MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...

NEWS 37 

MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER 

CONTENT: 

1. Foreword & Organisation 

3. Editorial 

4. Gambling Technologies 

10. Lottery & Technology 

18. Legal 

20. EL Activities 

26. Workshops 

36. Monitoring System 

37. European Parliament

AGENDA 2011 

SEPTEMBER 

• RESPONSIBLE GAMING 

SEMINAR (with the support of WLA) 

Dates: 26-28 September 

Location: Hamburg, Germany 

Host: LOTTO Hamburg GmbH 

STAYING ON TOP OF THE GAME 

Marketing tools to tackle changing times 

Joint EL/WLA Marketing Seminar 

January 25 – 27, 2012, London/UK 

OCTOBER 

• LAW ENFORCEMENT & EURO- 

PEAN LEGAL BRIEFING 

Dates: October 13 (starting at 14:00) 

October 14 (from 09:30 to 16:00) 

Location: Rome, Italy 

Host: Lottomatica SpA 

• PR/COMMUNICATIONS MEETING 

Dates: 26-28 October 

Location: Tallinn, Estonia 

Host: AS Eesti Loto 

Registration for all our seminars can be made online at 

http://www.european-lotteries.org 

All events are available on our website (under EVENTS). Announcements are 

made a few months in advance. 

NEW REGULAR MEMBERS 

AZERINTELTEK CJSC 

24 Academician Hasan Aliyev Street / Narimanov District 

AZ1078 Baku 

Republic of Azerbaijan 

NATIONAL LOTTERY OF MACEDONIA 

Kej Dimitar Vlahov bb / PO Box 506 

1000 Skopje 

FYROM 

AGENDA 

NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBER 

ADVANT GAMES OY Ltd. 

Hatanpään valtatie 6B24 

33100 Tampere 

Finland 

NEWS 37 SEPTEMBER 2011 

NOVEMBER 

• JOINT EL/WLA RETAIL MARKETS 

SEMINAR (all distribution channels) 

Dates: 16-18 November 

Location: Dublin, Ireland 

Host: National Lottery Ireland 

• ELISE INFO SHARING SEMINAR 

Dates: 28-29 November 

Location: Madrid, Spain 

Host: ONCE 

Being in tune with the times is sometimes not enough. Anticipating future trends and arming ourselves to deal with them is essential to 

stay on top of the game. Are new games or distribution channels the answer? Multijurisdictional games? Adding new prize categories? With 

advertising of our products coming under increasing legislative pressure, we need to figure out how then to communicate with the players. 

The annual London Marketing Seminar, with a line up of experts, will present and discuss these and other relevant cutting edge topics.

FOREWORD 

DEAR EL MEMBERS, 

DEAR FRIENDS, 

We all gathered in June at our Congress 

in Helsinki, to review what we have 

achieved in the past two years and to 

discuss how we should approach the 

challenges and opportunities we face in 

the future. I believe our exchange of ideas 

have been very fruitful, inspired by 

many outstanding personalities from 

outside the lottery world who spoke at 

this event, which our Finnish Member 

Veikkaus organised in a perfect and innovative 

way. 

In Helsinki, our General Assembly also 

elected a new Executive Committee, a 

strong and motivated team, which can 

build on the very good work done by 

their predecessors. The new Executive 

Committee already met in July to take 

some important decisions and to discuss 

how EL can adapt its services and 

internal organisation even better to the 

needs of our Members and the expectations 

from policy makers and other 

opinion leaders. 

Since spring, following the publication 

of the Green Paper on online gambling 

and the launch of the stakeholder consultation 

on it, we have all put much 

THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES 

PRESIDENT 

Dipl. Ing. Friedrich STICKLER, 

Member of the Board 

AUSTRIAN LOTTERIES, Austria 

1 ST VICE-PRESIDENT 

Mr. Christophe BLANCHARD-DIGNAC, 

Chairman and CEO 

LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX, France 

2 ND VICE-PRESIDENT 

Mr. Tjeerd VEENSTRA, 

Director 

DE LOTTO, The Netherlands 

FOREWORD AND ORGANISATION 

effort into preparing our detailed submission, 

which we submitted at the end 

of July. At the same time, EL has been in 

constant touch with those EU institutions, 

notably the European Parliament, 

which will influence the European 

Commission’s decisions on follow-up 

initiatives to the Green Paper. 

In parallel, the financing and the integrity 

of sport have climbed up the European 

political agenda: The European 

Commission’s new strategy on sport, 

adopted in January, and especially 

the Council’s three-year work plan on 

sport, adopted in May, define these two 

issues, which are extremely relevant 

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD 

Mr. Torbjørn ALMLID, Ph.D., 

President and CEO 

NORSK TIPPING AS, Norway 

Dipl.-Kfm. Hansjörg HÖLTKEMEIER, 

Member of the Managing Board 

DEUTSCHE KLASSENLOTTERIE 

BERLIN, Germany 

Mr. Franci KRIŽAN, 

Member of the Board 

LOTERIJA SLOVENIJE D.D., Slovenia 

Mr. Jean-Luc MONER-BANET, 

General Director 

SOCIÉTÉ DE LA LOTERIE DE LA 

SUISSE ROMANDE, Switzerland 

Mr. Ivan PITTEVILS, 

Chief Executive Officer 

NATIONALE LOTERIJ, Belgium 

Mr. Marco SALA, 

CEO & Managing Director 

Lottomatica Group SpA 

LOTTOMATICA SpA, Italy 

Mr. Ioannis SPANOUDAKIS 

Chairman of the Board of Directors 

and CEO 

OPAP S.A., Greece 

Ms. Dianne THOMPSON, CBE 

Chief Executive 

CAMELOT UK LOTTERIES LTD., 

United Kingdom 

1 NEWS 37 SEPTEMBER 2011 

to EL, as priorities. EL participated in 

many high-level as well as working-level 

meetings and shared with Members 

of the European Parliament, European 

Commission officials, national governments 

and other stakeholders, including 

the IOC and the Council of Europe, 

its expertise on these topics. As regards 

the financing of sport, the more than 

two billion EUR our Members contribute 

each year add much weight to what 

we say. As regards the protection of the 

integrity of sports events from manipulations 

linked to betting, the lead we 

have taken in this area, which we will 

extend through the implementation of 

our unanimously adopted Helsinki Resolution, 

meets great recognition. 

All this shows that we are on the right 

track. With the same high level of commitment 

by our offices in Brussels and 

Lausanne, our Committees and Working 

groups, our Legal Advisors and you, 

the Members, I am confident that, at 

our next Congress in Tel Aviv, we will 

be looking back to another two years of 

good work to the benefit of the Association 

and its Members. 

Friedrich STICKLER 

EL President 

GENERAL SECRETARIAT 

Ms Bernadette Lobjois 

Secretary General 

Av. de Béthusy 36 

CH-1005 LAUSANNE 

Tel. +41 21 311 30 25 

Fax +41 21 312 30 11 

http://www.european-lotteries.org 

E-mail: info@european-lotteries.org

A World of 

possibilities 

Tap into the investment power of a global leader in the lottery and gaming industries 

and gain access to a broad and rich portfolio of products and services designed to help 

you optimize revenues.

EDITORIAL 

THE EXPERTS HAVE THE FLOOR 

In this issue dedicated to avant-garde 

technology, we have decided to give the 

floor to the experts, our Premium Partners 

who have made presentations on 

technologies which will have a future 

impact on lottery operations as well as 

on retailers and players. We take this 

opportunity to thank GTECH, INTRAL- 

OT and SCIENTIFIC GAMES for having 

given us an overview of the “secrets” 

behind technological success, and the 

methods they propose to ensure that 

their partnership with Lotteries transforms 

games in Europe into a transparent 

and responsible commodity, perfectly 

aligned to the demands of the XXI 

century. 

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK 

YOU TO ALL OUR WORKING 

GROUPS 

As usual, EL continues its efforts in the 

fight against corruption and its activities 

for the benefit of its Members. The 

Working Groups of the various Committees 

will not rest until they achieve 

these objectives. 

The Security and Risk Management 

Working Group has developed detailed 

guidelines on the risks for European 

Lotteries. This reference document 

will be an important tool for all Lottery 

managers, as it will allow them to identify 

potential risks, establish preventive 

measures while providing advice on 

how to limit the impact and negative 

effects. The disclosure of this document 

is projected for the end of the year 

and personally, I am looking forward to 

sending it to you on behalf of the Working 

Group, after the approval of the Executive 

Committee. 

The Executive Committee has finalised 

the submission to the Green Paper and, 

for the occasion, has highlighted the 

considerable work carried out by the 

Working Groups who all have provided 

and elaborated the responses over several 

months. This meticulous work has 

been welcomed by the Members of the 

Executive Committee and at the same 

EDITORIAL 


time has allowed us to realize the importance 

of the European Lotteries. 

Our 2010 ELISE survey has also been 

completed and during our upcoming 

Information Sharing Seminar, which 

will be held in November, the Lotteries 

will be able to examine the results 

and also learn to develop comparative 

methods. Experts will contribute to the 

studies that are carried out and will influence 

the way they are conducted. 

There is no shortage of projects, but 

without the active contribution of our 

Members, it would be difficult to complete 

them within, at times, very tight 

deadlines. 

THANK YOU all! 

THANKYOU also to our host of the Congress 

in Helsinki, Veikkaus, who provided 

us with wonderful moments while 

assisting us in presenting a captivating 

programme. I would like to publish the 

names of all the key persons here, but 

the lack of space unfortunately does not 

allow me to do so. THANK YOU all for 

your warm hospitality and all the attention 

you have given us. 

As usual, you will find a list of the upcoming 

seminars for the last months of 

2011 in the magazine, in which I invite 

you to participate! 

Wishing you a great fall season and 

looking forward to seeing you again 

soon. 

With my best regards, 

See you soon! 

Bernadette LOBJOIS 

Secretary General

GAMBLING TECHNOLOGIES: FUTURE & CHALLENGES 

ONLINE BINGO – 

A PORTAL FOR GROWTH 

Since the mid-1990s, we have all witnessed 

the dramatic impact the Internet 

has had on culture and commerce, 

including enabling a new 

point of access for lottery players. 

The key to leveraging the growth potential 

of Internet gaming is to create 

an entertaining experience that 

attracts and retains players, thereby 

lowering the cost of acquisition and 

increasing the lifetime value of a player. 

As Lotteries face ever-rising expectations 

from sophisticated online players 

and confront competition from 

well-funded commercial operators, 

they are working harder than ever to 

sustain Internet sales growth. To expand 

the player base and give players 

reasons to keep playing, Lotteries 

must look to increase their online 

portfolio of games, with offerings that 

entertain players. 

DOES YOUR INTERNET CHAN- 

NEL INCLUDE BINGO? 

Bingo is one of the fastest-growing 

segments of the online gaming arena. 

Since 2004, the online bingo market 

has exploded, growing from an industry 

worth u 226 million to nearly u1.4 

billion worldwide [*Source: GBGC 

2011]. Bingo rooms offer players excitement 

through jackpots, guaranteed 

prizes, and side games and by 

creating a community of players that 

is largely female. 

Having an online Bingo offering is a 

logical extension of any Lottery’s Internet 

offering. Today, 90% of bingo 

players in the UK market play Lotto 

as well. The player base demographic 

is comprised of 80% women between 

the ages of 30 to 50 with the remaining 

20% male base being in the same 

age range. 

Time on a bingo site is time spent 

communicating with other players in 

chat rooms moderated by Chat Masters, 

sharing demographic information, 

and playing side games like eInstants. 

This is an entirely different win 

experience for players and a lucrative 

second revenue stream from the interactive 

channel for Lotteries. 

To find an example of the powerful 

impact of bingo on a Lottery’s Inter- 

net portfolio, we need only to look as 

far as Finland. Having analyzed the 

success of bingo in places like the 

UK, Veikkaus saw the potential for 

tremendous growth in its Internet 

portfolio. As Veikkaus undertook the 

massive renovation of the Lottery’s 

Internet site, it recognized that the 

inclusion of eBingo would access a 

missing player demographic of women 

from 30-40 years of age. 

A CASE STUDY: VEIKKAUS EBINGO 

Since 1997, when it launched its first 

Internet games, Veikkaus has developed 

one of the most successful 

Internet channels in the lottery industry. 

With annual Internet sales of 

about u 400 million in 2010, Veikkaus 

operates the biggest Web shop in Finland, 

measured in revenue. Initially, 

the channel was fueled by sports betting, 

predominantly male-oriented 

game. As a result of this reliance on 

sport, the Veikkaus Internet channel 

player demographics became heavily 

skewed toward male players. 

Since 2007, draw games have been the 

fastest-growing game category on the 

Veikkaus website, and in 2010, for the 

first time, the total Internet sales of 

draw games surpassed that of sports 

betting games. However, player base 

imbalance persisted. To address that 

imbalance, Veikkaus had looked back 

to its history with eInstant games in 

order to move forward. 

Veikkaus had already enjoyed success 

with its electronic instants or eInstants 

games, which were launched 

in 2005 on the website. The lesson 

learned from the eInstants was that 

it attracted a different player demographic 

than sports betting games 

with a considerable number of female 

players. The other lesson learned was 

that people played the game at different 

times than for example sports 

betting. It was not unusual to see 

players buy eInstants during their 

lunch breaks. Therefore, the opportunity 

to capitalize on even more engaging 

and entertaining games that 

could be played at will was apparent 

to Veikkaus. 

