The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which recently sold Camelot, has put its operator of the Irish national lottery, Premier Lotteries Ireland, up for sale despite having a ten-year licence still in place. Ontario Teachers acquired the franchise for €405 million in 2014 and analysts are surprised by the decision to sell with so long left on the licence. The Irish lottery has a distribution network of over 5,000 retail points of sale and has raised over €6 billion for good causes since its inception in 1987.
The Western Australian government will provide $39 million to support the state’s 500 newsagencies, which are under threat due to customers increasingly turning to online gambling. Premier Mark McGowan stated that it was important to top up the sector for the survival of small business owners and for the community benefit that Lotto delivers. Last year, more than $320 million was distributed to hundreds of charities and not-for-profits through the scheme. While seven out of ten people buy their lottery tickets in bricks and mortar outlets, the rest purchase them online. Newsagency owners have become more reliant on Lotto, with margins becoming smaller. Lotterywest CEO Ralph Addis said newsagency shop fronts were fundamental to the Lotterywest brand and that the government would provide $4.5 million annually in direct payments to increase the sector’s sustainability.
Instant Win Gaming (IWG) has relaunched with the Kentucky Lottery Corporation following the integration of its InstantRGS with International Game Technology’s (IGT) iLottery platform. The move strengthens the relationship between IWG and IGT, with Kentucky Lottery players set to benefit from IWG’s pipeline of InstantGames innovations. The integration of InstantRGS with iLottery took less than four months, and IWG and IGT are now positioned to complete new integrations for additional lotteries on an accelerated schedule.
The Conservation Volunteers are leading a Bungay Green Spaces project funded by the UK National Lottery Heritage Fund, focusing on enhancing biodiversity, wildlife habitats, and public access at Castle Hills, Bungay Castle Grounds, St Mary’s Churchyard, and Falcon Meadow. The project includes community and conservation sessions, and since the project started in January, the group has been busy planting native hedges and cutting back invasive gorse to rejuvenate the habitat. Bex Cross, project officer, expressed gratitude to their project partners, the National Lottery players, Heritage Fund, and the people of Bungay