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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // May/June 2016
PUBLIC GAMING
INTERVIEWS
Younès
EL MECHRAFI
General Director, La Marocaine des Jeux et des Sports (MDJS)
General Secretary of the African Lotteries Association
Paul Jason, PGRI:
Do you think there
are over-laps in the player-ship of sports-
betting and Instants?
Y. El Mechrafi:
Not really. The pro-
file of the sport betting player is totally
different because sport betting requires
some level of skills and the passion for
sport while instants are based on impulse
and they require no skill at all.
Instants comprise 2% of your sales. How
aware of the margins do you think the play-
ers are? Do you think, for instance, that
sports-betting players tend to avoid Instants
because the prize-payout percentage is lower
for Instants?
Y. El Mechrafi:
Sport betting players
are more aware of the payout but this
is not the reason they do not prefer In-
stants. Moreover the regulation of our
products are available on our web site.
99% of MDJS sales are from land-based re-
tail. Do you expect online sales to increase ?
Y. El Mechrafi:
The migration to
online gaming is very slow, mainly due
to cultural constraints as well as limited
payment methods available to players.
MDJS has always been the pioneer in
new technologies. Nevertheless, the retail
business will continue to exist and grow
because it remains the key driver of the
Moroccan market. In our effort to en-
The Market-Place and Profiles of Sports-Betting Players and Lottery Players
PGRI Introduction:
Younès El Mechrafi holds a master’s degree in Computer Science Applied to Business Management
(MIAGE) and a diploma of Higher Specialized Studies (DESS) in Computer Engineering from Université de Lille in France. He
began his career as a professor and researcher within a unit of the National Scientific Research Council (CNRS) at Université
de Valenciennes in France.
Back in Morocco, he was appointed General Manager of SOMAV, a company operating in the agro-industry field. Then, he
founded CONCIS, a computer engineering services company, based in Rabat, which counts among its customers important
state prescribers such as the Ministry of Finance and the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.
In 2003, Mr El Mechrafi was appointed Special Advisor to the Minister of Justice in charge of new technologies and modern-
ization. The e-Justice project received the Imtiaz prize, a distinction awarded to the most performing public administrations
in the e-Government program. In 2006, he held the position of General Manager of an IT services company, Archos Conseil,
based in Casablanca and a subsidiary of ONA group, the first Moroccan private group.
Since 16 November 2009, Younès has been the CEO of la Marocaine des Jeux et des Sports (MDJS), a state lottery that
finances the Moroccan sports. In March 2014, he was elected General Secretary of the African Lotteries Association (ALA).
He was also elected member of the World Lottery Association’s (WLA) executive committee in June 2014 and executive com-
mittee member and Secretary of GLMS (Global Lottery Monitoring System) in January 2015.