| GTECH Printing Corporation Selected by the Rhode
Island Lottery as a Provider of Instant-Ticket Printing Services
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, USA
(June 14, 2007) -- GTECH Printing
Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lottomatica S.p.A., announced that the
Rhode Island Lottery has chosen the Company
for instant-ticket printing services, under a secondary three-year contract,
commencing July 1, 2007. The contract also provides for three one-year
extension options, and is the result of a competitive procurement. Under the
terms of the contract, GTECH will receive 20 percent of the Lottery’s
total instant-ticket orders. GTECH’s instant- ticket printing
subsidiary, Creative Games International (CGI), will manufacture the tickets at
its printing facility in Plant City, Florida.
“This is a great
start for us to service the Rhode Island Lottery in a broader capacity, and to
be evaluated as a high-quality, instant-ticket supplier in a competitive
environment,” said Ross Dalton, GTECH Senior Vice President of Printed
Products and Licensed Content. “This award in our home- state of Rhode
Island is the first successful contract bid in the U.S. since GTECH acquired
CGI, and we look forward to building upon this success as a foundation to win
future instant-ticket contracts both in the U.S. and abroad.”
GTECH Corporation has provided lottery technology and
services to the Rhode Island Lottery since 1978. GTECH subsidiary CGI has been
providing instant-ticket printing services to the Rhode Island Lottery since
1997. About GTECH
GTECH is a leading gaming technology and services company,
providing innovative technology, creative content, and superior service
delivery. Lottomatica is one of the world’s largest commercial
lottery operators and a market leader in the Italian gaming industry. GTECH and
Lottomatica together create a fully integrated lottery operator and gaming
technology solutions provider - a combined company with worldwide scale,
considerable financial strength, and industry-leading customer solutions.
Lottomatica is majority owned by De Agostini, which belongs to a century-old
publishing, media, and financial services group. Lottomatica is publicly traded
on the Italian Stock Exchange (LTO), and in 2006, had more than euro 1.7
billion in revenues and 6,000 employees in over 50 countries when combined with
GTECH. Contact: Robert K. Vincent, Public Affairs,
GTECH Corporation 401-392-7452. SOURCE: GTECH
Corporation.
National Lottery Licence Competition –
Update; Lottery Preferred Bidder Decision Delayed
LONDON, United Kingdom (June 6, 2007) --
The National Lottery Commission remains
on track to award the licence to run the National Lottery at the end of August.
Its own analysis of the bids is proceeding well and in accordance with its
plans. As envisaged in the
Invitation
to Apply (Page 57 Section 4.13), the Commission has been working with both
bidders to secure modifications to their bids. This is to enable the Commission
to meet its objective of achieving as strong bids as possible. This process is
ongoing and is likely to continue for a number of weeks. As a result, the
preferred bidder will not be announced at the end of June.
Anne Wright, Chair of the
National Lottery Commission said: “We are
running a professional and thorough evaluation and look forward to awarding the
licence at the end of August. The modification phase is an important part of
the evaluation process and it is important to allow sufficient time for this to
take place. We are conducting this process in the best interests of good
causes, which is what the competition is all about. We intend to announce the
preferred bidder once this phase has been completed.”
For further information please
CONTACT: Sarah Hanratty +44 (0) 207 016 3430, Email:
s.hanratty@natlotcomm.gov.uk
or Caroline Thorpe +44 (0) 207 016 3431, Email:
c.thorpe@natlotcomm.gov.uk.
NOTE: The competition
timetable for the award of the third licence is as follows:
- Decision regarding licence award
and entry into enabling agreement – end August 2007
- Transition Period - Until 31
January 2009
- Start of third licence - 1
February 2009
About The National Lottery
Commission: The National Lottery Commission is the
non-departmental public body set up on 1 April 1999 to regulate the National
Lottery. The Commission’s overriding duties are to ensure that the
National Lottery is run with all due propriety and that the interests of
players are protected. Subject to these, to maximise the proceeds of the
Lottery (to benefit the good causes). The two
bidders are:
--
Camelot Group plc
--
Sugal and Damani (UK) Ltd
Interim BC
Lotteries President and CEO Announced
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada (June 8, 2007) -- The
Board of Directors of the British Columbia
Lottery Corporation has announced the appointment of Dana Hayden as Interim
President and CEO, effective immediately.