In 2008, Veikkaus decided to make 

changes to improve the female to 

male player ratio. Because of the 

known appeal of bingo games to 

GAMBLING TECHNOLOGIES 


women players, Veikkaus selected it 

as a new addition to its Internet portfolio. 

There were three main driving factors 

that pushed Veikkaus to go for the Internet 

bingo game: 

1 The disproportionate ratio of male 

players to female players on the 

Web channel. 

2. The desire to offer games that are 

more social in nature. The chat feature 

of bingo supports the community 

feel of the game. 

3. The need to bolster its game suite 

to include a greater quantity of entertaining 

games to better compete 

against illegal and off shore operators. 

Ultimately, Veikkaus worked to offer 

the Finnish public a safe and sound 

state-controlled alternative to the 

growing cross-border operators. 

GTECH and GTECH G2 worked 

closely with Veikkaus during both the 

business requirements gathering and 

the final game requirements gathering 

phases to help equip Veikkaus to 

enter the Internet bingo business. 

Veikkaus realized that bingo is not a 

typical “fire-and-forget” lottery game, 

but a game that requires active management 

for both game scheduling 

as well as chat hosting. Best practices 

from the commercial bingo 

world were transposed to meet WLA 

requirements and put into action at 

Veikkaus. 

In addition, GTECH G2 provided 

extensive training to Veikkaus Chat 

Moderators staff to ensure success in 

this very important area of product 

support. The Chat Moderators are the 

only direct contact with players other 

than a 24-hour help line. They ensure 

that proper behavior is always maintained 

on the site. 

As the performance statistics show, 

the Veikkaus eBingo program is an 

unequivocal success: 

• Bingo launched in September 2010 

– proceeded by less than a ninemonth 

implementation project – 

and in conjunction with a complete 

redesign of the Veikkaus Internet 

site. 

• On a population base of 4 million,

weekly sales are more than 1 million 

Euros, which translates to u 50 – 60 

million in annual sales. 

• On average, there are 60,000 players 

a month and 2,000 of them play during 

peak hours. 

The revamp of the Veikkaus Internet 

gaming and addition of eBingo sought 

to improve contact with customer 

groups who played infrequently and 

offer safe gaming options for young 

adults. Internet gaming increased in 

popularity within the desired target 

groups and the proportion of women 

using the service grew significantly. 

BEST BINGO PRACTICES 

Bingo rooms offer players excitement 

through jackpots, guaranteed prizes, 

and side games and by creating an 

active, receptive player community. 

Lotteries have a huge advantage by 

already managing an existing player 

base. This is the starting point for success 

of online bingo, where liquidity is 

without doubt a critical success factor 

for any online bingo room. Bingo 

rooms thrive off liquidity, giving players 

more jackpots and prizes. Creating 

a great bingo site requires the site 

to have strong headline promotions 

with big and most importantly winnable 

jackpots. 

A strong chat community and compelling 

chat features and functionality 

are also essential elements for 

creating a successful online bingo 

site. Features such as live presenters 

and chat functions enhance the 

experience so bingo players can create 

personal online communities 

that help to create a compelling and 

inviting play environment. Through 

live-streaming video, online presenters 

appear on a small screen within 

the bingo client and boost the entertainment 

value by interacting with 

players in the chat room. They host 

unique chat games, award special 

cash bonuses and pass on information 

about upcoming games and promotional 

offers. 

The importance of friendly commu- 

nication in bingo cannot be overemphasized. 

To this end, GTECH G2 

has launched a sleek new chat client 

and a number of valuable promotion 

functions that allow players to: 

- Create a unique public profile with 

avatar. 

- Create a personal buddy list and enjoy 

private chat. 

- Customize chat font style, color, and 

size. 

- Express emotion through animated 

smileys. 

- Use useful animated acronyms such 

as LOL (laughing out loud) and BRB 

Interactive gaming presents an exciting 

opportunity for Lotteries to diversify 

their product lines and appeal to many 

different player segments with games 

that are uniquely positioned to meet 

specific player needs. Each game can 

be configured with attributes and play 

mechanics that influence player behavior 

in this channel so that Lotteries can 

gain playership from segments that had 

previously been under-represented in 

lottery play. If launched properly with 

the right product, support services 



(be right back). 

Bingo players demand to be entertained 

and in response the site ideally 

should offer all variations of bingo: 

75-Ball Bingo (Classic, Variant and 

Pattern), 80-Ball Bingo and 90-Ball 

Bingo. To heighten the player experience, 

an extensive library of side and 

mini games should be available with a 

large range of brand games to attract 

new players to the site. Finally, and 

perhaps most importantly, the site 

must be user friendly with clear and 

simple navigation to aid and enhance 

the customer journey. 

marketing plan and chat functionality, 

bingo can open up an opportunity for 

Lotteries to attract new players. 

The Internet is part of everyone’s future 

and looking at the success of bingo in 

Finland, there is no doubt that this is a 

potential growth portal for the world’s 

lottery industry. GTECH G2 is excited 

to be able to leverage all its expertise 

to create what will without doubt be 

some of the best online bingo networks 

in the world.


PARTNERSHIPS FOR PERFORMANCE 

COOPERATIVE SERVICES PROGRAMS IMPROVE OPERATIONS, 

OPTIMISE GAMES AND REJUVENATE SALES 

Lottery organisations across Europe 

are entering one of the most exciting 

times in history. The advancement of 

Internet games, social media channels 

and innovative programs that 

ensure responsible play are culminating 

in a new era of growth and expansion 

across the continent. 

Rising to meet the demands of a more 

complex operating environment, expanding 

channels and changing player 

demographics, some of the most 

successful Lotteries in Europe have 

created new agreements – and a different 

kind of relationship with their 

suppliers. 

This movement is exactly why Chris 

Allen doesn’t think of Scientific 

Games as a supplier to Lotteries – but 

as a strategic business partner. Particularly, 

under the expanded contract 

arrangements known as Cooperative 

Services Programs (CSP) underway in 

multiple jurisdictions, that allow the 

combination of knowledge, years of 

experience, innovation and resources 

to improve the gaming experience, 

develop the retail marketplace and 

engage players with a Lottery brand. 

“When you’re in a partnership with 

a Lottery, you are able to get a real 

view, a more holistic view that enables 

you to work together to improve 

sales,” said Allen, Director of Global 

Performance Marketing for Scientific 

Games. “We work with the Lottery to 

analyze the game product, players, 

the retail marketplace and the supply 

chain from top to bottom—and the 

partnership allows us to have more 

educated conversations about opportunities 

for revenue growth and 

player development.” 

Scientific Games has a portfolio that 

allows it to bundle instant tickets, 

technology, facilities management, 

analytics and other services for Lottery 

partnerships – including design 

and installation of game management 

systems, telemarketing, field sales 

and retail development. Partnerships 

may also include end-to-end instant 

game management, research best 

practices, product reviews, player 

analysis, inventory and distribution, 

sales staff training and advising the 

Lottery on other key areas. 

Many of the company’s CSP best practices 

have been incubated in the U.S., 

beginning in the mid-1980s, with the 

concept for a customised partnership 

with the New York Lottery. After 

several variations, the model was 



brought to Europe in 2002 with the 

Lottomatica partnership and applied 

to the re-launch of the instant game 

category known as “Gratta e Vinci.” 

This partnership model helped drive 

instant ticket retail sales from u 411 

million in 2004 to over u 9 billion in 

2010. It has become one of the biggest 

Lotteries in the world. 

With performance management programs, 

Scientific Games builds on the

success of a Lottery’s traditional core 

retail product and customizes a plan 

to drive future growth based on the 

company’s experience working with 

so many Lotteries around the globe 

over the past four decades. The plan 

focuses on the core business areas 

of game product optimisation, retail 

development, retailer expansion and 

player acquisition. It is executed in 

Europe through Scientific Games’ 

printing facility in Leeds, technology 

center in Vienna, and company offices 

in London, Ballymahon, Stockholm, 

Hamburg, Bielefeld and Budapest. 

“Our program is a consumer oriented 

approach that manages multiple variables 

and brings end-to-end improvements 

and efficiencies across the 

supply chain,” said Allen. “It’s about 

best practices, but it’s also about innovation 

and distribution expertise: 

delivering the right product for the 

right player in the right location at the 

right time.” 

These same principles were deployed 

with the rollout of the China Sports 

Lottery, which has grown from 1,500 

terminals in one province, to tens 

of thousands of terminals deployed 

throughout every province in China 

since its debut prior to the Beijing 

Olympics in 2008. 

Working together within Germany’s 

regulatory framework to drive business, 

Lotto Hessen and Scientific 

Games achieved success by delivering 

value to players in both product 

and retail execution, despite marketing 

restrictions. In order to do this, 

Lotto Hessen focused on increasing 

loyalty and improving the excitement 

and credibility of the entertainment 

brand by using promotional tickets 

and price point expansion in the 

game planning process, along with 

delivery to market. 

“Throughout the last five years of our 

partnership with Scientific Games on 

instant tickets, we benefitted from 

significant and steady year-on-year 

growth in revenues,” said Alex Sausmikat, 

Prokurist Marketing & Vetrieb 

at Lotto Hessen in Germany. “Combining 

Lotto Hessen’s market expertise 

and Scientific Games’ proven best 

practices helped us to achieve the 

best results in a highly regulated environment.” 

“We tailor each partnership arrangement 

to meet the specific requirements 

of the Lottery jurisdiction,” 

said Allen. “A close working relationship 

is key. The flexibility of the partnership 

approach also helps overcome 

differences in legislation, as 

well as the differences across Europe 

in culture, language, currency, consumer 

and retailer behavior.” 

In Lithuania, where an expanded 

partnership program with Scientific 

Games began in February 2011, sales 

have doubled in the last five months 

and are expected to double again by 

the year’s end, then again in 2012. 

“I am happy to say that the implementation 

of a new strategic game plan 

and the provision of Scientific Games’ 

additional marketing services have 

resulted in exceptional sales growth 

in 2011,” said Midaugas Marcinkevicius, 

IT Director for Olifeja. “We are 

excited and looking forward to even 

better results in the future.” 

After a competitive bid process, De 

Lotto selected Scientific Games’ CSP. 

The partnership began with the top 

25 retailers from the Netherlands 

• Develop a variety of products that 

offer the expectation and desired 

value for all consumer segments 

• Ensure those products are delivered 

in the right manner to the 

right retailers and displayed in 

the way they were intended 


CSP Steps to Success 


traveling to New York City to learn 

about SalesMaker, which will be 

part of the Lottery’s upcoming retail 

expansion drive to recruit new retailers 

using best practices. 

SalesMaker is a retail development 

program created by Scientific Games 

that shows retailers the importance 

of the Lottery category to their overall 

business. The key objective of Sales- 

Maker is to create the ideal lottery 

point-of-sale environment at retail. 

Retailers receive continuous training 

and real-world demonstrations on 

how to position lottery products as a 

“business within a business.” 

“Thanks to Scientific Games’ CSP 

program we are finally able to have 

a real dialogue with our retailers and 

deliver the products they need, when 

they need them,” said Frank Bijman, 

Chief Creative Officer of De Lotto. 

“This dedication to our retailers, combined 

with Scientific Games’ superior 

instant ticket products and marketing 

services, leads us to believe we can 

expand the Dutch Lottery – hopefully 

by double digits.” 

Capturing the DNA of lottery best 

practices, Scientific Games’ CSP enables 

the company to manage a Lottery’s 

instant game operations as a 

means of improving operating efficiencies 

for the Lottery, while increasing 

sales through improved execution 

of retail and player development. 

• Work with retailers to embrace 

lottery as a category and leverage 

lottery traffic to enhance overall 

store profitability 

• Adjust and refine the process 

continually to ensure all initiatives 

are complementary and on 

target for maximum profit to lottery 

beneficiaries


UNIVERSAL GAMING EXPERIENCE 

CUSTOMER PROXIMITY AND SOLUTION ELASTICITY - KEY DRIVERS OF SUCCESS 

The exciting world of gaming touches 

upon the very nature of human entertainment. 

Technology and business 

processes act synergistically to 

provide the very best of traditional 

games, while new gaming models become 

popular, such as the Internet, 

Mobile and more recently iTV applications, 

and are established as dominant 

means of user access, acting in 

complement to the traditional retailbased 

experience. 

The role of Governments and Government-sponsored 

organisations are 

pivotal in this respect. New regulatory 

frameworks are being designed 

or already implemented in a number 

of European countries, which set the 

groundwork for a significant change 

in the eGaming industry, as well as the 

opportunity for new developments in 

the lottery industry. 

THE LOTTERIES POSITION 

In this new regime, Lotteries need to 

position themselves, by preserving 

and enhancing their leading role. The 

path needs to (a) effectively address 

the challenge from new entrants in 

the market, (b) address new demographics, 

as newer generations become 

the next target customers, (c) 

embrace and optimise new technolo- 

gies and cross channel capabilities 

and (d) embrace the emerging of new 

business models ensuring business 

continuity with their traditional customers’ 

bases. 

