Inside Asian Gaming

41 ated US$58.3 billion in sales during the 2006 fiscal year. Two new lotteries began during the year, in North Carolina and Oklahoma. Italy (with three operators plus numer- ous concessionaires; it should be noted that 2006 sales were not reported for some of the operators) held second with US$18.2 bil- lion, and Spain (with three lotteries) reached US$14.9 billion in total sales. France (with a single lottery operator) and China rounded out the top five. Games people play Lotto-type games and their added-value options (spiel games) continue to be the most popular lottery product category, but its market share continued to decline in 2006. Lotto games accounted for roughly 36% of global sales, down slightly from 37.5% in 2005. Instant games made up almost 23% of the market, increasing its share compared to 2005’s 21.5%. Numbers games accounted for about 12% of global sales (little change from 2005); traditional passive draw lotteries made up 10.6% (down from 11.5%); EGMs/ VLTs contributed 7% (up from 6.2% in 2005); keno was relatively flat at 5.2%;sports at 4.7% (up from 3.7% in 2005); and other games in- creased marginally from 1.6% to 1.7%. The EGM/VLT category includes video lot- tery terminals and other forms of electronic gaming machines, such as electronic instant tickets and pull-tabs. However, as in previous years, traditional slot machines operated by lotteries in certain situations are not includ- ed (such as Ontario’s slots-at-tracks program and Danske Spil’s PitStop gaming venues). Similarly, some lotteries also operate casino gaming, and revenue from that activity is also excluded. It should also be noted that with VLTs, the reporting of revenues varies by country, and is usually either net revenues (after prizes) or cash-in figures. Sales of other electronic games, such as electronic instant tickets, are also often reported net of prizes. The “other” category includes games offered by lotteries which don’t fit into the traditional definitions, and include bingo, which is rapidly growing in popularity as a lottery-operated game. One additional note regarding sports betting: a number of lotteries conduct bet- ting on horse races, but it has been our gen- eral policy to exclude parimutuel horse (and greyhound) racing handle from the compila- tion of lottery sales.This is simply because lot- teries and parimutuels have historically been separate classes of gaming, and we continue that pattern in this report. Although most of the data provided in this report was collected directly from the in- dividual lotteries, some lottery data was pro- vided courtesy of the World Lottery Associa- tion. Intralot and GTECH Corp also provided sales figures for a few lotteries. By Patricia A.McQueen.Reprinted with per- mission from International Gaming and Wa- gering Business (IGWB) magazine.