"Lottery Monopolies Should Go Online"...

Published: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

LOTTERY MONOPOLIES SHOULD GO ONLINE, SAYS ASIAN CONFERENCE DELEGATE

Let Singapore Pools buy firms, go online, to compete with casinos

The Singapore publication Today carried news of some interesting thoughts on lotto monopolies going online this week in a report on the World Lottery Association (WLA) Convention and Trade Show at Raffles City, attended by some 200 international delegates.

One executive had an aggressive view of the way forward for lottery monopolies. Ho Kwon Ping, the chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings opined that due to the boom in Internet gaming and major land casino developments worldwide, state-owned lotteries such as Singapore Pools could do with more room to manoeuver.

Arguing that the state should give these lotteries flexibility in business undertakings, Ho suggested that they be allowed to buy into other lotteries or firms locally or abroad as well as go online. This would help state-owned lotteries keep up with the changing business climate, he said.

"The world is liberalising and competition is the name of the game. Yet it's quite funny that these guys are not allowed to compete … because you're a monopoly. On the one hand, you're sitting in a cushy world (because you're protected as a monopoly) but on the other, you're stuck in that world," he said.

Given the impending entry of two integrated resorts in Singapore and a very Internet-savvy population, Ho told Today after his speech that the same arguments apply to Singapore Pools. "The reason for having kept Singapore Pools as a monopoly owned by the state ... has largely been justified by the fact that we have never allowed private gaming operators into Singapore," he said.

"I think the fact that the Government has now allowed for casinos to operate does raise the question of state-owned monopoly for gambling."

In his speech, Ho said that in return for flexibility to make state-owned lotteries more competitive and profitable, their funds should be channelled into social causes that go beyond the domestic front, especially profits made from investments overseas. "Every country has its own state-owned lottery and the money was used to benefit causes in that particular country," he added.

"If we move into an international arena, why can't lotteries be used as a means for raising money quite painlessly for international causes … as a quid pro quo for unshackling state-owned lotteries?" he asked.

His proposal was welcomed by one of the participants, Jesper Karrbrink, chief executive officer of Svenska Spel from Sweden, who said he would raise it in Stockholm.