The key drivers that will prevail in this 

new industry roadmap are: 

• Taxation, which reflects the different 

RTP (Return To Players) levels; 

• Responsible Gaming Frameworks 

that will gain a more significant role; 

• New games that go beyond the 

“standard offer” of the eGaming industry; 

• A redefinition of the concepts of liquidity 

and network games operations; 

• The “own your player” concept becomes 

a key customer initiative; 

• Personalisation of products that 

prove to be a differentiating factor; 

• B2B vs B2C ceases to be a dilemma 

and clear separation lines are applied; 

• Government monitoring and operational 

control become key technology 

and business elements. 

To be competitive in this new environment, 

it is necessary for Lotteries 

to adopt a strategy that will enable 

them to quickly react to market 

changes by appropriately adapting 



their technological infrastructure, 

seamlessly integrate new and exciting 

content and channels, and above all 

to understand the behavior and preferences 

of their customers and to act 

proactively, anticipating their desires. 

Hence, Lotteries have to adopt a strategy 

that will allow them to really “embrace/engage 

their customers”. 

THE NEW PLAYER 

How much do we know about our 

players? What are the elements that 

will assist an organisation in making 

the player stay longer and play 

more, while at the same time providing 

the most advanced and entertaining 

player experience? How can 

one combine the very nature of traditional 

retail-based gaming, where 

a limited amount of data is made 

available, with the full-blown Internet 

registered gaming model, where a lot 

of data can be available? How can we 

achieve real player protection, allowing 

the creation of competitive and 

personalised campaigns, especially in 

a “network game” with shared liquidity? 

Although these questions may sound 

familiar, effective answers assume advanced 

technology focused on solving 

these issues. We, at INTRALOT, 

believe in:

• The power of an effective and unifying 

player management platform; 

• The power of solution elasticity i.e. 

adapting and customizing our solutions 

to the specific requirements of 

our partner; 

• The strength of a B2B partnership, 

the shared understanding of risks, 

and customer proximity; 

• The power of an open game ecosystem 

that allows for an easy, fast and 

seamless integration of good external 

content as well as our partners’ 

own developed games; 

• The operations excellence that provides 

our partners with technology 

and business services to understand, 

manage and ultimately 

engage their customer. 

A true manifestation of our approach 

is evident when our partners investigate 

the participation in what is usually 

called a network (such as a Poker 

Network) to take advantage of liquidity 

levels, with a number of competing 

brands or B2C operators, hooked 

into the network, and competing in 

the acquisition process. The network 

operator applies restrictions (the Network 

Policy) to protect against, for 

example, “rake-back” policies or even 

more balancing marketing activity to 

avoid cross-brand competition. Although 

this strategy may prove worthwhile 

for small scale operators, this is 

not the case for large scale brands, 

with significant brand and market 

awareness, and even more for Lotteries 

due to their dominant role within 

a specific country. It is obvious that, in 

this case, Lotteries deserve their own 

liquidity, their own game design and 

variations as well as their freedom to 

implement proper marketing strategies 

without the need to compromise 

within the shared-liquidity network. 

INTRALOT’s solutions provide for 

such a possibility, and our customer 

proximity and solution elasticity enable 

the customisation and own liquidity 

set up, adapted to the desires 

of our Lottery partners. 

THE UNIVERSAL GAMING EXPE- 

RIENCE 

INTRALOT is strategically positioned 

to develop and deploy the universal 

gaming experience that implements 

the above strategy and responds to 

the growing and proliferating needs 

that these questions pose. Universal 

gaming positions the customer in 

the center, and all customer interaction 

points are managed in a single 

and transparent manner, irrespective 

of the engagement model (through 

retail channels, Internet, mobile or 

iTV) or his preferences of game play. 

Universal gaming unifies all elements 

that are generated throughout the 

customer gaming lifecycle, analyzes 

preferences and proactively proposes 

the necessary actions to optimize revenues 

by respecting responsible gaming 

principles. 

We believe in cross-platform mobility 

and unification from a player 

perspective, and therefore we have 

developed our technologies to be 

truly seamless to the player, offering 

a shared login and authentication, a 

shared wallet and a depositing system 

across the platforms. All these technologies 

allow the players to make 

use of their deposited funds and play 

whenever and wherever they are. 

Contrary to usual beliefs that a single 

wallet suffices, our customer platform 

goes beyond that and embeds 

advanced online segmentations and 

user profiling that allow our partners 

to understand their players and act in 

real time. This includes also the Internet, 

Mobile, iTV as well as the VLT 

solution, to allow the player identity 

to be used across these platforms and 

provide seamless business continuity. 

Key elements of our Universal Gaming 

Experience Strategy are: 

• New Design. A platform built bottom 

up that is not part of a specific 

game, using the latest in Software 

Development Architectures and 

Technologies. 

• Game Agnostic. Design centered 

around the player and the customer 

and not around the game. 

• Expandability. Built in API integration 

and SOA frameworks that allow 

an easy expansion and introduction 

of Long-Tail games, complementary 

with strategic core games. 

• More than a single wallet. Our cus- 



tomer platform embeds advanced 

online segmentations and user profiling, 

offering real time insight on 

the players. 

• Single Network, more control. Many 

games integrated in one single point 

of control together with the integration 

of dedicated network games. 

• Server based choice & flexibility. 

Since the client device in itself 

contains no game logic (all server 

based), the client will develop it according 

to his own needs; one can 

include any games or applications 

one chooses. In doing so, the customers 

do not have to download 

new software as the new offering is 

automatically presented to them. 

Another benefit is that our partners 

can add their own games with a simple 

API integration! 

• Stability & scalability. Regardless of 

the system load, our long standing 

track record proves that your players 

get the fastest and smoothest playing 

experience they deserve. 

• Differentiation. INTRALOT’s software 

is parametrical and offers unparalleled 

customisation possibilities, 

with regard to design, features 

and applications. The user is not 

restricted to just a redesign of colors 

and pictures of a generic client from 

the other software suppliers. In an 

increasingly competitive market, a 

user of INTRALOT software stands 

out and brands the client in “his 

own way”. 

INTRALOT, through its experience 

gained by working with the most successful 

lotteries around the world, 

always offers technological solutions 

that meet and go beyond its clients’ 

needs and expectations. 

Having the customer in the center 

of our philosophy, we strive to bring 

only the best technological solutions 

in the new era of gaming. The Universal 

Gaming Experience is the new 

decisive step towards the future of our 

industry and INTRALOT is ready to 

offer to its customers the opportunity 

to “live” in it.

LOTTERY & TECHNOLOGY 

WILL FUTURE 

TECHNOLOGIES HELP 

STATE LOTTERIES? 

Our Lotteries are, like any other corporation, subjected 

to the technological landscape that keeps changing at 

breathtaking speed, affecting business operations and 

people’s preferences along the way. The Internet, with its 

online applications, has radically transformed the lottery 

games operations. Driven by newer, accessible and more 

global technologies and a liberalization of online gambling 

in many countries, Internet gambling is becoming 

one of Europe’s fastest growing industries, according to the 

European Commission’s Green Paper. Novelties keep surfacing, 

with the latest craze being mobile gambling and 

social media networks. Europe is now the largest Facebook 

continent with 205 million users, ahead of North America 

with 203 million, according to the site socialbakers.com. 

These trends have opened up a whole new market segment 

with online players of all ages (as a matter of fact the age 

SVENSKA SPEL: 

AN OPEN GAMING SYSTEM 

Svenska Spel in Sweden is working at transforming the 

interactive gaming experience for its players by offering 

solutions that respond to the demand for innovation and 

constant access. Mobility is an overall trend, which influences 

consumer behaviour. One major challenge that this 

technology has presented to Svenska Spel is the ability to 

provide its players with a seamless gaming experience regardless 

of the place, time and device being used, because 

customers want to reach the Lottery through many different 

devices. 

MOBILE STRATEGY 

With the high number of Smartphones in Sweden, Svenska 

Spel is developing native apps for iPhone, allowing 

players to follow their bets, games, goals services and 

more. The Lottery is also working on a mobile web solution 

to optimise the betting experience on Smartphones, 

tablets or other mobile devices. In order to be efficient, 

this new technology needs to present flexible solutions 

to quickly respond to customers’ needs, regardless of the 

distribution channel. For Svenska Spel, there is no doubt 

that mobile services will play a key role in providing products 

and services; as a matter of fact, this is already a requirement 

in order to retain existing players and reach a 

new and younger segment of customers. 

There are many challenges ahead in finding a way to 

provide the best gaming experience: the Lottery’s strategic 

agenda targets a short timeline (3-4 years), the chosen 

mobile technology must be flexible and a true open 

gaming platform to help Svenska Spel quickly deliver its 

full line of products in a safe and secure online environment 

must be developed. With a constant presence and 


group of people over 50 is one of the fastest growing Facebook 

sectors). 

As explained by many Lottery executives, organisations are 

still in a learning curve when it comes to the latest technological 

trends, be it mobile devices such as cell phones and 

tablets, or social media networks. In this issue of EL NEWS, 

we have asked our Premium Partners as well as some Lotteries 

to give an overview of their newest experimentation 

with technology and what the future holds for them. These 

articles highlight the technological impact on the development 

of a better relationship with retailers and players, the 

question of ensuring security in the age of social gambling 

and the question of propelling Lotteries to modern style organisations. 

top quality products and services at retail stores, on the 

Internet or mobile devices, Svenska Spel will remain the 

top operator of games in Sweden. 

10 NEWS 37 SEPTEMBER 2011

THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMPANY OF IRELAND: 

“CURRENT AND CALL TO ACTION” CONTENT 

In a world of digital gaming entertainment, competitiveness 

requires innovation, flexibility and most of all 

a constant presence everywhere. The National Lottery 

Company (NLC) of Ireland has therefore implemented a 

plan to both attract new players and provide an improved 

experience for existing players on all platforms. 

Knowing that many of its products are impulse purchases 

and relying on research analysis, the NLC decided to 

place digital signage at points of sale to grab players’ attention. 

The content as well as the strategic placement of 

these screens are important factors. For each NLC draw 

game, the digital screens show the current increasing 

jackpot amount and a countdown in minutes to the next 

draw. The signage is located facing the direction of the 

normal queue at cash registers for maximum effect to interest 

players in particular games and educate them with 

real time information directly downloaded from the National 

Lottery’s central system. Currently, the Lottery has 

installed digital signage in 100 stores and expects to implement 

this technology in 1000 stores by the end of 2011. 

The result will be an incremental lift in sales, especially 

during periods of large jackpots. The current NLC retail 

network is comprised of over 3,700 stores throughout the 

Republic of Ireland, all connected to the central Lottery 

system in Dublin, using wired broadband. 

Another improvement is being trialed in selected supermarkets 

throughout Ireland. To increase overall store 

sales and the number of points of sale in supermarkets, 

some lottery product sales activities have been transferred 

to small quick-pick terminals at individual checkouts 

supplementing the traditional lottery sales at the 

customer service desk. 

ONLINE AND MOBILE PRESENCE 

FOR THE NLC 

Last June, the NLC decided to consolidate its two 

websites into a single site to make online registration 

an easier task and provide a more efficient online 

experience for both players and visitors. The 

site now offers a choice between English and Gaelic 

(Irish language) and all the popular features (e.g. 

previous draw results, information on future draws, 

etc.) are just one click away. This redesigned website 

has resulted in a 10% increase in regular visitors and 

players alike as well as the time spent (up by 20%) 

searching the site. On days with large jackpots, the 

site receives over 120,000 visitors. Another element 

emphasizing the Lottery’s willingness to be more ac- 


cessible has been the new Web service enabling third 

party sites to read draw results automatically from 

the NLC website. The NLC is also present on mobile 

devices with new iPhone applications, allowing users 

to check draw results and generate quick-pick numbers 

right on their smartphone. 



The latest technology has allowed the NLC to improve 

its brand image, to have better customer care 

and to increase sales while maintaining a high level 

of security. In today’s online environment, the Lottery 

had to address some concerns and one of the 

most demanding aspect of online gaming is to be 

consistently available on all media channels and 

provide accurate and complete information. 

NEW TECHNOLOGY AT THE NLC 

Also the NLC has to make sure its retailers provide 

the optimum location in their stores for the new digital 

signage screens and with so many different types 

of mobile devices (Smartphones, tablets, etc), the 

Lottery information and website must be easily accessible 

and available to players, irrespective of the 

device they use. 

Part of being a responsible institution is to have a 

strong social commitment, while protecting game security, 

players’ privacy, data control and confidence in 

the brand. Therefore lotteries need to take note of these 

new communication and distribution channels and 

come up with a framework where they can be safely 

implemented. Working in tandem with suppliers who 

adopt the best technology to ensure their competitive- 


Therefore the Lottery of Ireland is now focused on 

offering more mobile and Internet capabilities with 

special attention to social media and corporate social 

responsibility as well as on launching Self-Serve 

units if approved by the regulator. In the works is a 

new website portal for the retailers and plans to place 

more fully integrated POS in more stores around the 

country. 

ness and their attractiveness to players and all stakeholders, 

is essential in that regard. There is no turning 

back and the online technology keeps developing at 

an even faster pace. With social media allowing people 

to create their own online worlds where they can 

hang out and share their experiences virally, a Lottery 

with the right technology to harness their players’ online 

needs will become a success story. 


CASE STUDY 

SOCIAL MEDIA, INESCAPABLE STAKE 

FOR THE NATIONAL LOTTERY 

OF BELGIUM 

POWERFUL CONDUITS OF MODERNITY, BRAND’S 

VALUE AND CONSUMER SATISFACTION 

Social Media today are an integral part of the consumer 

commodities as well as communication practices and the 

gaming world, creating enduring changes with a direct 

impact on the players’ expectations, the management of 

media influence and the games mechanics. 

