“This year has been an exciting one for The European lotteries and its members, as during our 12th Congress last June in Sibenik (Croatia) a new Executive committee was elected, with the first female president of our association, Romana Girandon, Ceo and president of the Slovenian Lottery”.
Thus Arjan van't Veer, general secretary of European lotteries, begins, to whom we asked for an assessment of this 2023 which is about to end.
How have these twelve months been for European lotteries?
“El members are now more and more confronted with strict advertisement regulations in their respective national jurisdictions, and where El members offer lotteries and other games with a lower risk, such bans are creating the opposite effect: illegal operations and addiction figures are growing. The regulation of the lottery sector is a competence of the national governments in Europe since decades, in some countries for centuries, albeit recently their gambling policies are frustrated by operators of online gaming which refer to foreign regulations, creating an unlevelled playing field. In all this, El tries to give its members a broad platform to exchange best practices and to learn from each other. We think that some of the key innovations in the gambling sector will be linked to Ai, which can definitely be of great help in the monitoring of player behaviour, in optimizing retail networks as well as supply chain management and game development. I think that Ai will certainly change, in a positive way, the lottery landscape.”
What were the main initiatives undertaken this year to promote sustainability and responsible gaming?
“El has setup a programme to help and guide its members to work on environmental friendly operations and measurements, updating its sustainability guidelines. Then it organized another edition of Will, Women in lottery leadership, to actively contribute to inclusion and diversity.
It is mandatory for El members to be certified upon responsible gaming and there is a process of re-certification which sets the standard in the sector.”
What were the difficulties encountered during this year?
“As mentioned, advertisement bans and illegal operations are threats to El members’ operations. Regulators are sometimes more oriented towards short term solutions, rather than looking at the longer term. In general, there is a need for more academic research and a deeper understanding of the various developments in the gambling and lottery sector, because too often discussions are based on emotions or incorrect assumptions, rather than objective data and facts.”
What are your main projects for the year 2024?
“In 2024 we will have many great sport events. Aside of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, we will have the European football Championship and the Paris Olympics. These events will be meaningful for the sports betting operations that many El members are offering. Securing the integrity of sports is a corner stone of El’s work. El is a founding father of Ulis, the United lotteries for integrity in sport. But next year will also be the year of European elections that will see a new European parliament and a new European commission. Although it is too early to predict the outcomes, it remains of utmost importance to explain and promote the sustainability of the lottery model that El stands for.
We are very much looking forward to another key moment in the life of our Association, meaning our annual General assembly that will brings all our members together in Salzburg (Austria) in aside of the El Industry days, in a congress that will focus on creating a positive impact on society, the central theme of El’s strategic outline.”