Strong sales in Asia and Latin America drove world lottery revenues to a 4.9% increase in 2013.
The total was off the 7.7% pace set in 2012 and 2011’s +13%, and World Lottery Association Executive Director Jean Jørgensen, noting that growth has now slowed for two consecutive years, urged the industry to adopt a “cautious” outlook.
Still, almost all regions performed better year on year in 2013.
Asia-Pacific sales were up 13.1%, driven by a robust China market in which the country’s state-sponsored Welfare Lottery saw revenues surge more than 20%.
Latin America was the hottest region on a percentage basis, with a 31.4% spike in sales by Argentina’s national lottery boosting revenues across all markets to an increase of 21.4%.
North America saw a slight improvement, up 2.1% on 2012. The California Lottery was the standout at +8.8%.
Europe’s markets mostly were disappointing, down 2.1% overall. Greek’s OPAP state monopoly recorded the sharpest drop, 15.1%. The Czech Republic’s SAZKA monopoly was a happy exception, enjoying year-on-year growth of 25.6%.
Africa at +0.3% was relatively flat with 2012.
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