes the Chinatrust Commercial Bank and Taiwanese digital memory manufacturer ADATA Technology. In May, LotRich won a similar decade-long deal to run the Taiwan Public Welfare Lottery.