Ms. Hayden joins BCLC on
secondment from her position of Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy, Office of
the Premier. Ms. Hayden has also served as Deputy Minister and CEO of the Crown
Agencies Secretariat, as well as Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services
for several Ministries in the BC Government. "Dana
brings to BCLC a wealth of experience having worked closely with provincial
Crown Agencies and developing economic, social and natural resource policy for
British Columbia," said John McLernon, Chair of the Board of Directors.
"At this critical time of renewal for the corporation, she will be
responsible for leading the executive team in implementing the Ombudsman's
recommendations and BCLC's Player First program. BCLC is already taking action
in these areas and will report to the public our progress on a quarterly
basis." "I am pleased to be working with the
Board and the staff of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation to implement
the Ombudsman's recommendations," said Dana Hayden. "There are important
changes to be made as we work to improve procedures and strengthen BCLC's
commitment to putting players first." The Board
will retain a professional executive recruitment firm to conduct a search for a
permanent President and CEO. "With respect to the
issue of severance for the former President and CEO, Vic Poleschuk, legal
representatives are currently in discussions and no decision has been made.
Until these discussions are finalized, BCLC will decline to comment further
with respect to this matter," said Mr. McLernon. SOURCE: BCLC Board of Directors.
CONTACT: John Paul
Fraser, Phone: 604-691-7398, Cell: 604-619-1980.
SAZKA Signs
Europe's Code of Conduct on Sports Betting
CZECH REPUBLIC (June 7, 2007) -- The
Sazka joint-stock company has signed the
Code of Conduct on Sports Betting, elaborated at the European Lotteries (EL)
association. The Code will contribute to better protection of sport and sports
betting from fraud, corruption and money laundering, as well as from the risks
of underage gaming and compulsive or uncontrolled betting.
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The Code of Conduct on
Sports Betting includes a number of moves towards sports betting transparency,
elimination of the conflict of interests, and prevention of match fixing,
especially in the following areas: - Promotion of
sporting values - Responsible gaming support
- Fight against corruption in sport
- Prevention against fraud and match fixing
- Fight against money laundering - Prevention of the conflict of interests
The signatories to the Code have also undertaken to avoid
taking any bets on obviously influenceable events or events with a strong
probability of corruption. They have also adopted rules that eliminate the
conflict of interests and govern the relationships of betting firms, their
owners, management and employees to sports sectors, competitions, clubs and
individuals. They will also foster measures of national sports organisations
that prevent players, coaches and managers from betting on their own teams,
competitions or matches. Further steps focus on the promotion of responsible
gaming, prohibition of underage gaming, reduction of gambling risks and the
development of sports ethics. The observance of the
Code will be supervised by a Committee consisting of the representatives of EL
Association, representatives of sports organisations, and personalities with
high degree of moral prestige. The Code of Conduct on
Sports Betting is a follow up of the Agreements signed between the World
Lottery Association and FIFA, and between the European Lotteries and UEFA. In
accordance with the stated Agreements, international lottery associations
provide both football federations with information regarding suspicious bets,
competitions and matches, to name a few.
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Matchinfo Risk Group,
consisting of experts of member companies of the European Lotteries and
cooperating with delegated UEFA representatives, monitors risk betting events
on the European continent 24 hours a day. If a suspicious betting event occurs,
the Group notifies UEFA, which can take appropriate precautions or inspection
measures. European Lotteries associates over seventy
members, more than a half of which offer sports and odds betting. The Code of
Conduct on Sports Betting has been signed by more than twenty betting and
lottery companies (the organisations who signed the Code is listed in EL
website : (www.european-lotteries.org).
