Aussie gambling giant to offer an online lottery
News on 29 Aug 2017
News on 29 Aug 2017
The days of generating a million dollars in revenue a week in the Australian lottery market may be over for Gibraltar-based Lottoland following the news this week that Aussie gambling giants Crown Resorts and CrownBet are planning to challenge the interloper with the imminent launch of their own online lottery enterprise.
The Australian Financial Review reports that the Crown duo have long-term ambitions for the CrownLotto venture to ultimately compete with the Tatts digital l,ottery as well. CrownBet, which is 62 percent owned by Crown Resorts chief James Packer, will manage the online lottery on a similar business model to Lottoland i.e. with punters betting on the outcome of a lottery rather than buying a ticket in the lottery itself.
When a player hits a jackpot of divisional prize, CrownLotto will pay out the equivalent of the prize money as if the customer had a winning ticket for the actual draw.
The AFR reports that CrownLotto could also be a reaction to William Hill, which collaborated with Lottoland earlier this year to launch William Hill Planet Lottery – global lottery betting business.
Responding to the AFR, a CrownBet spokesman said:
“We’re launching these products to meet the clear and growing customer demand that is driven by huge jackpots in overseas draws. Lottery wagering attracts a different demographic and will grow overall interest in lotteries, rather than competing with traditional physical lotteries.”
He added that CrownLotto plans to donate some of its earnings to good community causes, and will not be targeting retail lottery ticket buyers.
Tatts Group chief executive Robbie Cooke recently revealed about 14 percent of Tatts lottery ticket sales are now made via digital channels, and while those are for actual lottery draws there is a chance Lottoland and now CrownBet could be taking market share.
Our readers will recall that in May this year federal sports minister Greg Hunt touted the formation of a strictly regulated national sports lottery run by the federal government, which he estimated could generate around A$50 million a year for sports. More recently political and constitutional legal doubts have been raised regarding the viability of such a plan.
