Kentucky Lottery Launches Expanded Web Site
Kentucky lottery players who miss their state's lottery segment on television can now turn to the Internet to see replays of the drawings.
The Kentucky Lottery is launching the fourth generation of its Web site, which will feature video of lottery drawings. Rick Redman, KLC vice president of public affairs and corporate communications, said the new addition will become a permanent fixture if a lot of people use it. The new service is aimed at players who work the third shift and can't be home to see the drawings live and residents of Tennessee who play the Kentucky lottery but aren't shown the drawings on television.
"Kentucky lottery players who live in Tennessee have long wished for a way to see the drawings," Redman said. "Now they can if they have a computer and Internet access."
The lottery's new Web site will also feature a large promotion window and a scrolling message bar to keep players informed of jackpots, winner information and other news.
GTECH Strikes a Deal in Rhode Island
Lottery services company GTECH announced in late December that it has cinched a deal with the Rhode Island Lottery to sell the lottery a new video lottery central computer system.
The contract, which goes into effect on Aug. 28, lasts for five years and has five one-year extensions. The Rhode Island Lottery operates 2,478 video lottery terminals; GTECH also supplied the lottery's old video gambling system.
Camelot Sales Off by Millions of Pounds
Lottery ticket sales for Camelot averaged £91 million per week during the last three months, according to The Independent, a British newspaper. That figure is £20 million below its peak 1997 sales.
The operator of Britain's National Lottery is planning on a marketing extravaganza this spring. The Independent reported in December that lottery officials fear deregulation of gambling could endanger future profits and that the company needs to increase sales by 50 percent in the upcoming year to meet its promised donations to charity.
New York Joins Big Game Group
As of late December, New York is the newest member of the multistate lottery called the Big Game. Seven--now eight--U.S. states are part of the lottery, which offers expanded jackpots. The member states include Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Virginia.
The current member states, plus New York, are planning to band together to form a new lottery, for which tickets are expected to go on sale in the spring. The Big Game was responsible for the biggest U.S. jackpot in history--$363 million that was split by two players in Illinois and Michigan last year.
According to the Associated Press, the new, as-yet-unnamed game will include a drawing of six numbers. Five numbers will be chosen from a selection of 50 numbers and the sixth will be taken from a separate pot of 36 numbers.
New York Lottery Director Margaret DeFrancisco said the new lottery will offer New Yorkers jackpots that start at $5 million instead of $3 million.
"Our players and retailers have been looking forward to this day for quite some time," she said. "We are pleased that all New Yorkers will have the opportunity to share in the kind of excitement that only a mega-jackpot game can create."
African Lottery Changes Hands
Namibia Games Technology's scratch card lottery, called Pera, is being taken over by United Africa Group. The takeover is planned but won't be a done deal until Jan. 15, said NGT board chairman John Akwenye.
Sources with both companies said the name of the lottery will be changed. NGT said that since the lottery's launch, more than 400,000 Namibians have won between prizes. Pera's financial troubles were initially reported by The Namibian in June when the newspaper reported that Pera's jackpot television show was ejected from the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation channel for owing it money.
Swedish National Lottery Opens Second Casino
Casino games and the lottery are blending into one in Sweden, now that the Swedish Minister of Finance, Bosse Ringholm, has opened the second casino in the care of the Swedish National Lottery. The new casino, located in the southern city of Malmo, is the second of four state-run casinos in Sweden. The casinos are operated by Casino Cosmopol, the daughter company of Svenska Spel, the country's national lottery.
Scientific Games Partnering with Atlantic Lottery
Scientific Games International has been awarded a contract worth $5.3 million to replace the on-line system of the Atlantic Lottery in Canada.
The New York-based company will provide the lottery with new technology for instant ticket management, accounting and the AEGIS on-line lottery central games management system. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation supplies lottery services to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Oregon Looks to Lottery to Lessen Funding Worries
Oregon's government could become more dependent on lottery revenue, The Oregonian reported in December. According to the newspaper, state legislators are considering turning to the lottery, which raises more than $300 million each year for the state, to plug a $710 million gap in Oregon's budget.
Most of the state's gambling revenue is derived from video lottery terminals, but state and lottery officials are considering new ways to garner more money from the lottery, including adding electronic slots and reducing retailers' take of the profits. The state's Legislative Revenue Office estimates that the new games would add about $30 million to state coffers during the 2001-03 budget.