Public Gaming Magazine May/June 2016

17 / 76

boards of directors. The UIL has a market
share of around 30%, if one looks at the
profits of the companies. The number of
lottery companies often causes surprise, par-
ticularly when one considers the small size of
the Icelandic market with its population of
just 330,000. The lottery companies all sup-
port different causes. In order to maximize
the contribution of the companies to nation-
al causes they have been instructed to run
their operations cost-effectively. This work-
ing environment has encouraged the compa-
nies to operate in a responsible manner and
it can be said that they all enjoy a lot of trust
and work in harmony with the community.
In 2014, the companies paid out a total of
€23,174,000/$26,472,000 to their owners.
There are also many small charitable organi-
zations, which operate lotteries on the mar-
ket, but they do not operate all year round.
The UIL is the only company with a
money lottery licence and it currently pays
an annual licence fee of ISK 150 million
(over $1 million USD), and one could
therefore call it a National Lottery.
How are sales trending for your different
products?
B. Hrafnkelsdóttir: The class lottery
is the oldest product and I only know of
three other comparable lotteries—Det
Danske Klasselotteri, for example. The to-
tal average number of customers is 42,000
people buying an average of 2.1 tickets
each month, which is 17% of the popula-
tion over the age of 18. The scratch ticket
division is the smallest, and its size can be
a handicap. It has been difficult to devel-
op it any further in terms of utilising the
available technology. These investments are
expensive and it can be difficult to obtain
satisfactory returns, although we are exam-
ining very exciting solutions for the future.
At any given time there are only 4 different
types of scratch tickets in circulation, and
each ticket is for sale for a period of 12-18
months. The UIL manages about 500 VLT
machines and the machines are located in
over 30 different gaming halls and bars,
which are not owned by the UIL. There
are no casinos in Iceland. One half of the
machines are progressive and connected to
a Jackpot, whereas the other half are non-
progressive. The only product available on-
line is the class lottery.
And yet, the UIE has had impressive growth,
especially in 2015. Total revenues for 2014
were € 21,040,451.What were they for 2015?
B. Hrafnkelsdóttir: We had a very good
operating year in 2015. The turnover in-
creased by 10.1%. The biggest increase
was in VLT’s, although there was also an
increase in the class lottery and instant
games. This is, in fact, the first increase
we’re seeing in the turnover of VLT’s since
the economic crash of 2008. The total
gross gaming revenue grew by 6.7%, but
changes in the prize-payout percentage
between years may mean that changes in
turnover and the GGR do not always go
hand in hand. Profits excluding capital
gains increased by 14.5%. 2016 also got
off to a good start. We are seeing very posi-
tive trends in the first four months of the
calendar year for 2016.