Lottery business just as big companies can not resist globalization and specialization process.

Lottery business just as big companies can not resist globalization and specialization process. Meanwhile, the greater part of income from the lotteries that are organized in Lithuania is intended for the social needs.

In 2001loterry organizations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are going to organize common lottery. On this occasion director of the “Eesti loto” Sven Kolga have invited to negotiations the managers of Latvian and Lithuanian lotteries.

This will be the second “Eesti loto” project, implemented together with the foreign companies. Earlier Estonian lottery company, which is controlled by the state, became the member of the Scandinavian lottery “Vikking Lotto”. And for Lithuania this happens for the first time. Need to join up the lottery companies of the Baltic countries arose because of the too small market where the winnings are less than would be desirable. Decline of turnover is also noticed. After all, one day bigger foreign lottery companies may enter Lithuanian market.

In Lithuania the turnover for the first quarter of the year was 23.2 millions Litas what is 26% less than in the last year. (These numbers also show that the inland consumption has also fallen.)

Another tendency was also noticed — the amount of won money in comparison with the last year has also declined. The amount of the winnings fell from 15.6 millions Litas to 11.8 millions. Only 1.8 millions Litas are remitted for the charity, 300 thousands less than last year.

But the companies, which organize the lotteries work profitably. This year profit for the first three months was 42.7 thousands Litas, at the same time, last year during the same period the total loss of those companies reached 1.8 millions Lt. JSC “Olifëja” which organizes the lotteries in Lithuania has the largest profits both this and last years.

If we speak that lottery market in Lithuania could be also interesting for the foreigners, the law which would let the foreigners set their own lottery companies here must be examined. But the Lithuanian government is against this idea. The president of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus has already rejected this law once. According to him the capital that would have come into the lottery business would have been small and wouldn’t have created new workplaces. President’s advisor, the manager of Department of Justice Armanas Abramavièius declared that capital would have raised money flow from Lithuania worsening balance of payments and heightening current account deficit. According to him the lottery business, differently from the other branches of business, doesn’t bring back to life other businesses and doesn’t raise the number of workplaces. One of these days The Seimas is going to examine this law again.

Ad interim, foreign investments in Lithuanian lottery market are forbidden. Gambling games, the statute of which is always being discussed in the Seimas, are forbidden, too.