The companies to which the Code applies are active in
countries with more than 200 million inhabitants and fund European sport and
physical education by more than EUR 2 billion. SOURCE:
SAZKA, a.s. Press via European Lotteries
(EL). CONTACT: PhDr. Zdeněk Zikmund, SAZKA,
a.s. Press Spokesperson, Tel.: 266 12 92 22, Fax: 266 12 26 67, E-mail:
zikmund@sazka.cz.
Camelot Announces
Results for Financial Year Ended 31 March 2007
WATFORD, UK (June 11, 2007) --
National Lottery ticket sales for the
year to 31 March 2007 were £4,911.4 million compared to £5,012.8m
for the same period last year. Sales for the first
three quarters of the financial year were ahead of the same period last year,
building on more than three years of unprecedented growth. The result for the
full year reflects the fact that EuroMillions ticket sales in Quarter 4 (31
December 2006 – 31 March 2007) were down by £110.9 million on the
same period last year. This compares with an exceptional Quarter 4 in 2005/6,
which included the record £125 million EuroMillions jackpot roll series,
which generated sales of nearly £200 million. Total sales for 2006/7 remain ahead of those in 2004/5,
2003/4, 2002/3 and 2001/2. Headline
sales/drivers: There was strong growth in
sales of Scratchcards and Instant Win Games – and an increasing
contribution from new channels such as National Lottery Fast Pay and
interactive.
- Scratchcards and Instant
Win Games: sales rose by just over 7.3% from £864.8 million to
£927.9m.
- Draw-Based
tickets: Draw-Based ticket sales fell by 4.0% from £4,148.0
million in 2005/6 to £3,983.5 million in 2006/7. Despite a strong
performance in the first three Quarters of the year, Quarter 4 EuroMillions
sales were down by £110.9 million on Quarter 4 the previous year when the
record-breaking £125 million EuroMillions jackpot roll series took
place.
- New channels:
Sales via new channels have increased significantly over the past year:
 Interactive: Sales via interactive platforms (www.national-lottery.co.uk, Sky
Active and Play by Text) rose by more than 35.3% from £214.8 million in
2005/6 to £290.8m in 2006/7
Subscriptions: National
Lottery subscription sales rose by more than 37.8 % from £38.3 million to
£52.8 million National
Lottery Fast Pay: Sales via National Lottery Fast Pay rose over 80%
from £52.4 million in 2005/6 to £95.3 million in 2006/7
- London 2012 Funding Ahead
of Target: National Lottery funding will contribute up to £2.2
billion1 towards the cost of the London Games, of which £750 million will
come from a series of designated lottery games, including the recently-launched
Dream Number game. The total raised for London 2012 from all designated lottery
games up to the end of March 2007 was £113.2 million, more than 10% ahead
of target. The Olympic Lottery Distributor recently announced that cumulative
income received from the sales of National Lottery games designated to support
the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games has to date exceeded
£150m of the £750m target, again ahead of schedule
- Winners: This
year saw the National Lottery reach a landmark 2,000 millionaires created since
its launch in 1994
Returns to the Good
Causes: this year The National Lottery passed a landmark £20 billion
raised for the Good Causes. Direct returns to the Good Causes from ticket sales
in 2006/7 were £1,247.9m, compared to £1,297.3m the previous
year. Long-term Lottery Sales: Camelot is
committed to driving sales and over the next year it will continue to invest in
its retail presence and marketing activities. As part of its portfolio strategy
it will be introducing a host of exciting new Scratchcard and themed Instant
Win Games for players, helping to drive sales and returns to the Good Causes.
Including the modest fall in headline National Lottery ticket sales in 2006/7,
over the last four years there has been a 7.4% (£336.9 million) increase
in sales; on average that equates to an increase of over £80 million for
each of the last four years. International:
this year the UK National Lottery consolidated its position in the global
ranking of lotteries by sales; rising from fifth to fourth place in the
internationally-recognised La Fleur’s 2007 World Lottery Almanac.