Social Media present us with formidable opportunities 

(an engaged and active cross-generation audience, a 

phenomenal viral effect, a great potential for engagement 

but also a channel for loyalty and acquisition) as much 

as new risks (image management, new legal questions, 

super-reactivity, responsible gaming). But the true risk 

relates mainly to inability to control these new issues. 

Players and stakeholders’ conversations have already begun. 

And their powerful impact is substantial. Ignoring 

what is being said about us on the Web, being incapable 

of responding immediately to stop a budding crisis and, 

besides managing the criticism, being incapable of initiating 

enthusiastic stories about our brands represent a 

huge risk nowadays. 

MULTIPLE STAKES THAT DESERVE A DEDI- 

CATED EXPERTISE 

SinceSeptember2010,themanagementofSocialMediais 

being handled internally by the National Lottery through 

the creation of a ‘Consumer Dialogue Specialist & eQuality 

Control’ position within the Marketing, Sponsoring 

& External Communications Department. Its mission: 

with the function of supporting Consumer Dialogue, the 

question is to define the strategic pillars of Social Media 

development in order to create satisfied players communities, 

manage the e-reputation of the National Lottery in 

the social web, support the optimal integration of Social 

Media by existing communication strategies and ensure 

the management of cross-channel interests associated 

with the development of Social Media (legal issues, team 

training, crisis communication, Social Media policy, Social 

Media & e-commerce and more). Adding to this new 

position, a strong expertise on Social Media enables us to 

build a strategic vision adapted to the interests of the National 

Lottery, but also to handle internally, in a continued 

and transversal manner, the stakes and evolutions associated 

with Social Media projects. This internal management 

is also reinforced by a Community Manager function 

incorporated with the Digital Manager’s mission to 

handle, on a daily basis, the Facebook corporate page of 

the National Lottery. 

GETTING STARTED, TESTING - YES. WITHOUT 

STRATEGIC DIRECTION - NO. 

Integrating Social Media is an extensive job with numerous 

implications (legal, communication, IT, customer 

service, sponsoring, promotions, sales, HR, research, 

etc.), constant adjustments and steps that must be staged 

for a time period (2-year vision). The National Lottery has 

defined different strategic tools to conform to that development: 

- A ‘Social Media Audit’ to clearly define the risks and opportunities; 

- Precise guidelines to describe our development principles 

regarding Social Media; 

- A ‘Strategic Social Media Framework’ to indicate the 

different development stages and the concerned teams 

for each step; 


- A ‘Map of the Social Media Structure’ to organise the 

various presences within the different networks, according 

to the National Lottery’s interests; 

- And finally a ‘Social Media Timeline’ to spread the efforts 

over the next 12 to 24 months. 

Flexible strategic tools, reiterative and always changing, 

centre the efforts around priorities and not according to 

the trends or the latest technological innovations. 

The development of these tools is on a par with the definition 

of corporate and marketing objectives that would 

be sustained by Social Media projects. The 2011 priorities 

are threefold: 

1. Reinforce players’ loyalty while the gaming portfolio is 

highly reinvented; 

2. Stimulate the relevance and the preference within the 

18-34 years old age group; 

3. Optimise the positive image associated with the National 

Lottery. 

FACEBOOK OR TWITTER? THAT IS NOT THE 

QUESTION. 

The in-depth study of players and stakeholders’ conversations 

has enabled us to apply to each Social Media its 

specific potential for the National Lottery. 

- Facebook is the central point of our players’ conversa- 


CASE STUDY 

tions and the place for engagement with our brands. 

- YouTube is a management centre for our image, servicing 

Social Media and Search platforms. When players 

talk about us or our campaigns, their search might not 

bring them to our videos if we do not have an official 

presence on YouTube, but to those made about similar 

products by amateurs or foreign Lotteries and when 

this contact has not been considered, it becomes a lost 

opportunity. 

- Twitter is a new link in media influence that requires, 

at the very least, a daily monitoring. While its audience 

is more confidential than Facebook, its public is nonetheless 

extremely critical with an equally important 

potential impact (politicians, geeks, journalists, entrepreneurs). 

- Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, etc.: Digital 

tools servicing‘Real Life’ interests (events, points of sale 

and more). 

CREATING PLAYERS’ COMMUNITIES: KEY 

STEPS 

Our starting point: a Facebook corporate page created in 

the summer of 2010, linked to a campaign for the instant 

scratch-card game, Win For Life. By giving away tickets 

for music festivals via simple contests, the page attracts 

more than 5,000 fans. 

In December 2010, this presence is structured, and most 

of all animated in a lasting manner. Besides a campaign, 

with a regular involvement on the Facebook page (a regular 

communication is key to ensure the page visibility 

among the newsfeed for its fans), activities dedicated to 

its fans are created in a regular manner (a tab for contests, 

polls, applications with various themes, etc.), supported 

by targeted campaigns within Facebook (acquisition of 

new fans and reminders for others). Finally, the creation 

of a YouTube channel allows the centralization and reinforcement 

of the visibility of all video assets of the National 

Lottery. In these footsteps, the Facebook corporate 

page is experiencing a quick expansion going from 5,000 

fans to almost 20,000 in just one year. 

Even though the page recruits a lot of fans, its potential 

for engagement is limited to the National Lottery brand, 

more serious than entertaining – but also an institution 

that we enjoy to call to account. It is not a brand fans 

would mostly use to define their digital identity, unlike 

the game brands that are strongly anchored in the daily 

life of our players. Since May 2011, emblematic brands 

have been working progressively on building their players’ 

communities, with their own objectives, visual identity 

and content tone, that are managed on a daily basis 

by an external Community Manager. Everything is being 

thought out to achieve maximum synergy with the audiovisual 

productions, our sites, our newsletters and campaigns, 

the various media, the different departments as 

well as the events. 

It’s a success: more than 9,000 fans for the Euro Millions 

after three months, near 13,000 fans for Win For Life after 

one month… A total of almost 40,000 fans for the National 

Lottery and its brands after one year of presence and 8 

months of active management, largely surpassing the initial 

objectives. That result should get even better with the 

impending arrival of the Lotto brand and has positioned 

the National Lottery among the most active brands on 

Social Media in Belgium. 


1 YEAR. 40,000 FANS. ADDED VALUE AND 

KEY LEARNINGS? 

Establishing a dialogue space on Social Media means that 

you accept to be challenged and pushed around by your 

most attentive audience on all the changes in progress, 

the dreams they have and that do not yet exist, the problems 

too and most of all our timeliness. Social Media 

rhyme with extreme reactivity: It’s a dialogue in real time 

that never stops, including evenings and Sundays. A true 

challenge that requires us to get organised. But accepting 

such a challenge means that we have to question our 

interests and priorities in order to reposition even more 

consumers’ expectations in the centre of our dynamics. It 

also incurs to accept moving faster, even if it means pushing 

aside some of the processes. To question oneself, be 

flexible and adopt a new rhythm will no doubt be a warrant 

for modernity. 

Also it is about bringing along a new dimension to the 

brands, the same ones that provide the most loyal players 

with information and exclusive privileges, that will gain 

from their advice and initiate a regular dialogue between 

players and will see the emergence among them of the 

most loyal players – their ambassadors. This will also en- 


ich the experiences with the brands going from passive 

to interactive, becoming more entertaining and more inclusive. 

Played daily, they are connected to the intimate 

space of our players, their Social Graph, their friends. A 

Fan page that is well thought out and nicely animated 

consolidates the image of the brand, increases its sympathy 

asset, creates a daily link with its fans and reveals its 

natural ambassadors. 

But a presence on Social Media is also a very fast and efficient 

way to manage consumers’ satisfaction. Very often, 

during moments of preoccupation, Social Media are the 

first platform to release the information either through 

our channels or not. Ensuring an attentive and reactive 

management of the comments allows us to detect any 

incident and handle it very quickly. It’s like creating an 

abridgment between our brands and our players, which 

emphasises the positive feelings of our players. It is presenting 

numerous public “thank you” and pushing the 

players’ satisfaction out of the confined individual space 

to produce a public, viral and repetitive expression of enthusiasm. 

The last months have been filled with success and have 

been a learning experience. 

- Social Media are no magic bullets to reach younger 

players. These media work across generations, connecting 

our games to our audiences both young and 

mature. Forget about any miracle to rejuvenate an audience 

but dare imagine a clear success with the 30-50 

years old age group too. 

- Fans do not find us by themselves. A fan base is built 

upon a targeted communication and results in unprecedented 

interactive experiences (e.g. create a “Dream 

List” through an e-shopping interface for the launch of 

the Euro Millions page) and/or nice incentives (e.g. win 

a romantic trip, festivals tickets, donations to a charity, 

etc.). Facebook members are intensely courted. Gaining 

their attention must be earned and the same goes 

when it comes to retention. 

- Is your agency handling the advertising campaigns on 

Facebook perfectly? They are key factors for visibility 

and success on Facebook. And per Facebook’s own recognition, 

the digital agencies’ lack of experience in this 

field often compromises the results of the brands. Mastering 

the commercial environment of Facebook warrants 

in turn a precious response by Facebook’s teams 

(local antenna or Facebook Europe) when you fall victim 

to a bug. 

- Social Media, global media, strictly local opportunities. 

If access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media 

works for most of the brands without any restriction 

per countries, the Lotteries face challenges due to their 

territoriality, in a context where their brand names are 

often and paradoxically local namesakes in other countries. 

Thus beware of the tempting promises of the latest 

commercial opportunities tied to Facebook : Some 

are not implementable when a country filter is mandatory 

for a Fan page, as it is for all Lotteries. Getting to 

know the specific Facebook policies for Lotteries allows 

avoiding mishaps into impossible projects. Also, it is 

extremely difficult to track down many of the conversations 

on the local brands, when their names are slightly 

similar to those in neighbouring countries or when 

they are marketed in other countries. To find out what 

is said in a specific territory about well-known brands 


such as Lotto or Euro Millions is a definite challenge. 

And today’s online watch or e-reputation solutions are 

rarely successful at doing so. These are the limitations 

not to be ignored. 

- Social Media are never turned off. Insulting comments 

on a Sunday, a bug one evening at 10 pm … For certain 

brands, Sunday is even the day where fans are the most 

active. It is impossible to think of a Facebook page without 

an alert system and a manned management that is 

operational 7 days a week and after office hours. 

- Do you really know what they say about you? Managing 

Social Media is a whole application that cannot be 

comprehended without a careful daily listening and 

a reaction to players’ conversations when necessary. 

The listening effort must become more refined to find 

the proper tools, the correct key words adapted to the 

linguistic peculiarities we face (e.g. an efficient tool in 

French might not sound the same way in Dutch) and 

needs to be wide spread (Twitter, blogs, Facebook, forums, 

Google+ and more…), with the knowledge of the 

limitation that a monitoring may never be totally complete. 

Once under control, Social Media can deliver 

formidable opportunities. 


LOTTERIES AND B2B 

AT FDJ 

Pascal Blyau, Director of Business Development at FDJ 

B2B lottery subsidiaries are doing well, as reflected 

in the new businesses created by Camelot and 

Veikkaus over the last few months. LAE in Spain 

and la Française des Jeux (FDJ) were pioneers in 

this area. Pascal Blyau, Director of Business Development 

at FDJ, explains the different strategies. 

EL: TELL US ABOUT YOUR B2B SUBSIDIARIES 

FDJ now has three B2B subsidiaries. 

LotSys provides lottery solutions and integration 

services, such as multimedia system solutions, 

external draw solutions; Internal Control System 

and a large retail suite (in partnership with Safran 

Morpho); 

LVS offers a sports betting solution that integrates 

with LotSys solutions; and LB Poker (a FDJ and 

Groupe Lucien Barrière joint venture) markets its 

casino and poker software operated by the barrierepoker.fr 

brand. 

EL: WHAT PROMPTS A LOTTERY TO DEVEL- 

OP B2B PRODUCTS AND ACQUIRE A COM- 

PANY IN THIS MARKET? 

Lotteries have sometimes excellent in-house technology. 

B2B subsidiaries market these solutions 

“Our agents needed a fast, secure method of tracking 

lottery sales on their own accounting systems, so they 

could accurately distinguish lottery revenues from other 

revenue. GTECH designed and implemented a barcode 

solution that lets agents rapidly scan — and accurately 

GTECH® is an advocate of socially responsible gaming. Our business solutions empower customers to develop parameters 

and practices, appropriate to their needs, that become the foundation of their responsible gaming programs. 

LOTTERY & TECHNOLOGY 16 NEWS 37 SEPTEMBER 2011

and add new developments for their customers. 

This guarantees the long term competitiveness of 

technology & skills. 

At the same time, some industry solutions don’t 

meet the needs of lotteries. They end up being 

too restrictive or too complicated to upgrade. 

This means that B2B subsidiaries such as LotSys 

become innovation drivers that can translate lotteries 

needs into up-to-date, multi-channel, open 

solutions. 

Other factors that are driving lotteries to advance 

in the B2B market are the search for new sources 

of revenues or simply the opportunities of strategic 

equity investments. 

EL: IS THIS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN LVS 

WAS ACQUIRED BY LA FRANÇAISE DES 

JEUX IN 2010? 

