Public Gaming International Magazine March/April 2021

50 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2021 MUSL News continued interest from players that sent Lotto*America sales and jackpots soaring. Just months after the change, Lotto*America achieved a $39.9 million jackpot that attracted additional lotteries to join the Association. “The multi-state concept was still fairly novel at the time for a jackpot game,” said Toyne. “But one of the biggest benefits member lotteries initially noted was the sales boost that a record jackpot could have on other lottery products. Participating lotteries still experience increased sales of other games when the Powerball jackpot is high.” Today, MUSL has grown to 38 member lotteries and 10 licensee lotteries, with game sales reaching $4.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2020 compared to $125 million in Fiscal Year 1989. The Association is again at a crossroads with its flagship product, Powerball®. Powerball set a world record jackpot of $1.586 billion in January 2016, but since then, the game has faced several challenges including jackpot fatigue and sales that were impacted particularly hard by the pandemic. In response, MUSL held weekly information sessions last fall for lottery directors and staff to detail Powerball’s status and options moving forward. “With 38 member lotteries, we wanted to be transparent about the different courses of action available and show why sticking with the status quo may not be in the group’s best interest,” said May Scheve Reardon, Powerball Product Group Chair and Missouri Lottery Executive Director. “The good news is we have some tremendous opportunities for Powerball this year that will create a lot of buzz in the market.” In addition, MUSL is working to leverage the Powerball brand with several irons in the fire including a new Powerball Promotional Request for Information that will hopefully lead to new brand partnerships, a third installment of the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year® promotion on the ABC broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, and talks continue to progress on potential licensing opportunities for the Powerball brand. The Association is also assessing itself as an organization through a series of strategic planning sessions which have gone virtual this year. MUSL began the strategic planning process back in 2017 and has revisited its plan every two years to gather critical input from its Board of Directors. The sessions provide the Board an opportunity to evaluate whether the organization is living up to its core values and to ensure resources are in sync with its short and long-term priorities. “As a collective group, the expertise and talent among member lotteries and MUSL staff is continuously identified as one of our top strengths,” said Sarah M. Taylor, MUSL Board President and Hoosier Lottery Executive Director. “It’s that combined brain power over three decades that’s helped us achieve $100 billion in sales. Considering how much its grown and evolved over the years, MUSL remains committed to meeting the needs of its members and supporting their individual lottery missions.” n undertaken is to redesign the WLA website. e new website boasts a modern, mobile-friendly, content-rich design, which we hope you will nd both intuitive and comfortable to use. e revamped website has been re-built from the ground up on a new platform. As a result, we kindly ask that you re-register for the web- site if you wish to have access to the member section. For questions concerning website registration and member section access, please contact Matthew Spinks at matthew.spinks@ world-lotteries.org . One noteworthy addition to the website is a rubric dedicated to good causes: it is EL Webinar highlights fast growing world of Instant Games Hosted by EL Member Mifal Hapais (Israel), the Webinar gathering almost 200 partici- pants, was the second in a series devoted to the fast growing world of Instant games, both e-instants and paper instants. Lottoland considering stock market float at over £1bn Online gambling company Lottoland is report- edly considering a stock market oat at over £1bn ($1.4bn). e rm - set up in 2013 by German entrepreneur David Von Rosen - is working with investment bank Peel Hunt on a potential London listing. e company is also weighing up a merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) as a way of gain- ing a public exchange listing. Lottoland launched in the UK in 2016, with the launch fronted by former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host Chris Tarrant. Lottery.com Enters Binding Agree- ment to Acquire Mexican Lotto Companies JuegaLotto and Aganar Lottery.com, a leading platform that allows users to play the lottery online, has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Mexican lottery companies JuegaLotto and Aganar to expand its operations to Mexico and throughout Latin America. Latin America’s estimated lottery market is approximately $9.8 billion across 26 countries. e addressable market in the countries that JuegaLotto and Aganar cover includes 652 mil- lion people and potential customers. Macau records highest daily and weekly visitor arrivals since start of COVID-19 pandemic e week also began with a 14-month high of 32,016 on Saturday 20 March, then ended with a new high of 32,647 on Friday 26 March. OPAP S.A. Regulatory announce- ment regarding total share capital and voting rights in OPAP SAZKA Entertainment AG, a company estab- lished under the laws of Switzerland, which is ultimately controlled by VALEA FOUN- DATION (as KKCG AG holds all ordinary shares and voting rights in SAZKA Entertain- ment AG), on 17 March 2021 became 100% shareholder of SAZKA Group a.s. is transfer of the shares and voting rights in SAZKA Group a.s. did not result in a change to the total number of shares and voting rights in OPAP S.A. (“OPAP”) indirectly controlled by VALEA FOUNDATION and the entities con- trolled by, and acting in concert with, VALEA FOUNDATION. P U L S E