A Camelot spokesperson said: “The five year trend
confirms the success of our strategy for growth. However, these results reflect
comparisons with an exceptional fourth quarter in the previous year. Although
Draw-Based ticket sales were understandably lower than during the record
£125 million EuroMillions roll series in February 2006, we’re very
encouraged by the strong performance of Scratchcards and Instant Win Games
– as well as the growing contribution from new retail channels and
interactive. This year The National Lottery also passed a landmark £20
billion raised for the Good Causes – and we remain ahead of schedule in
funding for the London 2012 Games.” SOURCE:
Camelot Press Release. For further information, please Contact: Ben Rosier,
Head of Media Relations: 020 7632 5743 or Robert Byrne, Media Relations
Manager: 020 7632 5748, Camelot Press Office: 020 7632 5711.
La
Française des Jeux Launches a New Instant Game Based on the Rugby
Theme
FRANCE (June 11, 2007) --
On June 7, La Française des Jeux launched a new special event instant
game based on the rugby theme: " Tous derrière le XV de France ! " (All
behind the French team). The ticket costs 5 euros and
features 5 games as well as a quiz.
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- Game 1:
“La Ola!” (‘The Mexican Wave’): the objective is to
have all the spectators standing up from one of the three stands;
- Game 2:
“L’équipe Gagnante” (‘The Winning
Team’): scratch players’ jerseys and find 3 identical symbols to win.
- Game 3:
“La Mêlée” (‘The Scrum’): you win if
your pack is heavier than the opposite pack.
- Game 4:
“Le Drop” (‘The Drop-Goal’): find one or more rugby
balls to get a prize.
- Game 5:
‘Le Score final’ (‘The Final Score’): for each
half-time, beat the opposite team to win a prize. Bonus game: if you find a
rooster during the third quarter, you win the indicated amount. The rooster is
a national symbol of France and used as a national mascot for football (soccer)
and rugby.
Players can win up to 5 times
on a ticket, a total of 50,000 euros. Overall chances
of winnings a prize are 1 in 3.20. On the back of each
ticket, a question on rugby is provided to test players’ knowledge.
Fore more information, please
CONTACT: Antonia
Dadoun – La Française des Jeux, Email: adadoun@lfdj.com
LOTTO 6\49 Turns
25 Today MONCTON, New Brunswick,
Canada (June 12, 2007) – LOTTO 6/49 celebrates its 25th anniversary today
and to celebrate, a $40 million jackpot is up for grabs on June 13, 2007.
The first LOTTO 6/49 draw was held on June 12, 1982 and
since then 2,440 draws have been held and 1,520 jackpots have been won. In
Atlantic Canada, 166 LOTTO 6/49 jackpot winning tickets have been sold.
Atlantic Lottery's LOTTO 6/49 sales have reached $2.6 billion and $1.3 billion
in prizes have been awarded to Atlantic Canadian LOTTO 6/49 players.
The latest jackpot winners
were a group of 11 co-workers from I.M.P Marine Division in Dartmouth who
shared a $17.5 million jackpot from the June 6 draw. The largest LOTTO 6/49 prize ever paid out by Atlantic
Lottery was a $25.4-million jackpot claimed in December 2004. The record
jackpot in Canada was a $54 million LOTTO 6/49 prize from October 2005, which
was shared by a group of co-workers in Alberta. Surveys conducted through the years by ALC with Atlantic
Canadians who’ve won major lottery prizes indicate that respondents tend
to be practical and responsible with their winnings. The surveys constantly
showed that winners listed banking their money, paying off bills and sharing
with their family and friends as the three most popular uses for lottery
winnings. “Respondents have said that,
although their lifestyles may not have changed much, winning the lottery had a
positive impact on their lives,” said
Michelle Carinci, ALC’s President
and CEO. Atlantic Lottery is taking action so that
Atlantic Canadians adults can Play with Confidence. For more information
please visit www.alc.ca. SOURCE: Atlantic Lottery
Corporation.