When the Internet gambling market opened up in 

France, the acquisition of LVS was an opportunity 

for la FDJ. They had impressive software quality 

and expertise. 

Today LVS and LotSys have consolidated their lot- 

capture — the value of their lottery purchases on their own cash 

register. Now our agents have a clear and integrated view of 

their sales by product line, and The Lottery retains full visibility 

of lottery product sales.” 

Jim O’Connor, Key Account Manager, The Lottery, Ireland 

For more about this story and others like it, visit us at gtech.com/testimonials. 


tery and sports betting products to provide a clear 

and attractive lottery offering. The “key staff” is 

still present and works closely with Lotsys. LVS 

joined also the EL and WLA community as an Associate 

member. 

EL: HOW DO THESE SUBSIDIARIES DIFFER- 

ENTIATE THEMSELVES IN THE MARKET? 

The solutions are often innovative in terms of 

interoperability, agility, independence, performance, 

security, customers’ knowledge and distribution 

channels control. 

Lottery customers opt for security. They know the 

quality of the solutions on offer, the solidity of the 

shareholder (FDJ) and the prospect of a fair and 

necessarily sustainable collaboration. 



Gambling Technology is a fundamental 

topic today, especially in the light of 

the ongoing debate in the EU. Various 

notifications by Member States 

refer to IT aspects while also the EU 

Commission Green Paper consultation 

on the sector of online gambling is 

paying a particular attention to it. 

The actual debate on gambling 

technologies is driven by the way 

technology is used in a proper regulated 

environment in order to avoid the abuse 

of the principles of the Internal Market. 

Technology is often used to circumvent 

the principles of Internal Market rules, 

to avoid taxation and the application of 

anti-money laundering rules. 

In this regard, Advocate General P. 

Mengozzi, in its Opinion in the Stoß 

case, has highlighted the existence 

of some practises which do not allow 

mutual trust between the EU Member 

States (i.e. off-shore licenses) and 

therefore result as a violation of Internal 

Market rules. 

P. Mengozzi clarifies that the 

application of the principle of mutual 

recognition presumes a certain balance 

to be found between the different 

conditions imposed in the Member 

States. Consequently, the Member 

State in which the service is provided 

cannot impose on the operator the 

same conditions and controls to which 

he was already subject in his country of 

origin. 

According to AG P. Mengozzi, 

extraterritorial licenses do not fulfil 

these conditions. Since the authorities 

of the country of origin do not allow the 

provision of gambling services within 

their territory, it cannot be argued that 

the general interest objectives pursued 

by another Member State are already 

sufficiently protected. 

The Court of Justice did reject in several 

cases the possibility in the current 

status of EU law the application of the 

mutual recognition. According to the 

Court “a Member State is therefore 

entitled to take the view that the mere 

fact that an operator such as Bwin 

lawfully offers services in that sector via 

the Internet in another Member State, 

in which it is established and where it is 

in principle already subject to statutory 

conditions and controls on the part of 

the competent authorities in that State, 

cannot be regarded as amounting to 

a sufficient assurance that national 

consumers will be protected against the 

risks of fraud and crime, in the light of 

the difficulties liable to be encountered 

in such a context by the authorities of 

the Member State of establishment in 

assessing the professional qualities and 

integrity of operators.” 

It is clear that this does also apply to the 

technology requirements which vary 

among the different Member States. 

Member States do rightly believe 

that, in order to be able to uphold a 

proportionate and consistent gambling 

policy technology, means used should 

be subject to regular inspections and 

controls. This requirement is also 

foreseen in the Third Anti-Money 

Laundering Directive. Various systems 

are currently explored from a full 

(operational) server approach to a 

frontal system or a portal under control 

of the regulator. All those system 

are complemented by ISP and other 

blocking mechanisms to assist with the 

enforcement of the licensing regime. 

In the Dickinger case the question of 

mutual recognition and the difficulties 

LEGAL 

Philippe Vlaemminck 


relating to controls by the country of 

origin were again debated. 

In its opinion AG Bot expressed a rather 

critical view towards Malta regarding 

the abuse of Internal Market rules. 

According to Bot, Member States can 

impose strict requirements, including 

having a social seat within the territory 

of that Member State and a server to 

properly track and control the online 

gaming operations, in order to ensure a 

strict and more efficient control by the 

government of the operator’s policy. 

Consumer protection emerges here 

as the main issue in the debate. The 

absence of cooperation between 

Member States and of certain common 

IT standards creates some specific risks. 

In practice, self exclusions systems set 

up by a Member State, remain without 

effect in other Member States. 

More in general, a lack of understanding 

about technology can be detected, 

including at the level of the EU 

Commission.

FUTURE & CHALLENGES 

Fromitsside,theEuropeanCommission 

is opposing against Member State 

requirement to have technology 

systems location (server, frontal server, 

portal with ISP blocking…). 

The Commission has however no 

arguments to oppose against the 

positionoftheMemberStates.Moreover, 

in the secondary legislation, as in the 

AML directive, onsite inspections are 

foreseen as necessary requirement for 

the prevention and enforcement of 

Money Laundering (even though, for 

now, still only applicable to the casino 

game sector). 

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a 

very substantial debate among different 

stakeholders to find out which could be 

a proper environment to enable proper 

IT standards supporting the Member 

States policies. 

The gaming industries should focus 

on player protection and contribution 

to the society and therefore can only 

welcome that investigation on gambling 

technology will take place. 

In fact, only the cooperation among the 

stakeholders could lead to the definition 

of effective technical requirements and 

solutions. 

The current EU Regulatory and 

Legislative framework, as clarified by 

the Court of Justice of the EU and by 

a number of secondary EU legislative 

instruments, must form the backdrop 

to the discussion on the design of the 

gambling technology. 

What does it mean in practice for 

operators and different stakeholders? 

There is a need to discuss on how to 

get control over the expanding online 

market by adapting to the changing 

environment throughout a strongly 

regulated controlled expansion policy, 

by exploring new form of games and 

new form of distribution tools as long as 

the illegal market continues to flourish. 

The debate on gambling technology 

will have mainly to focus on defending, 

also legally, the market by mean of 

enforcement through ISPs, payment 

blocking, geo-location technology; 

researching & comparing what other 

industries set up (i.e. the music industry 

against illegal downloading) or the 

social media which have succeeded 

in offering and disseminating 

(notwithstanding the serious privacy 

implications) the use of Geolocation as 

commercial tool. 

A first step could be the exchange 

of views and information among 

stakeholders from the different 

Member States on the different IT tools, 

especially on key issues such as: server 

and cloud based technology, liquidity 

& open end white labels, consumer 

E-identification(government practices), 

consumer behavior tracking, controls 

and responsible gaming, online 

payment services, Money Laundering 

and “know your customer” tools, 

Mobile phones technology, …. 

Still many questions remain open as we 

move forward: 

How to define the standards for 

transnational (or if necessary also 

international) issues? How can the 

technical knowledge and expertise 

easily be acquired? How practical and 

effective are IP and Payment blocking 

systems? What data protection features 

to be put in place? How should facilities 

such as random number generator 

and other “gaming machine” features 

LEGAL 


be best regulated? Where do servers 

or other IT hardware be located to 

guarantee the regulatory control? What 

e-ID systems can be promoted? 

The list is long and will require different 

experts to talk to each other. The EU 

Commission does not know the answer, 

but is certainly willing to learn from 

the sector what tools are available and 

can help to find answers to get control 

over the online market. By organizing 

an innovation meeting involving legal, 

IT, security and marketing experts and 

suppliers, EL has taken the first step in 

this direction. 

Philippe Vlaemminck 

EL Legal Adviser

RESPONSIBLE GAMING CERTIFICATION 

Since joining Camelot in April, I have witnessed something 

that I believe to be unique to the lottery 

world and a really positive force for change. I have 

been welcomed into the lottery community and 

have seen how open collaboration can drive best 

practices and a continual evolution of our industry. 

Input from every EL Member really does make the 

whole stronger. Testament to this approach is how 

the European Responsible Gaming Standards were 

conceived, developed and adopted to protect the interests 

of players and vulnerable groups. 

The European Responsible Gaming Standards are a 

set of standards which provide a common framework 

by which Lotteries can make responsible gaming an 

integral part of their daily operations. The standards 

cover requirements in ten key subject areas that 

make up a responsible gaming programme spanning 

research and game design to treatment referral and 

player education. These standards were adopted by 

all EL Members in 2007, and in 2008 a framework to 

enable Members to become certified was developed. 

SEE INNOVATION IN 

A DIFFERENT LIGHT. 

TOGETHER. 

JOIN TODAY. 

WWW.LOTTERYINNOVATION.NET 

RESPONSIBLE GAMING 

The Lotteries that have become certified have really 

seen clear business benefits of undertaking the assessment. 

Although responsible gaming has always 

been something that Camelot has put right at the 

heart of its business, the assessment process meant 

that we carried out a root and branch examination 

of working practice in all areas of our responsible 

gaming programme – this enabled us to identify 

any gaps that needed addressing and to provide an 

incentive for the rest of the business to drive continuous 

improvement across the company. Having a 

‘gold standard’ in responsible business practice has 

also helped to boost our reputation further amongst 

our many stakeholders, which we believe makes us a 

more effective operator who is trusted to deliver on 

its commercial targets, while keeping players’ wellbeing 

at the forefront of everything we do. Achieving 

certification also means Members gain Level 4 accreditation 

– the highest level in the World Lottery Association 

Responsible Gaming Framework. 

Lottery Innovation Network 

info@lotteryinnovation.net 

www.lotteryinnovation.net 


In these economically tough times our players’ wellbeing 

approach has born unexpected fruit. Our excessive 

play policy, that drives us to have millions of people 

spending small amounts, has meant that we have seen 

less impact on our overall business. It may have been a 

different story if we had relied on big spenders curtailing 

that large spend when times were tough. 

The collaboration that created the standard lives on 

2010 

Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd., United Kingdom 

Westdeutsche Lotterie GmbH & Co. OHG, Germany 

AB Svenska Spel, Sweden 

Austrian Lotteries, Austria 

Société de la Loterie de la Suisse Romande, Switzerland 

Loteria de Catalunya, Spain 

Lottomatica SpA, Italy 

Veikkaus Oy, Finland 

La Française des Jeux, France 

Mifal Hapais, Israel 

TOTO (The Israel Sports Betting Board), Israel 

Toto-Lotto Niedersachsen GmbH, Germany 

Szerencsejáték Zrt., Hungary 

Loterie Nationale, Luxemburg 

The 27 certified 

2011 

Nederlandse Staatsloterij, The Netherlands 

AS Eesti Loto, Estonia 

Lotto Hamburg GmbH, Germany 

Lotto-Toto GmbH Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany 

Loterie Nationale, Belgium 

NKL Nordwestdeutsche Klassenlotterie, Germany 

RAY Raha-automaattiyhdistys, Finland 

Sisal SpA, Italy 

Norsk Tipping AS, Norway 

Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, Germany 

ONCE, Spain 

National Lottery Ireland, Ireland 

Íslensk Getspá, Iceland 

In addition, the Working Group runs a corporate responsibility seminar each year 

and is open to all Members. To see this collaboration in action join us at ‘Responsible 

Gaming = Responsible Growth’ 2011’s seminar in Hamburg on the 26 – 28th September. 

I hope to see you there. 

EL ACTIVITIES 

as the members of the Responsible Gaming Working 

Group who worked together to develop the standard, 

are on standby to provide support and guidance for 

Lotteries thinking about, or currently undertaking, 

the certification process. 

Julian Price 

Group Head of Corporate Responsibility 

Camelot Group 


PLAYER CONFIDENCE AND TRUST – 

ARE WE FIT FOR PURPOSE? 

In every business the confidence and trust of its 

stakeholders are absolute vital ingredients for success 

and nowhere is this more true than in the lottery 

world. 

If a lottery player ever knew or even suspected that 

a lottery operation was corrupt or dishonest their 

confidence and trust would undoubtedly be dented 

and it is extremely unlikely that they would be willing 

to purchase any tickets. 

Over the years tremendous efforts have been made 

by Lotteries in many operational areas to ensure that 

they are safe, sound and secure. For example, staff 

in key positions are comprehensively vetted, Gaming 

network systems and software are vigorously tested, 

the draw process including the equipment is subject 

to external audit and the utmost scrutiny, lottery 

buildings are physically secure with the latest protective 

technology and many other security initiatives 

have been implemented. 

Yet, despite all of the excellent work and commitment, 

three to four years ago, the lottery worlds’ integrity 

was badly shaken by disturbing events in Canada 

and in Europe. 

It was discovered that some lottery retailers, the public 

profile and “interactive” face of a Lottery, had 

been systematically defrauding players over a long 

period of time with the behaviour seemingly endemic. 

With the obvious large scale media interest and calls 

for investigations and public enquiries the reputation 

and integrity of those lottery operators involved 

was severely questioned. As a result there were high 

profile casualties at a senior executive level and Lotteries 

and regulators were very quickly obliged to 

review their role, responsibilities and processes to 

EL ACTIVITIES 

reassure players and attempt to limit the damage of 

the revelations. 

It was also apparent that many Lotteries around the 

world took the opportunity of the “wakeup call” to 

review their own retailer processes and procedures 

thanking their lucky stars that they were not the organisations 

in the “spot light”. 

