Throughout the Christmas season, Lottery Daily will be revisiting some of the biggest stories of the lottery business world from the past year. This edition will be looking at stories from September and October.
September
FDJ seeks ‘quick mobilisation’ of Mission Patrimoine in support of French heritage
Française des Jeux (FDJ) relaunched its ‘Mission Patrimoine 2020’ national heritage campaign to support French tourism in recovering from COVID-19 impacts.
Helping maintain French cultural landmarks and projects, in September, FDJ hosted five exclusive Mission Patrimoine lotto draws which contributed direct funds to France’s ‘National Heritage Foundation’.
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SAZKA reports tough first half but reveals normalising levels of trade
Pan European lottery operator SAZKA Group, together with its subsidiaries and associates, published its financial results for the six months to 30 June 2020 alongside an update on current trading.
The headline figures reflected a half-year beset by the COVID-19 pandemic, with key metrics showing declines in line with the whole lottery sector. During the period, the firm saw consolidated gross gaming revenues decrease by 28% to €652m (H1 2019: €909m), primarily as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on land-based sales, while consolidated operating EBITDA decreased by 42% to €167m (H1 2019: €287m).
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GLMS enhances collaborative opportunities following Statutes amendment
The Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) updated its GLMS Statutes to ensure that it reflected the evolving landscape of the industry, with the alliance against sport competition manipulation focusing on ‘effective collaboration for stakeholders with lotteries’.
GLMS confirmed the amendments following a general meeting with individual lottery members, which took place by a written procedure due to the global health pandemic.
Full story here
October
Sazka Group enters the race to operate UK’s National Lottery
Pan European lottery firm Sazka Group entered the race to become the next UK National Lottery operator.
The company confirmed that it had entered the Gambling Commission’s competition to select the operator of the fourth licence to run the lottery by completing its response to the regulator’s Selection Questionnaire.
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Sugal & Damani enters race to run UK National Lottery
Sugal & Damani Group, India’s largest lottery operator, announced it had entered the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC)’s competition to become the operator of the fourth licence to run the UK National Lottery by completing its response to the Gambling Commission’s Selection Questionnaire.
The Group also participated in the 2007 tender process where it was declared a reserved bidder for running the UK lottery, which is currently operated by Camelot.
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World Lottery Association reelects Rebecca Hargrove as President
The World Lottery Association (WLA) re-elected Rebecca Paul Hargrove, the Chief Executive of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation, as its President for a second term.
Hargrove had previously held a number of leadership positions within WLA, including Senior Vice President and Chair of its corporate social responsibility committee.
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