Caribbean mobile lottery

London-listed and based Managed Gaming Solutions plc (formerly Mobile Gaming Solutions), a provider of mobile and interactive gaming technology solutions, has strengthened its business positioning in the Caribbean region with the launch of interactive mobile lottery services in Curacao (Netherland Antilles) in collaboration with operating partner Sure Lottery, a local licensed lottery provider.MGS and a Caribbean development company, Three Apple NV out of Curacao, formed a joint venture branded MGSC to enter the Caribbean lottery market. MGSC is focused on developing mobile and online gaming-related business opportunities in selected countries in the Caribbean region being part of the ‘CANTO’ area. The CANTO market area has around 16 million mobile subscribers today, which is expected to grow to almost 19 million subscribers by 2011.

The launch in Curacao follows the company’s entry into the CANTO market in the second half of 2008, when the first interactive mobile bingo and mobile lotto services were launched in Surinam. The company is in a launch stage of further games in other countries of the region.

“We are very pleased to announce another country launch in this exciting region, and are confident [that we can achieve] a similar user acceptance as in Surinam. We are now in a very good position for future business growth in the emerging markets and are convinced, that we are on the right track to become the fastest growing lottery related gaming provider in this region”, said Tero Turunen, Chairman of MGS.

MGS has also sealed an exclusive deal to introduce a mobile lottery to the Venezuelan region through a partnership with Grupo MVTV C.A., a Venezuelan privately owned lottery operator.

“Venezuela is a very promising market that offers huge opportunities for our products, but at the same time the gaming industry also faces some challenges due to unlicensed lottery operators organizing illegal games,” said Turunen in a company statement this week. “The most convincing argument for granting the license has been our fully auditable lottery operations, where every single lottery ticket sold can be easily audited by the government in order to ensure that the lotteries are played according to regulations.”

The first draw has already been executed without problems in Caracas, and a weekly live and televised draw program is being introduced.