National Lottery sales hit an all time high in Camelot’s latest results release as online continued to have even more of an influence. Sales for the company’s biggest product hit £6.5 billion – an increase of 12.1 percent compared with the previous year. As a part of this, draw based and instant play games were up £703.5 million and retail continued to account for 85 percent of sales. As for online’s role, “interactive and subscription sales” increased by £216.7 million to £1.04 billion – meaning they topped a billion pounds for a first time. It’s why the National Lottery is the world’s biggest online lottery and will have been helped by the company making its first in-roads into mobile. Elsewhere, instant play increased £289.9 million to £1.725 billion and much of this was down to the role online and new scratchcards have played.
Sportingbet has confirmed that it will pay €17.2 million to settle its back-tax bill with the Spanish government. The payment amounts to €14 million plus surcharges and interest that come to €3.2 million for past activities in the country. The same release stated that they expect to be issued with a licence during the first round and will then “immediately apply to Commercial Court no.10 in Madrid to cancel the current injunction over its Spanish facing business”. No time for a siesta there then!
Malta’s Lotteries and Gaming Authority won’t be able to help anyone adversely affected by the closure of Purple Lounge. A statement on the authority’s website said they “cannot assist players having issues with the aforementioned operator following the date of termination of the licenses”. It added that “there were no pending complaints and that the licensee was compliant with the Remote Gaming Regulations”. Purple Lounge was shuttered by Media Corp late last month along with a barrage of excuses as to why it was being closed.