With the passage of time it may be thought that the 

events described are now history but at two recent 

security seminars it is clear, and rightly so, that retailer 

security and the protection of players is still a 

very hot topic. 

It is fully acknowledged that generally retailers are 

very honest and have the best interests and the integrity 

of the Lottery at heart. But as in most cash enterprises, 

there is always a potential and opportunity for 

things to go wrong - despite all the checks, balances 

and controls that may be in place a retailer or more 

likely a member of their staff can act dishonestly. 

A lottery retailer can be dishonest in many ways and 

the following are a few examples: 

• Checking a winning ticket but declaring to the 

player that it is a non winner and later attempting 

to claim the prize. 

• Deliberately under paying a prize amount and later 

attempting to claim the correct prize. 

• Selling a ticket to a player and immediately carrying 

out a void process (cancellation) and retaining the 

payment for the ticket. 

• Pre scratching an Instant/ scratch card ticket to 

identify winners claiming the prize and selling the 

known losing tickets to unsuspecting players. 

Following the reported incidents lottery operators 

were quick to implement a number of actions designed 

to prevent or deter any fraudulent activity. 

The following are typical examples of actions taken: 

• A statement of commitment signed by the Lottery 

CEO is published in the press and on the Lottery 

website indicating that security and integrity are 

at the forefront and are paramount to the lottery 

operation. 

• A ‘Zero’ tolerance to retailer / staff dishonesty 

which is endorsed and emphasised to all members 

of lottery staff at all levels within the organisation. 

• For the player, clear user friendly advice on how to 

make a complaint if they perceive that they have 

been the victim of fraud. 

• A recording and monitoring of complaints of under 

payment of prizes and general suspicions of 

retailer fraudulent activity. 

• A comprehensive independent investigation into 

complaints of dishonesty or malpractice. An investigation 

team separate from all other departments 

to ensure there is complete segregation of duties 

and transparency. Feedback on investigations given 

directly to the complainant and the regulator. 

• An awareness programme highlighting the various 


ways of checking whether or not a ticket is a winner, 

which may include details at the Lottery website, 

Lottery hotline centre, newspapers published 

results, win checkers in agents/retailers. 

• Clear advice for players on personalising the ticket 

by writing or signing their names on the ticket at 

time of purchase not just when it is believed to be a 

winner. 

• A clear set of guidelines and guidance for retailers/ 

agents when checking a ticket, paying out a winner 

etc. 

• A comprehensive training programme for retailers 

and staff that includes the payment of prizes and 

the checking of tickets. 

• A robust sanction process in place for agents who 

do not comply with guidance and formal retailer 

agreement. 

• A system for when a winning ticket is scanned on 

a Lottery terminal - an audible fanfare and flashing 

light indicating the status of the ticket. 

(System cannot be interfered with e.g. turned down 

or off etc) 

• A customer facing screen that informs players in 

real time whether or not the ticket being scanned 

is a winner (Must not be able to be disabled by the 

retailer). 

• At retailers / agents ‘win checkers” machines installed 

that enable a player privately to self check a 

ticket. 

• As part of the retailer agreement an obligation to 

give a written record / receipt showing the status of 

a ticket when it has been scanned. 

• Vigorous and comprehensive vetting of all retailers 

and potential retailers to ensure they are suitable 

to be operating the Lottery. 

• A ‘free’ hot line for ticket checking and the registering 

of complaints, advice etc. 

• A system / process for monitoring of unusual retailer 

activity including excessive cancellations of 

tickets, excessive attempts at validations of non 

winning tickets and player complaints regarding 

allegations of under payment or non payment of 

prizes. 

• A system to track all prizes over a set reasonable 

limit (dependant on local circumstances) to ascertain 

whether the claimant is a retailer, a member of 

the retailer staff or in any other way involved with 

the lottery. 

• A system for a terminal to be frozen when a high 

tier winning ticket is scanned (Local circumstances 

dictate level). 

• High tier winners paid out at nominated Lottery 

premises and subjected to rigorous checks to ensure 

integrity without compromising the winning 

experience. 

It is not proposed for one moment that any Lottery 

would implement all of the above and it is suggested 

that a suitable strategy should be a layered (onion 

skin) approach. If one preventative measure is compromised 

there is another back up action from a different 

perspective. 

With the above in place a Lottery and regulator needs 

EL ACTIVITIES 

to be satisfied and sure that the measures in place are 

working. How can this be carried out? 

Some Lotteries have implemented a ‘mystery shopper’ 

programme for reviewing procedures at agents/ 

retailers with strong sanctions in place if it is discovered 

that a retailer or member of staff is not complying 

with the retailer agreement or operator directives. 

The schemes seem to work best when the process is 

heavily publicised and the retailer is aware that they 

are likely to be visited. They, of course, have no idea 

of the exact date and time of any visits. 

A number of Lotteries in North America and one in 

Europe have taken the mystery shopper concept one 

stage further and visit retailers with winning tickets 

which the retailer is requested to check. They have 

no idea that the request is made by a Lottery employee 

and it is very apparent whether or not they 

are complying with the agreed process and paying 

the correct prize. 

Again advanced generic publicity of the scheme is an 

important deterrent factor with dishonest retailers 

possibly liable to criminal prosecution. For higher 

tier winners the cooperation and involvement of 

ticket manufactures to work in partnership with the 

operator has been a fundamental key to the overall 

success of the operation. 

A mystery shopper project can be targeted on “suspected” 

retailers or, as in Europe cover the whole 

retailer estate with over 20,000 visits per year. A massive 

undertaking but considered cost effective for the 

reassurance, public trust and confidence it gives. 

The Lotteries involved can never be accused of ignoring 

the possibility of retailer fraud or of not taking 

the issue seriously. 

Another alternative solution is by a European Lottery 

which has a well developed and refined player 

registration programme. In this jurisdiction you are 

not able to play the lottery unless registered to do so. 

This ensures that prizes are paid automatically with 

no possibility of retailer fraud and no unclaimed 

prizes. However the registration card programme 

may not be suitable for every operator. 

As far as integrity and security are concerned tremendous 

progress has been made over the last few 

years, but with the real possibility of a breakdown of 

player trust and confidence it is felt that the payment 

of prizes and retailer fraud will continue to be a major 

concern for Lottery operators. Undoubtedly future 

lottery security seminars will have this as a main 

presentation session and discussion. 

John Branscombe 

J2B Security Ltd. 


SECURITY 

RISK MANAGEMENT 

A VERY HOT TOPIC FOR THE EL SECURITY AND 

RISK MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP 

The EL Security and Risk Management Working 

Group is the most recent working group of the European 

Lotteries. Created in November 2010 in Vienna, 

it is composed of 14 experts in security and risk management 

working in 13 European Lotteries: 

• Thierry Pujol, Director of Security and Risk Management, 

FDJ (France) 

• Carlos Bachmaier, Corporate Risk Manager, Loterías 

y Apuestas del Estado (Spain) 

• Johannes Puchinger, Head of Department Information 

Security, Österreichische Lotterien (Austria) 

• Martin Sutton, Head of Propriety, Camelot UK Lotteries 

Ltd. (United Kingdom) 

• Gunnar Ewald, Head of Internal Audit, Lotto Hamburg 

GmbH (Germany) 

• Antonio Gorrasi, IT Security Manager, Lottomatica 

SpA (Italy) 

• Claude Mathieu, Head of Internal Audit, Loterie 

Nationale (Belgium) 

• Magna Monte, Security and Quality Director, Santa 

Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (Portugal) 

• Heini Roosimägi, Security and Quality Manager, AS 

Eesti Loto (Estonia) 

• Matilda Bjerndell, Risk & Business Continuity Manager, 

AB Svenska Spel (Sweden) 

• Jaroslav Endrych, Security Manager, Sazka a.s. 

(Czech Republic) 

• Zvi Amitai, Vice President CIO, Mifal Hapais Israel 

National Lottery (Israel) 

• Konrad Supper, Senior Vice President, Head of Internal 

Audit and Responsible Gaming, Westdeutsche 

Lotterie GmbH & Co. OHG, (Germany) 

• Jean-Jacques Riera, Head of Department Information 

Security, FDJ (France). 

One of the responsibilities of the Security and Risk 

Management Working Group is to advise the Executive 

Committee of the European Lotteries and its 

members on security and risk management issues. 

In the interests of efficiency and to avoid duplica- 

EL ACTIVITIES 

tion this working group works closely with the WLA 

Security and Risk Management Committee, particularly 

in relation to the WLA Security Control Standard 

(WLA SCS 2006 based on ISO 27001) and the WLA 

certification process. 

Every Lottery organisation, in order to succeed in 

their business operational activities, has to ensure 

stakeholders, and in particular players of their games 

have the utmost confidence and trust in their operational 

activities. The integrity of all games in an offered 

portfolio, including conforming to the local legal 

requirements and regulations, (e.g. on responsible 

gaming and ethics) must be guaranteed. 

Lottery organisations face many types of risks. The 

following is not a definitive list of the “security and 

integrity” risks that could be encountered but illustrates 

the variety and complexity of those commonly 

experienced. 

• Fraud (e.g. a retailer deliberately underpaying a 

prize on a winning ticket to a player or stealing 

a winning ticket from a player by deception to 

conspire and collude with a Lottery employee to 

defraud the Lottery). 

• Money laundering (e.g. A criminal or terrorist organisation 

may attempt to manipulate the monetary 

system of a Lottery organisation in order to 

disguise the proceeds of its illegal activities). 

• Responsible gaming (e.g. A players’ compulsive 

addiction to lottery games causes reputational 

damage to the Lottery and prompts intrusive and 

potentially punitive action by regulators or other 

stakeholders). 

• Operational risks related to business processes 

(e.g. Conducting lottery “draws” with security and 

integrity, maintaining very high availability of all 

channels both traditional and “online” to enable 

the purchase of tickets). 

• Prize payment (e.g. assuring prize claimants are 

genuine winners within the rules of the game). 

During its two years of existence, the Working Group 


has developed a comprehensive guideline on Risk 

Management for the Lottery sector in Europe. 

The purpose of this document is to assist risk managers 

and/or operation managers of Lottery organisations 

to be proactive and identify risks before they 

occur. Guidance is given on how to avoid or limit the 

impact of a risk occurring and its effect on the business 

activities. 

The content of the document reflects current European 

trends in risk management and helps to ensure 

that Lottery organisations take appropriate steps 

to inform and protect themselves against risks that 

might affect their operation. It also helps in enabling 

the organisation to limit the frequency and impact 

of such risks. Much of the information contained in 

the document is the “pooled” experience of EL Mem- 

AURELIO MARTÍNEZ ESTÉVEZ 

PRESIDENT OF “SOCIEDAD ESTATAL LOTERÍAS 

Y APUESTAS DEL ESTADO, S.A.” 

On March 11, 2011, the Council of Ministers appointed 

Aurelio Martínez Estévez as President of 

the “Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado 

(SELAE)”, the company assuming the assets and the 

duties carried out until today by the state gaming 

operator, the public undertaking “Loterías y Apuestas 

del Estado”. Already in February, Mr. Martínez 

had been appointed as President - Managing Director 

of “Sistemas Técnicos de Loterías (STL)”, the preliminary 

stage to his nomination to the Presidency 

of SELAE. 

EL ACTIVITIES 

bers, and specifically addresses the types of games 

common to European Lottery organisations: e.g. 

• Internet gaming: games results are instantaneous; 

• Sports betting: prizes are won according to the result 

of sport, live betting, etc…; 

• Poker: online poker games; 

• Draw-based games; 

• Scratch cards. 

It is anticipated that the guideline will be completed 

and published towards the end of 2011 and will be 

available for Lottery Members to use to the benefit 

of their business. 

Thierry PUJOL 

Director of Security and Risk Management, La Française 

des Jeux 

& Chair of the EL Security and Risk Management Working 

Group 

Born in Zaragoza on April 7, 1947, Aurelio Martínez 

is Professor of Applied Economics and Doctor of 

Economic and Social Sciences at the University of 

Valencia. 

He was President of the Institute of Official Credit 

(ICO) until July 2009 and of the public institution Navantia 

(leader in the shipbuilding industry in Spain) 

before joining STL. Prior to ICO, he was Director at 

the International Economic Conditions Observatory 

(OCEI), Director of the Economic Structure Department 

of the University of Valencia and Director General 

for Economics and Financial Policy of the Generalitat 

Valenciana. 

He also held a number of positions within both the 

state and autonomous administration. In 1991, he 

was appointed Director of the Economics Department 

of the Office of the Presidency of the Government. 

He held this position until 1993 when he took 

up his new duties within the Department of Economics 

and Finance of the Generalitat Valenciana. 

He was also President of the Finance Institute of Valencia. 

He previously held several different positions 

in the banking sector, in particular those of Vice-President 

of the “Caixa d’Estalvis Provincial” of Valencia 

and Secretary General of the Valencian Federation of 

Savings Banks. 

Aurelio Martínez published and co-wrote thirty publications 

and over fifty articles about economic and 

financial issues, including: 

“Reflexiones en torno a la crisis económica de los años 

70”; “Dinámica exportadora del País Valenciano”; 

“Estructura industrial y generación de empleo en la 

economía murciana”; “Coyuntura y crisis económica: 

apuntes para su interpretación” and “Economía internacional. 

Diez años de crisis”. 


