Taiwan Lottery to be run by Intralot for a decade
Taiwan Lottery introduction
Being a part of China, Taiwan had to align its legislation with the one enforced by the Communist Party and this includes the banning of gambling. All such activities are prohibited, with the state run lotteries being until recently the only accepted form of gambling. The Uniform Invoice Lottery has been around for more than 8 years, but players now have the chance of purchasing tickets for a brand new game. The Greek group Intralot won a decade-long contract to organize the Taiwan Sports Lottery, starting in 2014.
A highly controversial decision
The Greek group has been running lotteries all over the world for years and regard an entrance to the Taiwanese market as an achievement. The Taiwan Sports Lottery is currently run by Taiwan Sports Lottery Corp a subsidiary of Fubon Bank who declined the invitation of renewing its license. Intralot was chosen by the Sports Affairs Council to run the lottery for 10 years, with its partners Chinatrust Commercial Bank and ADATA Technology.
At least in theory, the experience brought by Intralot and the access to vast resources should push the Taiwan Sports Lottery into overdrive. There are signs that the process of transition could be extended as the ones who lost the auction are reluctant to let go and threat with legal actions. Lottomatica, Taishin International Bank and ICP Electronics teamed up and will appear in the decision as they regard the awarding process to be unprofessional and opaque. Although very little is expected to change as a result of their actions, Intralot might be facing a string of unnecessary delays.
Scratch card lotteries are gaining traction in Taiwan
Taiwan lottery players who don’t like the idea of waiting for a draw to see whether they have lost or won, can always resort to scratch cards. In the Western world these lotteries are extremely popular and Taiwan Lottery strives to promote similar games, with campaigns such as “NT$26 Million Red Envelope”. The promotion ran last year as a limited edition series aimed at celebrating the Chinese New Year and in addition to the jackpot, it also offered 25 prizes of NT$1 million.
The campaign was a huge success in 2012, with players purchasing the scratch cards for themselves, friends and relatives. Each card has a chance of 80% to be a winner, although the vast majority of prizes are symbolic and don’t even cover the cost of a ticket. For Taiwanese though, the NT$26 Million Red Envelope was a milestone and there is a good chance for the success of that campaign to inspire new ones this year. If Intralot clears its legal issues and gets to run the Taiwan Lottery in 2014, the Greek company could revitalize the games by offering a broad range of new scratch cards besides their regular games.
Check out the China lottery expands customer base now.