CONTACT: Robert Bourgeois, 506-867-5825 or
1-800-561-3942.
National Lottery Interactive Sees 28% Rise in
Players Latest Figures
Show £1.5m Weekly Good Causes Boost Across Internet, Digital TV and
Mobile Phones LONDON, UK (June 1, 2007) --
The National Lottery’s interactive
channels have hit the jackpot – with a 28% increase in registered users in
the first five months of 2007, consolidating Camelot’s position as the
operator of the most successful interactive lottery in the world.
The lottery’s interactive success – across
national-lottery.co.uk on the internet, Sky Active on digital TV and Play by
Text on mobile phones – is on a roll, with average weekly sales now
running at £5.8m, raising around £1.5m for Good Causes every week.
More than 2.7m people have now registered to play on
Camelot’s interactive platforms
– up from 2.1m at the start of 2007.
And those players have made
a major contribution to the lottery’s ongoing work to raise funds in
support of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
All the Instant Win Games (IWGs) available at
national-lottery.co.uk are now designated for the Olympics. They have played a
major role in raising more than £102m to date for London 2012, well ahead
of schedule. The launch of IWGs based on top brands
and popular games including Scrabble, Deal Or No Deal, Pac-Man and Monopoly has
been a big hit with players, and the games’ fun animations have made them
more exciting than ever. With the odds of winning starting at just 1 in 3, IWG
players can be just a few mouse clicks away from winning prizes ranging from
£1 all the way up to £100,000. New
research shows that players are also finding national-lottery.co.uk to be one
of the easiest websites to use on the internet. 88% of
players say using the lottery website is either a “very
positive” or “extremely positive” experience,
according to a recent tracking survey. The
lottery’s home page is also one of the most reliable on the web, with an
average load time of just 2.24 seconds on a high-speed broadband connection
– faster than MSN, eBay and Amazon – according to recent tracking
data from Gomez, the leading independent web application performance management
company. Dianne
Thompson, Camelot Chief Executive, said: “The National Lottery
interactive services make it easier than ever to have that chance to dream.
They have been one of the biggest success stories of the current licence period
and a clear example of the innovation which Camelot has brought to the lottery.
“Our players love how convenient these
services are – registering for our interactive channels means you never
risk losing a ticket again, because we’ll always email you to let you know
if you’ve been lucky. “And the
most important thing is that we’ve made it easier than ever to raise money
for those Good Causes – further boosting the £20 billion-plus which
has already funded the largest programme of civic and social regeneration seen
in the UK since the 19th Century.”
The full range of National
Lottery draw-based games – Lotto, EuroMillions, Dream Number, Thunderball,
Daily Play and Lotto HotPicks can be played at www.national-lottery.co.uk.
Lotto and EuroMillions are also available on interactive
digital TV through the Sky Active service, and the groundbreaking Play by Text
service has made it possible to play all lottery draw-based games from a mobile
phone – once players have registered via the website.
The success of the National Lottery interactive services
has been achieved with the same levels of social responsibility which Camelot
applies to all aspects of operation of The National Lottery.
Before buying lottery games on an interactive channel,
players have to complete a simple but thorough third party registration
process, developed with Experian. The process ensures players are aged 16 or
over and that they are UK or Isle of Man residents. A
weekly spend limit is in place for all interactive players, designed to
discourage and prevent excessive play. In addition, a 24-hour cooling-off
period is in place for players who increase their spend levels.
These measures helped ensure that Camelot was the first
organisation in the UK to achieve accreditation from GamCare – the
UK’s national centre for information, advice and practical help regarding
the social impact of gambling – for all three of its interactive services.
The Children’s Charity NCH also found
www.national-lottery.co.uk to
be one of only two websites, out of 32 tested, which stopped a young person
from illegally registering. For further information,
please contact SOURCE: Camelot Press Office. CONTACT:
Robert Byrne, Media Relations Manager: 020 7632 5748 or Camelot Press Office:
020 7632 5711.