EL LEGAL WORKSHOP IN KIEV 

A STEP INTO 

EASTERN EUROPE 

BY DELIA ORABONA, EL LEGAL ADVISER 

Nobody knows where the borders of Europe end. It is 

becoming more and more important for the European 

Lotteries to maintain and to expand its activity in the 

already enlarged and future enlarging Europe, in order 

to explore new countries´ lottery models and to help 

the Eastern countries in developing their gambling 

activity, by promoting the development and effective 

communication between members. 

The LegalWorkshop held last April 28 in Kiev (Ukraine), 

organised by the European Lotteries and hosted by the 

Ukrainian Lottery, MSL, was a great opportunity and a 

forum mostly for the Eastern countries which were actively 

participating with different presentations on the 

various Lottery´s models. 

Different countries took part in the workshop: Azerbaijan, 

Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, 

Serbia and Ukraine. 

The workshop was introduced by Mr. George Lozhenko, 

President of MSL, and by Mr. Yuriy Poluneyev, from 

the Ukrainian Parliament. Mr. TjeerdVeenstra, as Chair 

of the Legal, Statutes & Members Committee and of the 

Regulatory Working Group, gave a presentation on the 

activities of the Association. 

The presentations of Mr. Philippe Vlaemminck and Ms 

Delia Orabona, both Legal Advisors of the European Lotteries, 

provided more in-depth information on legal topics. 

Mr. Vlaemminck gave a comprehensive picture of the 

impact of EU law on non-EU countries by presenting 

on the organisation of Lotteries according to EU law 

and the current legal framework on gambling, the EU 

gambling market, the role of Lotteries in the EU, the 

case law and pending cases before the Court of Justice 

of the EU and on the political situation in the EU. 

WORKSHOPS 

Ms Delia Orabona gave an overview of the economic 

partnership and cooperation agreements of the EU with 

the Eastern countries. The discussion which followed 

was enriched by the intervention of the former Ukrainian 

Ambassador to the EU, M. Roman Shpek, who noted that 

the list of potential EU countries may increase and that 

more opportunities for dialogue and confrontation with 

the EU should be opened to Eastern countries. 

The debate showed that Eastern countries have a big 

potential and the opportunity to join or to renew their 

membership with EL would be a great step towards 

their success in their home country. Moreover, the 

whole network would benefit from their experience 

and from the different approaches to the constantly 

changing lottery´s environment. 

The second panel of the workshop focused on the different 

ways of development of gambling legislation in the 

countries of the former Soviet Union, on the example of 

Ukraine, whereby Mr. Danylo Getmantsev, Legal Adviser 

of MSL, gave a presentation. 

Further Mr. Friedrich Stickler, President of EL, and Mr. 

Martin Jekl, Managing Director of Win2Day (Austrian 

Lotteries), provided an insight into how to regulate Internet 

and on best practices for Lotteries. In particular, 

Mr. Jekl focused his presentation on the online gaming 

services. 

All this has been supported by an excellent organization 

from MSL in the persons of Ms Svetlana Yevdokimova 

and Ms Natalie Kilmenko, and by the warm hospitality 

of Mr. Lozhenko, Mr. Vlasenko and Mr. Getmantsev. 

EL is looking forward to future occasions for meetings 

and exchanges within Eastern European countries. 


TRADITION MEETS FASHION 

A JOINT EL/WLA 

SPORTS BETTING SEMINAR 

HOSTED BY SISAL SPA, MILAN, ITALY 

A two-day business program, which featured a blend 

of external keynote speakers and sports betting experts 

from the lottery industry, was at the heart of this year’s 

joint EL/WLA sports betting seminar. The seminar began 

with a splendid opening dinner that was co-hosted 

by Sisal and Lottomatica, and as tradition requires, the 

social events for this seminar were closely tied to sports 

and betting. 

The delegates enjoyed the opportunity of watching 

both semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League on 

the big screen. The match between Manchester United 

and Schalke 04 was viewed at “SisalWinCity”, one of Sisal’s 

excellent sports betting and entertainment centers 

in downtown Milan, and the participants were given 

the opportunity to place bets. As sports betting is the 

daily business of most of the delegates, many had the 

foresight to predict Manchester United as the winner, 

with some even predicting the final score of 4 – 1 at 85 

to 1 odds. 

Sisal Director, Mr. Giovanni Maggi, welcomed an audience 

of more than 110 delegates from 28 different 

nations. He emphasized the importance of sports, 

in particular the importance of football in Italy. Mr. 

WORKSHOPS 

Maggi was followed by Milan’s Counsellor of Sports 

and Leisure, Ms. Cristina Stancari. She expressed her 

delight at Milan being chosen as the venue for this 

event, which linked sports with fun and entertainment. 

She also emphasized how sports demonstrate 

values of solidarity, fairness and tolerance, particularly 

to the younger generations. 

After thanking Sisal for their gracious hosting of this 

event, WLA President and EL Sports Chairman Mr. 

Risto Nieminen proclaimed that one should certainly 

come to Italy for tradition. 

He went on to say that by coming to Milan one could 

learn about both fashion and the history of the UEFA 

Champions League, with reference to the absence of 

Inter-Milano, last year’s Champions League winner, 

at this year’s finals. Mr. Gianni Merlo, President of the 

International Sports Journalists Association, came 

next presenting his views on how to maintain the integrity 

of sports. According to Mr. Merlo, it is necessary 

to raise the knowledge level of all stakeholders 

on corruption in sports and match-fixing. If they fail 

to do so, the values instilled in sports – fairness, solidarity, 

and tolerance – will be undermined. 

SPORTS BETTING MARKETS 

Dr. Luca Turchi, Head of Sports Betting and Horse 

Racing at the Italian state gaming regulator AAMS, 

outlined the Italian gaming market, which is valued 

today at more than u 60B annually. AAMS and the gaming 

laws of Italy serve to create transparency, monitor 

the gaming market, and protect players, especially 

those players that are potentially vulnerable to 

gaming-related problems. Dr. Turchi illustrated how 

taxes generated from gaming revenues have dropped 

from 15% down to 4% since 2004. 

In Italy, sports betting is equated with betting on 

football. Around 92% of the more than u 4B in gross 

gaming revenue wagered annually is placed on football. 

A mere 8% is wagered on other sports as part of 

the 59,000 allowed betting objects. Being quite popular, 

live betting accounts for 20% of the Italian market. 

As outlined in a panel discussion with members 

of La Française des Jeux, Lottomatica, Svenska Spel, 


TRADITION MEETS FASHION 

A JOINT EL/WLA 

SPORTS BETTING SEMINAR 

HOSTED BY SISAL SPA, MILAN, ITALY 

and the Hong Kong Jockey Club, live betting continues 

to grow and is seen as an essential part of the 

sports betting product package. 

Live betting, in contrast to pre-match betting, generates 

a low profit margin and comes with higher 

risks, but it has a high entertainment value. Crossselling 

between live betting and pre-match betting is 

good, especially where live betting is offered together 

with live video streaming of a sporting event. 

MONEY AND FOOTBALL 

Mr. William Gaillard, Senior Adviser to UEFA President 

Michel Platini, gave an insightful and captivating 

presentation on monetary developments 

in European football. Compared to the situation in 

the USA, where paying athletes a salary has a long 

history, Europeans struggled with the idea that one 

could earn money by kicking a ball. As late as the early 

1990’s, athletes’ salaries remained rather low with 

most of the clubs gaining their income solely from 

ticket sales. With the advent of television rights the 

situation changed dramatically. In 1992/93 the Pan- 

WORKSHOPS 

European television rights for the UEFA Champions 

League generated some u 64M, with sponsorships adding 

another u 12M. Today, the same television rights 

are valued at u 906M with sponsorships yielding an 

additional u 257M. The source of this income has also 

changed since the early 1990’s. Whereas before, the 

money came exclusively from selling television advertisements, 

today more than 50% of the income is 

derived from pay TV. 

In some leagues, like the UK Premier League, athletes’ 

salaries have also changed dramatically. Here, 

the average annual salary for a professional football 

player went from £75,000 in 1997 to £1.1M in 2009. 

This has caused a significant rise in costs for many 

leagues, a rise that has rivaled their increased income. 

Despite UEFA’s horizontal solidarity principles, 

where leagues Europe-wide pay into the same pot, 

and vertical solidarity principles, where payments 

occur from the top national leagues on down, many 

of the smaller European leagues are strapped by fi- 


nancial imbalances. Taking individual measures to 

prevent financial chaos in the clubs will be high on 

UEFA’s agenda in the years to come. This shows how 

serious the relationship between football and money 

has become. 

INTEGRITY AND SPORTS 

In recent months a series of sporting events embroiled 

in match-fixing and corruption scandals made 

international headlines. Football has been the sport 

most affected but it is by no means the only one. Cricket, 

snooker, and even sumo wrestling have received 

media exposure for corruption scandals according to 

Mr. Thierry Pujol, Security and Risk Management Director 

at la Française des Jeux, and Chairman of the 

WLA Security and Risk Management Committee. 

Mr. Philippe Lemaire, also of La Française des Jeux, 

said that sporting events have progressively become 

a vehicle for money laundering. He explained the 

stages of the money laundering – placement, layering 

and integration – and how this system covertly 

works to perpetuate crime and corruption. 

Concluding the theme of integrity and security, WLA 

President, Risto Nieminen, emphasized that the role 

that our Lotteries play in raising awareness of the 

dangers of corruption and match-fixing is of greater 

relevance than it has ever been. The European Lotteries 

Monitoring System, actively built and financed 

by 19 Lotteries across Europe, is one method of rai- 

WORKSHOPS 

sing such awareness. Working to make this system 

a truly global effort covering all Lotteries offering 

sports wagering will be a priority for the coming year. 

As always, the EL Sports Working Group has put significant 

time, effort and devotion into the business 

program. The EL and the WLA thank them for their 

hard work and dedication. We would also like to 

express our thanks once again to Sisal for their generous 

hosting and gracious hospitality. 

Jean Jørgensen, 

WLA Executive Director and Moderator 


EL LEGAL AFFAIRS SEMINAR 

A YEARLY EVENT TO REFRESH YOUR 

KNOWLEDGE AND MEET YOUR 

COLLEAGUES FROM ALL OVER EUROPE 

BUDAPEST / HUNGARY 

Last May 26/27, the EL Legal Affairs Seminar was held 

in Budapest. 

The seminar focused on key legal topics which are currently 

under legislative or consultative review from the 

EU institutions and in particular under consultation of 

the Green Paper on online gambling. 

Different presentations were delivered by 

Vlaemminck&Partners, in the persons of Philippe 

Vlaemminck and Delia Orabona; whereby they gave 

an overview of the EL Submission to the Green Paper 

consultation, of white labels; together with Claudia Ricchetti, 

Legal and European Regulatory Affairs Director 

from Lottomatica Group (Italy), of the unfair commercial 

practices directive and of the notification directive. 

The seminar focused mainly on the Green Paper 

consultation and on key legal topics related to the 

consultation; with a deeper insight on the engagement 

of the European Lotteries in the submission of an ove- 

WORKSHOPS 

rall representative, up-to-date, of all EL Members, reply 

to the European Commission. The presentation 

showed the internal organisation of ELWorking Groups 

(the Green Paper Coordination WG, the Responsible 

GamingWG, etc.) in contributing to the reply. 

This proves that EL is supported by a strong network of 

experts who are taking this very historical momentum 

to exploit the opportunity to give a clear signal to Europe 

of their stands. 

Other important topics were delivered by representatives 

of some Lotteries such as Paulo Calado, Lawyer 

from SCML – Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa 

(Portugal), who presented on the CJEU jurisprudence 

on responsible gambling (which has shown the need of 

a general political response to gambling related issues); 

Dirk Messens, Legal Domain Manager from Loterie Nationale 

(Belgium), who gave an insight on the Council 

Working Group; Patrick Raude, European Affairs Director 

at La Française des Jeux (France), who presented 

on taxation and the possible way to reduce gambling 

addiction. 


Other lawyers presented on national cases: Hubert 

Sicking, Legal Adviser from the Westdeutsche Lotterie 

GmbH & Co. OHG (Germany), presented on the German 

Draft Law, which is currently under examination 

by the European Commission, and Ángel Montero 

López, Legal Consultant from ONCE (Spain), on the 

new Spanish law. Finally, a presentation on anti-money 

laundering rules implemented in the Italian jurisdiction, 

such as client identification and verification, 

reinforced obligations for adequate player control, was 

given by Claudia Ricchetti. 

The overview of the jurisprudence on responsible gaming, 

the presentation on white labels, and on unfair 

commercial practices directive, the one on the work at 

the CouncilWorking Group level have all contributed to 

discuss on the need of defining a minimum framework 

for the European Lotteries to be calibrated into the submission 

to the Green Paper consultation. 

The issues which are currently at stake involve all the 

national Lotteries in an effort to respond to common 

goals and needs of regulation especially in terms of integrity 

and traceability of the game, advertising, sponsoring 

and licensing. 

In particular, on the white label model, Claudia Ricchetti 

and Philippe Vlaemminck highlighted the need 

to identify the new threats which may occur from this 

new model of gambling and the need of a clear definition 

of it. 

The importance of such a debate, in this very particular 

moment, is crucial. EL is looking forward to further occasions 

for legal briefings in order to offer to its Mem- 

WORKSHOPS 

bers the opportunity to share views on how to shape 

the gambling sector in Europe. 

