ZEAL to go live in Norway and the Netherlands

Lotto

Lottovate Limited in Norway and Lottovate Nederland B.V. (“Lottovate Netherlands”), both wholly-owned subsidiaries of ZEAL Network SE, are about to launch innovative lottery products in their respective markets.

In Norway, Lottovate has entered into a partnership with one of the world’s largest charities, UNICEF. The Norwegian Regulator has approved the Lottovate/UNICEF Norway application, making Lottovate one of only two operators to be granted a charity lottery licence in this country. The new licence allows Lottovate/UNICEF Norway to operate a nationwide charity lottery for a period of nine years. Lottovate will act as a full service provider for UNICEF Norway and will offer a high frequency win game, which is played entirely online and is designed to be mobile-first. A significant portion of the proceeds of this charity lottery will go to good causes. The proceeds will be used by UNICEF Norway to fund various activities globally, e.g. vaccination programmes, access to clean water and the building of schools and school systems. The collaboration between UNICEF Norway and Lottovate is based on UNICEF’s outstanding reputation as a non-profit organisation and ZEAL’s extensive experience as a provider of online lotteries. The launch of the new lottery is expected in the second quarter of 2017.

In the Netherlands, Lottovate’s licence is effectively the first new lottery operator licence to be awarded by the Dutch state since 1989, as well as the first full operator licence for the ZEAL Group. The new licence allows Lottovate to run a nationwide charity lottery under the Dutch regulatory framework for a period of five years. Lottovate is now planning to introduce an innovative social lottery for Dutch consumers by Q3 2017. This new lottery product will be mobile-first and will aim to connect customers to social communities and good causes. By combining jackpots and social aspects, ZEAL is confident that this unique product will reach a wider demographic than traditional lottery. Underpinning this whole concept is the key notion that a player will not only will feel as though they are supporting a good cause, but that they are also joining it. This engagement with our customers is a powerful tool. Lottovate is already in contact with a number of charitable organisations in the Netherlands in preparation for this launch.

Dr Helmut Becker, Chief Executive Officer of ZEAL: “We are extremely pleased to be launching innovative lottery products in Norway and the Netherlands. The collaboration with UNICEF in Norway has proven to be a successful one and we are happy to offer our customers a unique online lottery experience. At the same time, our customers will be able to support beneficial development projects for children in under developed and war-torn countries. In the Netherlands, the decision of the Dutch regulator to approve the Lottovate licence is a powerful validation of the quality of our offering and our long-standing expertise in the field of online lotteries. It also underlines the excellent progress we are making with Lottovate.”

Both markets represent very attractive propositions. The Norwegian lottery market is estimated to represent total sales of 1.5 billion Euro, characterised by a high online penetration and one of the highest per-capita lottery sales in Europe. In addition to this, the current total size of the Dutch lottery market is estimated at in excess of 2 billion Euro. These growing markets, therefore, offer the ideal conditions for Lottovate’s unique and innovative offerings.

These landmark events in Norway and the Netherlands will ensure that Lottovate becomes a significant growth driver for ZEAL’s Business-to-Business offering. Lottovate aims to continue the mission by expanding further into new European markets in collaboration with numerous charities.

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