Cash25 Players
Slam Lottery; Record Wins WEST
VIRGINIA, USA (June 12, 2007) -- A month-long dry spell of top $25,000 winners
in the West Virginia Lottery’s
Cash25 game has been broken by record-setting wins, according to Lottery
Director John Musgrave. “In the past 11 days, we’ve had 14 $25,000
winners.” Most impressive is the record set
by 10-time $250,000 winner Marvin Barker, whose 10 Cash25 tickets winning
$25,000 each were bought six seconds apart at Danny’s Park Systems in
Kanawha City for the June 8 drawing. “I picked those numbers at random
years ago and use them on all my tickets to maximize winnings, in case they
hit,” he said. Married with three children, Barker said his big win
came on his daughter’s birthday. “I’ve been playing for
years, but I also play responsibly. I can afford to do what I do.”
In addition, Musgrave said
nine co-workers at BFS Foods in Weirton also claimed a $25,000 prize on June
11, one of two won from the June 5 Cash25 drawing. Winning instant tickets as
part of a lottery sales promotion, the nine employees parlayed the $15 they won
into more than $260 from winning Cash25 “easy pick” tickets on June
4, and that into $25,000 “plus $300 on some of the other tickets” in
the game’s June 5 drawing, according to BFS Assistant Manager Ruthie
Jones. “We ended up with $2700 before taxes,
just enough for one of us to take a trip to Alaska, another to pay monsters in
the mailbox – those unexpected bills that come in, and another to buy new
furniture. I don’t know what I’m going to do with mine. We’re
all different, so what we all did with the money is different.”
Also winning $25,000 in the June 5 drawing was Delbert
Meadows, who bought his girlfriend the winning ticket at Go Mart in
Sissonville. A mechanic for a petroleum company, Meadows said his winning
ticket was a combination of favorite numbers. Claiming a $25,000 prize today from tickets purchased at
7-Eleven in Williamstown for the June 11 Cash25 drawing, Don Ray of Marietta,
OH said he picked his own numbers. “My wife was in the hospital for three
weeks, so I bought her a ticket using some of her favorite numbers and added a
few others at random.” A native of Spencer who has also lived in
Bluefield, Ray said he and his wife moved to Ohio after she was transferred to
her company’s office in Parkersburg. Kicking off
the winning streak was Crawley resident Drema Fewell. The lottery reported June
7 that she had claimed $25,000 from the Cash25 drawing held May 31.
SOURCE: West Virginia Lottery.
New Lottery Based
On Tradition Of Old SOUTH
AUSTRALIA (June 8, 2007) --SA Lotteries today
launched the new LuckySA Lottery, which combines the charm of a raffle style
game of the 1960s with excitement of today’s technology.
Exclusively South Australian, LuckySA Lottery comprises a
limited series of tickets each containing a six-digit number between 000,001
and 200,000, generated via SA Lotteries’ online gaming system.
According to SA
Lotteries’ Chief Executive, June
Roache, the game is being launched to celebrate SA Lotteries’ 40th
Anniversary. “By coupling the old with the
new, LuckySA Lottery presents a great way for South Australians to celebrate 40
years of lotteries in this State,” Ms Roache said.
“Players have the opportunity to win $500,000 from
a $5 ticket and the inaugural draw will take place after all 200,000 tickets
are sold. “We encourage all players to
secure their ticket early, as the South Australian-only game is expected to be
extremely popular.” Tickets for Lucky SA
Lottery are on sale from today from any of the more than 530 agencies across
South Australia. Like other SA Lotteries’ games,
the profit from Lucky SA Lottery will be added to the $1.8 billion that has
been contributed to South Australia’s public hospitals since SA Lotteries
was established in 1967. ENQUIRIES: Bernadette Tieste,
Manager, Corporate Communications, Telephone: 8208 4390, Mobile: 0401 125
223 SOURCE: SA Lotteries. 
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