There is huge money to be made in the gambling industry, in particular in low cost wagers where life-changing amounts of money can be won. The Irish are selling their National Lottery with a €600 Million price tag, and Minister Brendan Howlin has been warned that he should be compelled to introduce measures that will protect players from gambling addiction. This comes as a section of a social responsibility charter that the new private operator must be prepared to adhere to.

A Gambling expert has been advising both buyers and sellers in this new deal. This expert is of the opinion that the sale actually calls for new measure to be put into place. This is a very controversial sale of a licence which will allow the private operator to run this lotto for a period of twenty years.

At the moment, despite the price, any buyer would be taking a gamble. The new operations company would have to be able to increase both turnover and revenues substantially. Last year sales for the Irish Lotto dropped by 10.6% – down to €252.3 Million, so any return on investment for the new operator, looks particularly bleak, unless they can pump up the sales.

However with the need to increase ticket sales, a massive push into advertising would obviously be a necessity, and it is this that causes concern. When a lottery product and the amounts of money that can be won are advertised on a grand scale, this takes place amidst fears that vulnerable members of society may be drawn into purchasing tickets that they can actually not afford. Or that under-age gambling may take place online.

There are a number of online gambling concerns that have an interest in this Irish license, and this is chiefly due to the fact that the online market for it remains largely untapped. Gaming giant Gtech (Italian) has shown an interest, and have actually admitted that this aspect is its chief selling point.

Declan Harkin who is chief operating officer of Gtech has hinted that if their bid were to be successful, a roll-out of self-service points in retail shops, as well as a "significant refresh of technology support", would definitely be on the cards. However, present laws need to be relaxed before lotto purchases may be made online.
Currently a cumbersome system is in place in terms of player registration.

This system is intended to be relaxed under a new Lottery Act, and experts in gambling, and gambling problems, believe that as long strong social responsibility ethics are adhered to by operators of online lottery-style games. Problem gambling will not be inevitable.

We always think it is the kettle calling the pot black when one gambling concern takes umbrage against another for fear they will lose their business. A prime example in the USA is Gambling Billionaire Magnate, Sheldon Adelson. He is the man who made his money with the Las Vegas Sands Corporation; he is also still their Chairman and CEO. In his opinion online gambling is morally wrong, but apparently it is not morally wrong to set down 5000 slots machines, 300 blackjack tables, 150 roulette wheels, and high stakes private Baccarat rooms on his casino floors. Go figure?

Anyway the latest in a long line of green monsters with regard the online US online gambling saga, is Lottery Directors. Another bunch of hypocrites from seven states who plan to storm in on Washington to speak against a bill which might potentially allow federal legislation and regulation for this much maligned industry. It appears that the bill is to restrict the expansion of lotteries online, as well as other gambling, but will promulgate online poker. Again with this bill, we see what appears to be a morally superior stance, calling the pot black so to speak, then, sneaking in the back door.

For goodness sake, why does the Federal Government not allow all online gambling activities across the board, a law such as this would stop all this envy and dissention right in its tracks. But then the Church and other groups who believe themselves to be on "higher" moral ground, would also have something to say.

Nevertheless, these lottery official hail from Kentucky, Idaho, New Hampshire, Georgia, Washington state, Missouri, and Iowa are signed-up. They will be flying in to lobby against the Federal bill devised by Senators Harry Reid, of Nevada, and Jon Kyl of Arizona.

David Gale who is the Exec Director of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, says the Bill will restrict most other online gambling activities which leaves them out in the cold. More and more states are looking to expand their lottery operations online, but not only that, they also want to be able to offer various other casino-type gambling games. What was mentioned were slots and keno-type games. Basically random number games.

They say that the purpose of the lobbying trip was to spread the message that gaming rights are a state-specific right, and that each and every state has the right to determine what games should or should not be on offer. However, this has also never really been disputed at Federal level, we only have to look at the fact that Nevada has made online poker legal.

Apparently these lottery leaders want their individual states not only to have the power to determine the games they offer their residents, but also how these gambling games are delivered. In other words – they are concerned that a Federal bill would interfere with their power.

According to Reid and Kyl, their online gambling bill does not deserve any of this ire, it is simply in draft form at present, and they will continue to work transparently with all stakeholders.

Influencers will receive £48 of digital lottery tickets to play and share with friends.

A new strategic betting game, has launched an social influence marketing campaign via Klout, a company that measures users’ online influence, to promote their lottery to a targeted group of influencers.

The campaign enables qualifying users worldwide to sign up via the Klout Perks program and receive a continent ticket pack with a value of £48 and share the oer with friends and followers in their social networks. The campaign, which launched on November 7th, has already attracted hundreds of new players to the TWLV lottery. The oer is limited to the first 2000 players who sign up via Klout

Ab Olde-Scheper, founder of TWLV, said: "Influencer marketing is proving the perfect marketing tool for launching our game. We are delighted to welcome hundreds of new players now all interacting with their friends and followers. It’s a promising start and we trust the player volume to grow continually helping us contribute to a great charity Jackpot at the end of this year".

After a successful influencer campaign with PeerIndex last month, where users were oered a similar promotion, TWLV now partnered with Klout to target a new audience of influencers, attracting new players from around the world. TWLV is the first game of chance to use social influence marketing to drive interest in a gambling platform.