Lotteries make bright start to 2014; Q1 sales for 2014 up 8.9% on Q1 sales for 2013.
Defying expectations, lotteries made a bright start to 2014, with first-quarter on first-quarter sales increasing by 8.9%, the best opening to a new year since 2012. The growth in global lottery sales was again grounded in strong performances from the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions, with additional contributions from the North American market and, surprisingly, the European region.
Full year global lottery sales up by 4.9%; growth driven by Latin America and Asia Pacific.
In 2013, full-year on full-year global lottery sales grew 4.9%, moderating from 2012 full-year on full-year growth of 7.7%. The growth in worldwide lottery sales was again built on the foundations of strong performances from the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions, with both these regions having recorded double-digit growth in sales over the past three consecutive quarters. The strong performance of the Asia Pacific and Latin American markets was offset, however, by the performance of the European region, which saw full-year on full-year sales contract in 2013. For its part, the North American market registered mild year-on-year gains for 2013, while the African market for FY 2013 was basically unchanged relative to its overall position in FY 2012. The tempering of sales globally in 2013, together with recent political and economic developments worldwide such as the crisis in Ukraine and heightened economic instability in Argentina, suggests it would be prudent to adopt a cautious outlook on global lottery sales for 2014. Indeed, global growth in world lottery sales has now slowed for two years in succession, after reaching a high point in 2011, as the attendant graph shows.
