Lottery Sales in Africa – First Quarter Report 2016
With a slight but visible improvement in the overall economic outlook, lotteries worldwide witnessed a positive start to 2016. While in most parts of the globe, first quarter lottery sales grew by an average of 3.1% over the same timeframe, followed by the slow performance of lottery sales in Asia. But the growing economy of Africa witnessed a double digit growth in lottery sales.
The African Continent and the Middle East witnessed this double-digit growth across local and regional customer markets. The aggregate growth of all participating African lotteries stood at 13% quarter on quarter (Q-o-Q) in 2016 over the same timeframe in 2015. South African National Lottery is seen as the main contributor in the growth with Morocco’s La Marocaine des Jeux and Ghana’s National Lottery Authority following it very closely in registering growth for the same period. The Moroccan La Marocaine des Jeux reported a growth of 8.8% in Q1 2016 over the same timeframe lottery sales while Ghana’s National Lottery Authority reported a growth of 5.5% first-quarter on first-quarter.
Q1-2016 Global Review
| Africa | A-PAC | Europe | North America | Latin America |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aggregate growth: +13% | Aggregate growth: -3.5% | Aggregate growth: +4.9% | Aggregate growth: +15.7% | Aggregate growth: +3.5% |
| Morocco: +8.8% | Australia: +15.4% | Norway: +9% | California: +23.7% | Mexico: +5.8% |
| Ghana: +5.5% | China: -7% | France: +8.2% | Ontario: +15.2% | Brazil: No change from Q1 2015 |
| Hong Kong: +13.9% | Italy: +6.6% | British Columbia: +10.5% | Chile: Shrinking QoQ growth for Q1-2016 | |
| Greece: +6.4% |
While lottery performance regionally in the rest of the world has largely been a mixed bag, Africa has shown a steady growth in lottery sales. Majority of operators in Africa reported positive revenue and profit growth in the period.
Good revenue growth of the operating segments is evident across the board which has contributed to improved profitability. Despite the losses and sharp contraction in revenues faced by Mauritian National Lottery, Africa at large has performed better than the rest of the world in many areas.
Revenue growth, cost management and savings have been prominent contributors to this sharp increase in profits in Africa. Large interest payments by most operators during the period too couldn’t act as a stumbling block in this growth. This enabled African lottery operators to further reduce their debt and improve their overall profile.
Source: www.world-lotteries.org