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September/October 2014 • Public Gaming International
arations for the launch. Jumbo’s technical
staff met the specific requirements of the
state lotteries and built the Jumbolotto.
de website. Developments specific to
the legislation include age controls,
geo-location verification, and respon-
sible gaming measures, as well as spe-
cific game rules and regulations of the
16 lotteries.
Five months later, on December 20
2013, the Jumbolotto.de web-site was
launched in the largest Lander, North Rhine-
Westphalia, with the Jumbo site interfacing
with the lottery’s gaming system to record each lot-
tery purchase in real-time. Another significant aspect of this im-
plementation was that Jumbo launched a completely new systems
platform. This next generation platform was developed in-house
by Jumbo’s development team to take advantage of the latest web-
development and security technologies.
Progressively each of the 16 Lander lotteries was added to
the network and on the final day, June 26 the last three lotteries
were launched. The Jumbolotto.de site B2B interfaces with:
twelve gaming systems supplied by Scientific Games, three
gaming systems supplied by GTECH and one system sup-
plied by Intralot.
Collectively the 16 lotteries form the Lotto Bloc, the
first multi-jurisdiction group of lotteries. Formed in
1955 when Bavaria, Hamburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen
and Schleswig-Holstein joined together to market and
promote the Lotto 6/49 and eventually being joined by
the other 12 lotteries. Today, the draw games portfolio
includes several additional games including the Euro-Jack-
pot. As a whole the 16 Land-
ers occupy a geographic area
of approximately 140,000
square miles and a popula-
tion of 80 million. An area
and population that is roughly
equivalent to all of the east-
ern seaboard states from New
Hampshire to the Carolinas.
Under the German model
companies like Jumbo are per-
mitted to apply for licenses to
operate as Lottery retailers in
the digital channels. Just like
the brick and mortar retailers
create a diverse network of
physical retailers, e-retailers
represent multiple sales points
on the web to reinforce lottery
awareness and provide conve-
nience to capture sales. Re-
tailer expansion is a proven lottery best
practice to increase sales; the German
lotteries have simply taken this ex-
pansion to the digital world to pro-
mote and sell their draw games to
a broader retail network that pro-
vides convenience and appeals to
a new demographic of potential
customers who live in a mobile
digital world.
While in competition with other
online retailers, including the lotteries
themselves, Jumbo considers this a healthy
business model for the lotteries as competition
breeds innovation. Armed with its years of experience and its ex-
tensive digital marketing tools and retailer partnership programs,
Jumbo is confident that it will find new customers and re-engage
customers with a new value proposition; a value proposition that
will build a loyal customer base through its proven customer re-
lationship management system.
Under the leadership of Gerhard Sparrer, the Jumbo team has,
over the past six months, built the business infrastructure and
launched the Jumbolotto.de site.
Now the Jumbo Germany marketing staff, supported by a mar-
keting team from Brisbane, has launched a comprehensive mar-
keting and promotions campaigns to help all 16 lotteries maxi-
mize sales through digital sales channels.
Armed with the momentum and experience gained from its
German venture, Jumbo continues to pursue opportunities for its
e-retailer i-lottery services and help lotteries worldwide maxi-
mize sales for the good causes they support.
u
Gerhard Sparrer