The Chairman of the Legal, Statutes and Members 

Committee, Tjeerd Veenstra, then closed the seminar 

by saying thanks to all participants and to our host, 

Szerencsejáték Zrt., for their nice welcome. 

Delia Orabona 

EL Legal Advisor 

NEXT SEMINAR 

Law Enforcement Meeting (October 13 afternoon) & 

European Legal Affairs Briefing (October 14 from 

09:30 to 16:00) 

in Rome, Italy, upon the invitation of Lottomatica 

SpA 


EL/WLA SECURITY AND 

RISK MANAGEMENT SEMINAR 

SOFIA / BULGARIA 

WORKSHOPS 

Over 60 delegates from 22 countries representing 38 

different lottery related organisations gathered in the 

Hilton Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria, for the EL / WLA Security 

and Risk Management seminar. 

On Thursday 16th June, following a welcoming reception 

and dinner, the seminar opened with a speech of 

welcome from Mr. Nick Arsenopoulos, the C.E.O. of 

Eurofootball (Bulgaria), who wished the seminar every 

success and stressed the importance of security and 

risk management and the need to share experience 

and information. 

Thierry Pujol, Chair of the WLA Security and Risk Management 

Committee (WLA SRMC), the EL Security 


and Risk Management Working Group and Director 

of Security and Risk Management at La Française des 

Jeux, introduced members of both committees and 

highlighted the projects and tremendous amount of 

work that was in the process of being completed by 

both bodies. 

The objectives of the seminar were also highlighted 

and endorsed by moderator John Branscombe of J2B 

Security Ltd. 

Trond Laupstad, Head of Security at Norsk Tipping 

(Norway), Thierry Pujol, Claude Mathieu, Head of 

Internal Audit, and Daniëlla Van Reeth, Information 

Security Advisor of the Loterie Nationale (Belgium), 

described how their Lotteries were dealing with issues 

surrounding retail security. 

Trond Laupstad concentrated on the well-established 

playerregistrationcardsysteminNorway,whilstThierry 

Pujol explained the comprehensive monitoring process 

in France that has over 21,000 annual visits to retail outlets 

by security personnel to identify retailers who are 

not complying with procedures in relation to checking 

proposed winning tickets and the payment of prizes. 

WORKSHOPS 

Claude and Daniëlla outlined the Belgium Loterie Nationales’ 

retail monitoring programme. 

At the conclusion of the presentations the group formed 

a panel, taking many questions from the floor and 

it was clearly apparent that retail security is still an important 

topic of concern. 

Risk Management always arouses a great deal of interest.Two 

excellent presentations were given by Antonio 

Gorrasi, IT Security Manager at Lottomatica SpA (Italy) 

and Christos Dimitriadis, Head of Information Security 

at Intralot (Greece), describing how their organisations 

were dealing with risks and related issues. 

Paul Jay, Head of IT Security and Networks at Camelot 

UK Lotteries Ltd (UK) outlined how Camelot had 

painstakingly reviewed its security focus in an effort 

to make established controls and processes more business 

and user friendly without diluting overall security 

and integrity. This prompted much interest and 

many questions. 


EL/WLA SECURITY AND 

RISK MANAGEMENT SEMINAR 

SOFIA / BULGARIA 

The security of sports betting is another important 

area, especially with many “traditional” lottery operators 

“considering” sports betting has an additional 

income option. Evangelos Cosmidis, from OPAP services 

(Greece), used several case studies to illustrate the 

threat of collusion, match fixing and money laundering. 

TheWLA Security Control Standard (WLA SCS) and the 

certification process was the thrust of presentations 

from three Lotteries that had approached certification 

fromdifferentperspectives.MartinSutton,HeadofPropriety 

at Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd. (UK), Thomas Bierbach, 

Director of Security and Compliance at Atlantic 

Lottery Corporation (Canada), and Carlos Bachmaier, 

Corporate Risk Manager at LAE (Spain), highlighted the 

actions towards certification and, most importantly, highlighted 

the lessons that had been learned. 

WORKSHOPS 

Elin Lunde Haaland of DNV Business Assurance gave 

the auditors’ perspective on the certification process 

highlighting the positive benefits but also mistakes and 

misunderstandings by operators. 

All four presenters later formed a panel to answer questions 

from the audience. 

The benefits of compliance and certification, the definition 

of “assets” and the identification of the first actions 

to be considered by an organisation seeking certification, 

were among the many issues discussed. 

On Friday 17th June, one of the main highlighted topics 

was Cybercrime and Internet security. Presentations 

were given by Jan Seuri, Chief Information Security 

Officer at Veikkaus (Finland), Gunnar Ewald, Head of 

Internal Audit at Lotto Hamburg (Germany), Sebastian 

Schroeder, Senior Consultant at adesso AG (Germany) 

and Matthew Truenow, Principal Information Security 

Engineer at Gtech (USA). All four gave presentations, 

from various perspectives, to emphasize the threat and 

danger of various types of cybercrime to lottery operations. 

The value of the WLA standard was highlighted 

and prompted delegates to share their own “cybercrime” 

experiences. 

Steve Townsend, Director of Customer Services and 

Information Technology at SGI (UK) and Grant Humphrey, 

Director International sales at Pollard Banknote 

(Canada), addressed delegates’ interests in the intricacies 

of scratch card game design and overall security 

in relation to the protection of scratch card game data 

independently. 

Konrad Supper, Senior Vice president and Head Of Internal 

audit and responsible gaming at Westlotto (Germany) 

and Marko Hietala, Chief Security Officer at 

RAY (Finland), gave independent presentations on the 

continuing menace of money laundering and various 

prevention measures and actions were described. 


It was accepted that traditional lottery operations are 

probably not a target for this criminal activity but it 

would appear that sports betting and casino games remain 

attractive options. 

With the rapid advances in technology, and with the 

sheer scale of devices and platforms available, the internal 

IT departments of Lotteries are now confronted 

with many security challenges. Alexander Krenn, Head 

of IT security at Austrian Lotteries (Austria) presented a 

very comprehensive overview of new technology challenges 

from an internal IT point of view. 

Carlos Bachmaier introduced an exercise entitled “Security 

is business: Score yourselves!!!!”. This was an innovative 

tool for stakeholders to assess their present 

operational security situation. 

An Independent Control system for lottery operations 

is an important safeguard to protect against fraud and 

maintain integrity. Torbjörn Borg, Chief Information 

Security Officer at Svenska Spel (Sweden), gave details 

of the different systems available and the procedure 

and processes used in Sweden. 

Thierry Pujol closed the seminar thanking the delegates 

for their participation, and the suppliers for their 

generous support. He also warmly thanked the administration 

of the European Lotteries and the welcome, 

support and hospitality of Eurofootball Bulgaria. 

At the end of the day the feedback from delegates was 

that this had been an excellently organised, well run, 

enjoyable and very informative seminar. 

John Branscombe 

Moderator 

J2B Security Ltd. 

WORKSHOPS 


SPORTS BETTING MORE 

THAN EVER UNDER 

CONTROL! 

Hans Christian Madsen, CEO, Danske Spil (left) 

and EL President Friedrich Stickler 

The EL Monitoring System was officially implemented 

in May 2008, although this service 

already exists since 2005. Match-fixing is not a 

new issue, but in the light of the alarming increase 

of the phenomenon of manipulations of 

sporting events, such a system has proven its significance, 

not only concerning football games, 

but also for all sports competitions such as tennis, 

hockey, cricket, etc. 

Match-fixing calls all stakeholders into question. 

The laissez-faire approach of certain sports organisations, 

indifference of the authorities and pressure 

from criminal organisations have created an unhealthy 

sports environment. So far there has been no due 

diligence to identify the details about the teams and 

players. Very few institutions have charters outlining 

the respective responsibilities and very rarely are 

sanctions imposed. Corruption has become so omnipresent 

that the critics were finally heard by proving 

that this is detrimental for sports integrity in general, 

affects the respect of the public towards the players 

as well as the confidence in sports betting and the 

organisations managing these games and bets. 

MONITORING SYSTEM 

The EL Monitoring System has since then had a serious 

impact and the numbers prove it: 

From July 2009 to April 2011: 

- 1,399 league matches have been monitored 

- 1,362 Champions League matches 

- 175 women’s football matches 

- 463 international matches 

- etc. 

A total of 3,743 matches have been closely watched 

by the group of experts in charge of the Monitoring 

System. 

In addition, 66 matches have been reported to UEFA 

and FIFA during this period. 

The problem of illegality in matches has now reached 

global dimensions and in the future the ELMS will 

extend its field of action beyond Europe to incorporate 

new Lottery members and broaden the Monitoring 

System to include all sorts of sports activities at 

an international level. 

EL signed an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding 

with Danske Spil for the period from 

June 2011 to May 2013. The member Lotteries very 

much appreciate the work achieved in this area, namely 

the adoption of clear regulations to protect the 

integrity of competitions, the implementation of verification, 

alert and precaution systems as well as improving 

the relationship with major sports organisations. 

They are happy to continue the collaboration 

with the office of the EL Monitoring System, which 

will contribute to strengthen their sports betting 

operations by assisting them not only to recognize 

the dangers in certain matches, but also to eliminate 

opportunities for corruption. 

Bernadette Lobjois 

Secretary General 

Danske Spil A/S in Brøndby/Denmark expanded the Monitoring 

System group. Chris Rasmussen joined Jens Nielsen, Head of Sports 

Betting Operations and also Chairman of the Sports Working Group. 

A monthly report is sent to the member Lotteries of the Monitoring 

System. 


Androulla Vassiliou (1 st rank, 6 th from left), Commissioner in charge of Sport, with the participants of the high-level structured dialogue on sport 

HEARING AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: 

EL PRESIDENT FRIEDRICH STICKLER 

ADDRESSES MEMBERS OF THE IMCO COMMITTEE 

On 15 June 2011, the European Parliament held a public 

hearing on on-line gambling. The hearing took 

place in the framework of the European Parliament’s 

deliberations on the European Commission’s Green 

Paper on on-line gambling. The European Lotteries 

was one of only two gambling operators associations 

invited to present its views at this hearing. 

In his presentation, Friedrich Stickler outlined the 

EL guiding principles for a sustainable gambling 

policy: solidarity, subsidiarity, integrity and precaution. 

Focusing on integrity in particular, he stressed 

the need for full legal compliance and strict enforcement, 

highlighting that countries should not give licences 

to operators who operate illegally in another 

country of the European Union. 

The hearing was well attended by the key Members 

of the European Parliament who are playing an active 

role in the debate on the Green Paper as well as 

a large number of stakeholders. 

EU SPORTS COUNCIL: EL PARTICIPATES IN HIGH- 

LEVEL STRUCTURED DIALOGUE ON SPORT 

EL, represented by its President Friedrich Stickler, 

was invited to attend a high-level meeting between 

key EU policy-makers and sport stakeholders which 

took place in Brussels on 20 May 2011. The highlevel 

meeting preceded the important EU Sports 

Council, at which the sports ministers of the EU 

Member States adopted a three-year work plan on 

sport, which defines the sustainable financing of 

grassroots sport and the integrity of sport as two of 

the top three priorities until 2014. 

In his intervention, Friedrich Stickler stressed the 

great benefit that European sport has drawn for over 

50 years from the public benefit model for gambling 

and betting that EL Members stand for and the sport 

funding resulting from it. He noted that this model 

is being challenged by hundreds of online gambling 

companies which pursue purely commercial interests 

and ignore the interests of sport. 

In the subsequent debate on sport-related aspects 

of online betting, EU sport ministers expressed their 

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

concern about the “invasion of illegal betting sites” 

defying national laws, control and taxation and 

about the increase of match-fixing incidents and 

other manipulations of sport competitions associated 

with betting. 

EL President Stickler also participated in a follow-up 

debate on online betting between the highest level 

sport officials from the Member States at a Sports 

Directors meeting in Gödöllö (Hungary) on 27 June. 

As in his presentation to the Members of the European 

Parliament’s IMCO committee, he outlined to 

the Sports Directors the EL guiding principles for a 

sustainable gambling policy: solidarity, subsidiarity, 

integrity and precaution. Focusing on integrity in 

particular, he stressed the need for full legal compliance 

and strict enforcement, highlighting that 

countries should not give licences to operators who 

operate illegally in another country of the European 

Union. 

EL and “Sport et Citoyenneté” roundtable discussion 

with MEP Santiago Fisas-Ayxela 

On 24 May 2011, EL and the think tank “Sport et Citoyenneté” 

jointly organised a roundtable discussion 

on the integrity of sport and the financing of 

grassroots sport. The roundtable took place inside 

the European Parliament and was attended by a 

select group of EU policy makers and stakeholders 

working closely on the issue. 

The key speaker at the workshop was MEP Santiago 

Fisas-Ayxela, the Member of the European Parliament 

leading on the European Parliament’s report 

on the European Commission’s Sport strategy. President 

Stickler presented the EL priorities on the 

dossier, stressing the contributions lotteries make 

to sport and the importance of preserving the integrity 

of sport, addressing also the problems linked 

to a potential sports owners right. The roundtable 

was moderated by the Vice-President of “Sport et 

Citoyenneté”, Vincent Chaudel. The independent 

expert Alexandre Husting, a member of the scientific 

committee of “Sport et Citoyenneté”, contributed 

his expert views on the topic.

MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...

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