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Lottery Lore, the autobiography of Guy Simonis, details the career of the author – a career that developed in parallel to the evolution of the multi-billion dollar global lottery industry. Guy’s professional life is revealed in the book as a mixture of fate, strategy, risk, and diplomacy, that culminated in the founding of the World Lottery Association (WLA) and brought him international renown as an educator and authority on the global lottery and sports betting sector.

During the first quarter of 2019, global lottery sales rose 4% in aggregate over the equivalent period in 2018, with growth in Africa and Latin America pushing ahead of Asia Pacific for the first time in a year.

The Women’s Initiative in Lottery Leadership (WILL) was conceived in December 2016 with the aim of advancing women into leadership positions in the lottery sector. Expanding its reach across the globe, WILL continues to go from strength to strength, creating a path for talented and passionate women professionals to realize their full potential.

Each year, the National Council on Problem Gambling (Washington, D.C.) and the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) invite lotteries to participate in the Holiday Lottery Responsible Gambling Campaign. This campaign is designed to raise awareness about the risks of underage lottery play during the holiday season.

Wanda Young Wilson, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation, is retiring after 26 years of executive management service to the lottery industry, effective October 31, 2019.

In celebration of our 20th anniversary, WLA members were invited to send us a two-minute video telling us what the world lottery community means to their organization and how they see the lottery sector developing over the next 20 years. We received numerous videos, a selection of which were published in our social media channels. Below, we provide a recap of the published videos. Many thanks to all our members who contributed to this initiative.

Global lottery sales for 2018 were up a healthy 8.7% on the previous year, thanks to strong second-half growth, especially in Q4 2018.

With recent changes to their App Store Review Guidelines, Apple is ensuring that they have the final say on whether lottery and betting apps are qualified for the App Store. These changes have come abruptly and leave little room to move for state-authorized lotteries with mobile gaming platforms.

Innovation is critical to keeping lotteries profitable, and finding new ways to innovate is just as important. Finland’s Veikkaus tackled the challenge head-on by inviting collaboration through their new Innovation Challenge Week.

WLA members have been slow to embrace esports but it is the fastest growing category in sports betting. Market research analyst Newzoo predicts global esports revenue from sponsorship, media rights and more to top USD 1 billion during 2019. More interesting still, betting on esports could reap USD 13 billion by 2020, according to gambling research firm Eilers & Krejcik. The opportunity is vast.